At least 1,409 workers lost their lives in the first nine months of 2023
The Occupational Safety and Health Council (İSİG) announced the “Occupational Homicide Report” for the first 9 months of 2023.
According to the report; While 151 more workers lost their lives in workplace murders in September 2023, the number of workers who died in the first 9 months of the year reached 1,409.
In its report, İSİG said: “Every year, hundreds of our co-workers are killed, injured, disabled or suffer from an occupational disease, working in conditions that capital does not accept and the state does not control.” “The state provides the guarantee of a work regime in which capital can exert all kinds of pressure and establish rules,” he said.
İSİG announced its data on occupational homicides in the first nine months of 2023. The report indicated that at least 1,409 workers lost their lives due to occupational homicides in the first 9 months, and included the following findings and evaluations:
Speeches such as “New Turkey”, “local and national policies”, “Advanced Turkey”, “economic development” and “growth” were always on the lips of AKP personnel and Erdoğan. On the contrary, with each passing year anti-worker laws, high inflation and declining purchasing power, continued oppression against rights and freedom struggles, and a regime of occupational murders in which precarious working conditions were implemented .
Every year, hundreds of our coworkers die, are injured, disabled, or contract an occupational disease while working under conditions that capital does not accept and that the state does not control. The State constitutes the guarantee of the work regime in which capital can exert all types of pressures and set rules. Workers are asked to submit to the existing order with speeches such as “beautiful death”, “this is in the nature of work” and “destiny”.
AT LEAST 261 WORKERS DIE IN THE CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS THIS YEAR
This year we have lost at least 261 of our coworkers in the construction industry, the “engine of the economy,” where most employment is short-term, based on completion of work or completion of a part of the work and where subcontracting predominates. In other words, at least one construction worker died every day due to work-related murders. More than half of deaths in the construction industry are due to falls from height. However, all of these deaths can be prevented with proper scaffolding, guardrails, safety nets and equipment.
In the agricultural sector, “seasonal work”, which gained momentum in April, is about to end. In nine months, we lost at least 259 of our friends in the agriculture and forestry sectors, most of whom (150) were farmers. Especially when workers are transported in vehicles such as trucks, inadequate shuttles and trailers, this literally invites death. For farmers, the most common cause of death is crushing from the use of old, inadequate and obsolete tractors.
MAIN REASONS OF DEATHS
Industrial sectors are very fragmented. That’s why we don’t see more deaths than big explosions in factories and collapses in mines. However, so far we have lost 312 of our friends who are food, mining, chemical, textile, wood, cement, metal, energy and shipyard workers. OSH measures not taken in factories, the spread of flexible working and union pressures are the main reasons for these deaths.
We lost 171 of our driver friends who worked in the industrialization that has spread throughout Turkey, the logistics networks and other transportation activities that this requires. The drivers’ deaths are considered a traffic accident, not a workplace homicide. However, drivers of trucks, lorries, buses, minibuses and taxis work long hours and almost no turnover. On the other hand, vehicles are not properly maintained and old vehicles are used, and there are problems with road lighting or regulations.
‘WE LOST 38 MOTO COURIER FRIENDS IN 9 MONTHS’
The service sector is also considered a multi-sector and non-hazardous job. For example, being a motorcycle courier is a profession dominated by long working hours, intense work, work without insurance and all kinds of irregularities, and where union organization is non-existent or weak. We lost 38 motorcycle courier friends in nine months.
What about the fact that two of our actor friends, who were unemployed, committed suicide in September? Health workers in the grip of harassment and violence. Our teachers who were not named, who suffered heart attacks during classes because they worked too hard, and who worked extra jobs because they were employed at low wages. Our office workers, our municipal workers…
AT LEAST 1,409 WORKERS DIE IN THE FIRST 9 MONTHS OF 2023
73 percent of the national press; As we have determined, based on information we have learned from co-workers, families, workplace safety experts, workplace doctors, unions and local press, 27 percent of them will be in the first nine months of 2023 (116 in January, 195 in February, 130 in March. At least 1,409 workers lost their lives (124 in April, 146 in May, 161 in June, 183 in July, 203 in August and 151 in September).
The distribution of occupational homicides by business lines in the first nine months of 2023 is as follows:
261 workers in the Construction, Road sector; 259 workers (109 workers and 150 farmers) in the Agricultural and Forestry sector; 171 workers in the transportation sector; 111 workers in the Accommodation and Entertainment business; 90 workers in the Commerce, Office, Education, Cinema business lines; 76 Municipal workers, General Works branch; 74 workers in the metallurgical sector; 51 workers in the Health and Social Services sector; 43 workers in the Food and Sugar business; 36 workers in the mining sector; 36 workers in the energy sector; 33 workers in Petrochemical, Tire business; 27 workers in the Textile and Leather industry; 27 workers in the Ships, Shipyards, Maritime and Port business lines; 24 workers from the Defense and Security sector; 20 workers in the Wood and Paper business; 16 workers in the Cement, Soil and Glass branch; 7 Press workers, Journalism Company; 1 worker in the communication business; 1 worker in the Banking, Finance, Insurance industry; 45 workers, whose line of work we could not determine in light of the data we have, lost their lives…
345 WORKERS LOST THEIR LIVES IN SERVICE ACCIDENTS IN 9 MONTHS
The distribution of occupational homicides by cause in the first nine months of 2023 is as follows:
345 workers due to Traffic and Service Accidents; 213 workers due to crushing and collapse; 174 workers due to Fall from Height; 160 workers due to Heart Attack, Cerebral Hemorrhage; 92 workers lost due to earthquake; 86 workers due to Electrical Shock; 68 workers due to violence; 63 workers due to Explosion, Burning; 45 workers for Poisoning, Drowning; 44 workers by suicide; 20 workers due to object impact, fall; 16 workers due to cuts and breaks; 83 workers lost their lives due to other causes…
In the first nine months of 2023, occupational homicides by gender; 136 workers and 1,273 workers lost their lives.
Of those who died in workplace homicides in the first nine months of 2023, 60 (4.25 percent) were union workers and 1,349 (95.75 percent) were non-union workers. Of the unionized workers, 11 are chemists, 7 are health, 6 are energy, 5 are metallurgical, 4 are municipal, 3 are mine, 1 is agriculture, 1 is food, 1 is wood, 1 is “One of them worked in” In the office, I worked in education and the other worked in the shipping line.” (PHOENIX)