Workplace Fatalities Soar – 169 Workers Died in October, Total Reaches 1,737 in 10 Months!

Ankara – Türkiye's Deadly Safety Record Exposed

The report, released by the İSİG Meclisi on November 6, 2025, brought the alarming scale of negligence and lack of supervision in Turkish occupational health and safety (OHS) to public attention once more. The Assembly noted that 57% of the deaths were identified through national media, while the remaining 43% were verified via local sources, unions, and workers' families, indicating a potential underreporting of these tragedies.

 

📈 Catastrophic Toll: 1,737 Lives Lost in 2025

İSİG Meclisi's cumulative data for the first ten months of 2025 shows a devastating total of at least 1,737 workplace fatalities (January 180, February 128, March 158, April 156, May 178, June 161, July 207, August 192, September 208, October 169).

 

Sectoral Distribution of Fatalities (October Figures):

Sector (Turkish İşkolu)	Number of Deaths	Most Common Cause
Agriculture, Forestry	46 (22 workers, 24 farmers)	Tractor rollovers, unsafe transport
Construction, Road	43	Falls from height, crushing/collapses
Transport	25	Traffic/Service accidents, long working hours
Manufacturing (Total Industry)	58	Crushing, machine entrapment
Shipyard, Sea, Port	5	Poisoning, unsuitable working conditions
Services (Total)	21

 

🚨 Chains of Negligence: Shipyards and Vulnerable Groups

The report highlighted specific cases of gross negligence, particularly in the Tuzla Shipyards, where several deaths occurred, including foreign workers:

• Tuzla Shipyards: Deaths included Vlasyuk Yevgen (Ukrainian worker), crushed by a hatch cover during a high-risk cutting operation conducted with the ship afloat, and Murat Mustafa (Syrian worker), who succumbed to gas poisoning while performing maintenance in a machine room. These incidents underscore the disregard for fundamental safety rules.

 

🧒 The Scourge of Child Labor

A heartbreaking detail from the October figures is the death of at least 8 children in workplace incidents. Six of the deceased were child workers, and two were children working as farmers. Tragic events, such as 9-year-old Hüseyin Başkan falling onto a seed drill attached to a tractor, starkly illustrate the fatal risks associated with child labor.

 

Key Critical Data:

• Leading Cause of Death: Crushing/Collapse (39 workers), followed closely by Traffic/Service Accidents (34 workers) and Falls from Height (29 workers).

• Hidden Danger: The underlying cause for the 28 deaths attributed to heart attacks/cerebral hemorrhage is emphasized to be excessive, intense, and prolonged working hours.

• Non-Unionized Victims: A staggering 98.23% (166 workers) of the fatalities were non-union members, reinforcing the argument that unionization is crucial for workplace protection.

 

⚖️ Call for Action and Solidarity

The İSİG Meclisi concluded its report by sending solidarity to youth movements across Turkey fighting for basic rights and a democratic university system. The Assembly pledged to continue its resolute fight against workplace fatalities and child labor, emphasizing the need for broad solidarity to enforce OHS regulations.