CHP wants parliamentary examination on work accidents

ANKARA

Deputy parliamentary group leader of CHP, Özgür Özel. Cihan Photo

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) submitted a motion to the parliament on Aug. 10 for a detailed report on the institutional, administrative, legal and economic factors of work accidents in order to establish a holistic approach to prevent such incidents.

The motion was submitted to the office of the parliament speaker by deputy parliamentary group leader Özgür Özel and deputy leader Sezgin Tanrıkulu as well as other CHP deputies. The move came after a series of reported work accidents, citing negligence in the providing of necessary conditions for labor safety.  

In the first nine months of 2014, 1,414 workers died in work accidents, making Turkey the third country in terms of numbers of deaths in work accidents, behind El Salvador and Algeria, the motion said, referring to statistics provided by the International Labor Organization (ILO). 

Stating that work accidents can be easily prevented with right measures and contemporary economic policies, the motion criticized the government’s inability to address this question, despite the deaths of 12,686 workers in the last 12 years.

“It is understood that, so far, the government didn’t approach this subject with all the seriousness it requires, and the few legal regulations made were unable to prevent work accidents; far from reducing the work accidents and in the view of continuous increases and repetitions of such accidents, government officials kept repeating the same memorized sentences each time,” read the motion.

Citing recent work accidents where many workers lost their lives, the motion pointed to the need for a holistic approach, not only regulatory amendments. 
 
“It is indispensable to take into account all these dimensions, in the light of scientific data and experts’ opinions, and to analyze other examples in the world in order to prevent work accidents,” it said.