At least 189 workers were killed while working in Turkey during April, according to the monthly report released by the Health and Safet Labor Watch (İSİG). These figures bring the total number of workplace fatalities in the first four months of the year to 622.
Some 155 workers were killed in January, 129 in February, and 149 in March before the sharp increase in April. On average, at least six workers died every day during the past month.
Breakdown of workers
Among the killed workers last month were 14 women and three refugees.
The report highlighted a significant lack of union representation, noting that 176 of the deceased workers, or 93 percent, were non-unionized. Only 13 of those killed held union memberships.
At least five children or young people died in work-related incidents in April. Three of these victims were under the age of 14, a group legally prohibited from working, while two were between the ages of 15 and 17.
Highest fatalities in construction sector
Fatalities were concentrated in industrial hubs and regions with high agricultural or construction activity. The construction sector recorded the highest number of deaths with 48 fatalities. The agriculture and forestry sector followed with 41 deaths, while 16 workers were killed in the transportation sector.
Traffic and shuttle accidents were the primary cause of workplace deaths, mostly affecting those in the transportation and agriculture sectors. Crushing and collapses in mines, textile factories, construction sites, and metalworks were the second leading cause.
Heart attacks and brain hemorrhages, which the İSİG linked to overwork and poor living conditions across all sectors, ranked third. Falls from heights were the fourth most common cause, with 69 percent of such incidents occurring at construction sites.
Five engineers killed
The report also detailed the deaths of five engineers in April. The İSİG noted that engineers are increasingly facing the same precarious conditions as other laborers.
Görkem Selvitop, a 38-year-old civil engineer, was killed in İstanbul when a pickup truck struck him while he waited for a bus after leaving a workplace shuttle. In Şırnak, 32-year-old civil engineer Murat Bektaş died in a soil collapse while taking measurements at a school construction site in Balveren.
Levent Acar, a 52-year-old site manager, fell to his death from a roof while filming at a construction site in İstanbul. Harun Yıldız, a branch manager for the State Hydraulic Works, died in a collision with a truck while returning from a flood inspection in Bahçesaray.
The report also included the death of Mehet Derda Işık, a 25-year-old maritime engineering student at Piri Reis University. Işık died by suicide, with the report mentioning an email he had sent regarding workplace bullying during an internship.
Deaths in agriculture doubled
Agricultural deaths nearly doubled in April, rising to 41 from 21 in March as warmer weather increased seasonal activity. The İSİG attributed this to farmers using old tractors without protective frames and the unsafe transportation of seasonal laborers. In Burdur, seven agricultural workers were killed when their shuttle collided with a concrete tanker.
The report concluded that a lack of inspections and enforcement has turned many workplaces into sites of constant danger. In Kocaeli, three workers died at the Çolakoğlu Metalurji factory when a maintenance platform collapsed. The facility has a 20-year history marked by numerous worker injuries and deaths. (HA/VK)
