A total of 145 people died in workplace accidents in Turkey in May, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing a monthly report by the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).
The report stated that the most common causes of work-related deaths in May were traffic accidents, falling from heights, being crushed under heavy equipment and explosion or fire.
According to the report, people who died in work-related accidents last month included six minors, 15 women and six migrants.
At least 730 people have died in workplace accidents in Turkey in 2023. There were 145 workplace deaths in May, 122 in April, 130 in March, 213 in February and 120 in January, the report said.
A yearly report by İSİG revealed that at least 1,843 workers died in occupational accidents in Turkey in 2022.
People have been suffering from lax work safety standards for decades in Turkey, where workplace accidents are nearly a daily occurrence. In the worst work-related accident in the country’s history, 301 miners lost their lives in an explosion in Manisa’s Soma district in May 2014.
According to İSİG, at least 31,276 in work-related accidents have taken place since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in November 2002.
İSİG General Coordinator Murat Çakır earlier said the reason for the record number of fatalities in work-related accidents has to do with the policies of the AKP, which he said aim to turn Turkey into a source of cheap labor for Europe.
According to Çakır, workers feel obliged to work under unsafe conditions fearing that they will become jobless and unable to support their families.
İSİG began to record occupational fatalities in 2011. The platform also records the number of workers who died due to the lack of work safety in past years in addition to campaigning for stricter measures to maintain safety in workplaces.