At least 138 workers lost their lives in February

Photo: Bursa Fire Department

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At least 138 workers lost their lives in occupational homicides in January, according to the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).

Also, at least 858 workers have died of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, notes the İSİG report. The highest number of Covid-19 deaths occurred in the sectors of healthcare, municipality, education, office, factory (textile-metal), private security and transportation.

The fact that workers from many different sectors died of Covid-19 showed that measures were insufficient in all workplaces in general, according to İSİG.

"Of course, adding the deaths of 'active' workers that we have not been able to detect and especially families of the workers, we can see that 95 percent of those [who died of Covid-19] were constituents of the working class," it said. "So, Covid-19 is a working-class disease."

According to the report;

• 113 of the 138 workers were wage earners (workers and public servants) and 25 were self-employed (farmers and shopkeepers).
• Seven of the killed workers were women and 131 were men. Women workers were employed in the sectors of accommodation, trade and healthcare.
• Four child workers were killed. The deaths occurred in the sectors of agriculture and construction.
• 46 workers who died at work were over the age of 51. Among them were farmers and shopkeepers and employees in the sectors of food, mining, trade, textiles, office, cinema, education, transportation, ship, healthcare, security and municipal work.
• Five refugee workers lost their lives. They were from Syria (3), Iran (1) and Uganda (1).
• Six of the killed workers were union workers. They worked in the sectors of textiles and healthcare.
• The highest number of deaths occurred in the sectors of healthcare, trade/education/office, transportation, construction, agriculture, metal, security, municipal work, ships/shipyard, mining and accommodation.
• The most common causes of death were Covid-19, traffic/shuttle accidents, being crushed, falling from a height, heart attack, explosion and electric shock.
• The highest number of deaths caused by Covid-19 occurred in the sectors of trade/education/office, cinema, transportation and security.
• Four of the killed workers were in the 15-17 age group, 13 were in the 18-27 age group, 67 were in the 51-64 age group, 34 were in the 51-64 age group and 12 were over the age of 65. The ages of eight workers could not be learned.
• Provinces where workers were killed: İstanbul (10), Kocaeli (9), Bursa (7), Adana (5), Manisa (5), Urfa (5), Aydın (4), Denizli (4), Giresun (4), Konya (4), Mersin (4), Ordu (4), Osmaniye (4) Tekirdağ (3), Balıkesir (3), Elazığ (3), Gaziantep (2), Hatay (3), İzmir (3), Kayseri (3), Van (3), Zonguldak (3), Ankara (2), Antalya (2), Artvin (2), Batman (2), Burdur (2), Isparta (2), Kahramanmaraş (2), Kırklareli (2), Sinop (2), Aksaray, Amasya, Bilecik, Bingöl, Bolu, Diyarbakır, Düzce, Kütahya, Malatya, Muğla, Niğde, Sakarya, Samsun, Sivas, Tokat, Uşak, Yalova, Yozgat.
• Also, one worker died in Bangladesh, Georgia, Iraq, Russia and Ukraine each. (HA/VK)