Report:
İSİG (Worker Health and Safety Council) has published its report on work-related accidents for the month of March. The report reveals that at least 108 workers lost their lives in work-related accidents, with only one of them being a union member. In the first three months of 2019, at least 392 workers lost their lives in work-related accidents. Saniye Kesici from the Worker Health and Safety Council discusses work-related accidents and the invisibility of female labor in these deaths. In general, which cities have the highest number of work-related deaths, under what working conditions, and for what reasons? How much has the increase been compared to previous years? According to Saniye Kesici, work-related deaths occur mostly in industrial areas such as Istanbul, Kocaeli, Manisa, Bursa, Izmir, and Ankara, where there is a high population density and industrialization. “Most deaths occur in Istanbul due to its high population density and being an industrial city,” she said. “The reasons can vary, with a high number of deaths occurring due to traffic accidents and accidents during transportation. In addition to these, there are causes such as crushing, collapses, and falls from heights, but in recent years, there has been an increasing number of deaths due to heart attacks and brain hemorrhages. In 2018, 10% of work-related deaths were due to heart attacks. It can be said that these deaths are caused by increased production, overwork, and bullying.”
“Traffic accidents and accidents during transportation need to be addressed, especially accidents that occur during commuting. Accidents that occur when workers use their own means of transportation, such as their own cars or public transportation, are not considered work-related accidents in the eyes of the government, and deaths resulting from these accidents are classified as traffic accidents. However, every accident that occurs during the commute to and from work is a work-related accident.”
“In addition, we can mention seasonal workers. Unfortunately, we see cases where 30 or 50 workers die at the same time while they are stacked in the back of trucks and tractors. As for crushing and collapses, we mainly see them in the mining and construction sectors. There are a high number of fatal work accidents in the construction sector. There are very few injuries in the construction sector; it usually ends in death. As I mentioned earlier, there has been an increase in heart attacks and brain hemorrhages in recent years. This is related to the country’s political and social processes. With the emergence of new job fields and working methods, the causes of worker deaths also vary and become visible. There is an observation that heart attacks are increasing due to factors such as mobbing, stress, and psychological violence. On the other hand, we are seeing many news reports about workplace and worker suicides due to unemployment and financial difficulties. We see news about teachers who set themselves on fire or commit suicide because they were not assigned to a job or their jobs were terminated through statutory decrees (KHK).”
“Hidden employment conceals worker deaths. With the increase in undeclared work, we believe that worker deaths will also increase. Worker deaths have been increasing year by year. In 2018, there were 1,923 work-related deaths. In 2017, there were 2,006 work-related deaths. In the first three months of 2019, there is a decrease in worker deaths month by month. This can be attributed to the difficulty in detecting worker deaths due to factors such as public pressure on occupational health and safety, the impact of shrinking production policies, and the increase in undeclared work. Therefore, we always emphasize that the detection of worker deaths is very difficult and we say at least 1,923 workers died in 2018, but there are many more worker deaths, including occupational diseases and those that we could not detect.”
“The dimension of occupational diseases should be taken into account in work-related deaths. Along with the increasing numbers, Saniye Kesici draws attention to other factors that need to be considered in work-related deaths. “There is a very important detail that needs to be added here, which is the dimension of occupational diseases, and this is not something that is properly detected. The detection of occupational diseases is quite difficult in Turkey, and occupational diseases are not diagnosed properly. There is no specific system for this, so if we include this, we can say that there are actually many more worker deaths due to both work-related accidents and occupational diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO), for every death due to a work-related accident, there are six times as many deaths due to occupational diseases.