At least 186 workers killed on the job in August

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At least 186 workers were killed on the job in August, according to the monthly report of the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).

The number of occupational homicides in the first seven months reached 1,202, the İSİG reports show.

Some 120 workers were killed in January, 109 were killed in February, 122 were killed in March, 129 were killed in April, 176 were killed in May, 189 were killed in June, and 171 were killed in July.

Unionization

Among the workers who were killed this year, 1,029, or 86 percent, were paid workers (workers and civil servants) and 173 were working on their own behalf (shopkeepers and farmers).

Only 36, or 2.99 percent, of the killed workers were unionized, whereas 1,166 of them were not members of a union. The unionized workers were working in the sectors of metal, chemistry, mining, healthcare, municipality, communications, energy, transportation and security.

Child workers

Eighty of the killed workers this year were women and 1,122 were men. Eighteen child workers younger than 15 and 30 child workers between the ages of 15-17 were killed.

While the İSİG was not able to confirm the ages of 64 workers, 182 workers were in the 18-27 age group, 585 were in the 28-50 age group, 249 were in the 51-64 age group and 74 were older than 65.

Refugee workers

Sixty-seven refugee workers have been killed on the job since the start of the year. Twenty-seven were from Syria, 16 were from Afghanistan, four were from Uzbekistan, three were from Iran, six were from Turkmenistan, and one worker was from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Russia, Pakistan, Serbia, Ukraine and Greece each.

Sectors

The highest number of the deaths occurred in the sectors agriculture and forestry with 244, including 120 workers and 124 farmers.

Some 225 workers were in the construction and road sector, 147 were in the transportation sector, 70 were in the trade, office, education and cinema sector, and 74 were in the metal sector. The İSİG was not able to identify the sectors of 38 workers.

Causes of death

The most common cause of death was traffic or shuttle accidents with 275. Also, 223 workers were killed because of being crushed/collapse and 177 workers were killed because of falling from a height. (HA/VK)