Of all the work-related deaths he has witnessed and recorded in his home country of Turkey, Murat Çakir cannot forget that of the young boy Ahmet Yıldız. He looks with sadness at the photos he still has of him on his mobile phone. Ahmet was only 13 years old when he was crushed to death by a pressing machine in a factory in Adana where he was working for around €50 a week, to pay for his schooling. Despite the gravity of the situation, the employer tried to cover it up, saying it was a traffic accident when he took him to hospital. Despite the gravity and his lies, the factory owner Ali Koç served only three months of the initial five-year sentence for manslaughter, which the court commuted to a fine of 30,040 Turkish liras (around €790 at the time – 2013), payable in 24 monthly instalments.
Çakir, a coordinator and volunteer for the occupational health and safety observatory İşçi Sağlığı ve İş Güvenliği Meclisi (ISIG), tells Equal Times during a meeting in Istanbul that Ahmet’s parents cannot talk to the media, as the businessman offered them a sum of money in return for their silence. For Çakir and his union, these are not straightforward occupational accidents and should be classified as “occupational murders” as “these deaths would never have happened if proper safety measures had been taken. The employer is at fault,” he insists.
Leader in fatal occupational accidents
Turkey has one of the highest work-related death rates in Europe and the world. In the first nine months of 2024, at least 1,371 workers died in occupational accidents, according to the latest data from the ISIG. In 2023, the total was 1,932. By way of comparison, the total number of fatal occupational accidents recorded per year across the whole of the EU was 3,347, based on the latest Eurostat data.
Sectors such as construction, agriculture and services head the list, with the highest number of fatalities. Construction continues to be the most lethal industry – with falls from heights being among the most common accidents – while agriculture continues to be one of the most unprotected sectors, with the most vulnerable workers.
Employers in Turkey often cut costs at the expense of their workers’ safety. The lack of protective equipment and poor working conditions contribute directly to the alarming number of fatalities. Balim Idil Deniz, a lawyer and volunteer with the ISIG, points out that “if the workers wear a helmet or harness, they cannot move as fast as the employer dictates, which leaves them having to choose between their job or their safety”.
“These are not just statistics, these are people, fathers, mothers and children who go to work and never come back. The labour system in Turkey sees them as replaceable, but for their families, these deaths destroy everything. It is murder, and somebody has to be held responsible for it,” says Çakir.
The ISIG coordinator also points the finger at Western companies operating in Turkey for putting profits before workers’ safety, by cutting costs in this department. “Western companies don’t invest in Turkey because of the quality of the work but because they can exploit workers with fewer safety regulations and lower wages,” he says.
Fatal accidents in key sectors such as construction and agriculture already account for almost 50 per cent of all occupational fatalities. According to the ISIG, this increase is partly driven by the rise in temporary and low-paid jobs that do not provide the necessary safety protections.
It comes as little surprise, then, that the 2024 Global Rights Index of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) lists Turkey as one of the 10 worst countries for workers. The index assesses respect for workers’ rights globally, and Turkey ranks so low due to the repression of trade unions, poor working conditions, the absence of effective government inspections and other such issues that create fertile ground for high occupational mortality rates.
The ITUC Global Rights Index also reports that Turkey has repeatedly failed to uphold the right to strike and collective bargaining, consistently violating workers’ rights. This data is corroborated by the ISIG and trade union confederations such as DISK and KESK (public employees), which face intense and systematic repression, from the imposition of high membership thresholds and convoluted bureaucratic procedures for authorising unions, to dismissing workers for joining a union and even arresting trade unionists on charges of “terrorism”, as reported by Amnesty International.
The construction industry– where less than 5 per cent of workers are unionised, according to DISK-AR – is the sector where the highest number of occupational fatalities are recorded, with a 7.8 per cent increase in 2023 (to 552), and 227 fatalities between January and June 2024, indicating that the sector’s growth comes at the expense of workers’ safety. Moreover, the regions affected by the earthquake, such as Hatay and Kahramanmaraş, experienced a marked increase in fatal occupational accidents, indicating that people continued to work under hazardous conditions after the earthquake. Another indicator is the lack of safety inspections, with only 0.4 per cent of workplaces inspected in 2023.
As for the agricultural sector, Seyir Aslan, a member of DISK and president of the Gıda-İş food industry workers’ union, highlights the reasons behind the high rate of fatalities in agriculture: most farmers are employed informally and have no trade union representation or basic labour rights, their working conditions are extremely precarious, and they work under pressure from the foremen or dayıbaşı – middlemen who control them, actively discourage unionisation, repress their rights and often withhold their pay.
Missing data
According to Deniz, the occupational fatality crisis in Turkey is driven by a mix of factors, and the absence of adequate statistical records is a major problem. “The government does not have records of many workers, especially in agriculture, construction and transport,” explains Deniz. Official figures refer to only 200,000 workers in the agricultural sector, but ISIG estimates the real number to be closer to 2 million.
Another key factor is the under-reporting of migrants and self-employed workers. During the first half of this year, 33 migrants, including 19 Syrians, 6 Afghans and 3 Iranians, died in occupational accidents. Also, official data does not include the self-employed in the statistics on occupational fatalities. If there were records for these two groups, the official figures on injuries and deaths would be even higher.
This under-reporting applies to many of the most vulnerable people, who often work in extremely precarious conditions and without access to suitable protective equipment.
According to Murat Çakir, many of those who die in work-related accidents are undocumented migrants. UNHCR figures indicate that Turkey hosts some 3.5 million migrants, mostly Syrians, representing about 4 per cent of its population of around 85 million.
Adding to the problem is the still devastating child labour problem in Turkey. “We record 60 to 70 child deaths every year in work-related accidents, while the official statistics mention only 3 or 4,” explains Çakir. Many of these children work in the agricultural sector, in circumstances that the ISIG criticises as exploitation disguised as vocational training under the auspices of the Ankara government’s MESEM programme, set up to provide vocational training for minors. MESEM, according to the ISIG, is a cheap labour recruitment scheme that exposes children to unnecessary risks.
The trade union position
The occupational safety crisis in Turkey has mobilised several trade unions, including the metalworkers’ union and DISK. Özkan Atar, president of the Birleşik Metal-İş metalworkers’ union, points out that his sector has one of the highest accident rates. “In the factories where we are organised, we carry out annual inspections and if there is a risk, we stage work stoppages,” explains Atar. But in non-unionised environments, workers are unprotected and can be dismissed if they ask for better safety conditions.
The problem is that, between low union membership and high rates of informal work, around “90 per cent of workers do not have a trade union safety net,” concludes Atar.
The DISK trade union confederation, in its latest press release, denounces that more than 30,400 workers have lost their lives since the AKP, the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came to power in 2002.
The organisation points out that the lack of regular inspections and the prioritisation of business interests over occupational safety have exacerbated the crisis. They also report that although Turkey has ratified international conventions, such as those of the ILO, their implementation is weak.
DISK and the metalworkers’ union strongly criticise the government’s inaction. Equal Times contacted the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security to ask it to comment on this and any potential preventive measures against occupational fatalities, but had not received a response by the time this article went to press.
Its silence contrasts with the sense of urgency expressed by trade unions through strikes and protests across the country.
Recommendations to reduce work-related deaths
For Murat Çakir and Balim Idil Deniz, the key to reducing work-related deaths in Turkey is not to establish new laws but to implement the laws that already exist. “The problem is not the lack of legislation but the lack of implementation,” insists Çakir.
The recommendations put forward by trade unionists include increased union recruitment and organising. In 2024, only 1.48 per cent of the workers who died in occupational accidents were members of a union, which leaves the vast majority of employees in a position of complete vulnerability.
Deniz points out that “effective unionisation is the key to improving safety and working conditions”. But the hostility towards trade unions in Turkey is a major stumbling block.
“Unionisation saves lives: without it, workplaces lack the supervision that prevents fatal accidents. Unionised workplaces are safer, with fewer accidents and fatal victims, especially in high-risk sectors such as construction and agriculture,” says Kıvanç Eliaçık of DISK.
Another key solution is transparency. Deniz insists that “if the government would publish real and complete labour statistics, we would be able to see the enormity of the problem and act accordingly”. Currently, the lack of accurate and accessible data makes it difficult to design effective public policies to protect workers.
Finally, they both stress that the government should introduce regular and strict inspections in all sectors, imposing much harsher sanctions on employers who fail to comply with safety regulations. “One solution would be to oblige employers to implement safety plans that are regularly inspected. This also means changing the mindset around workers’ rights,” suggests Çakir.
According to the United Nations, an estimated 2.78 million workers die every year from occupational accidents or diseases.
