Over 1,000 Turks died in work accidents in 2015

ANKARA

Some 1,025 people were killed in workplace accidents in Turkey in just the first 10 months of 2015, according to data from the Social Security Institution (SGK). 

In 2014, in which 301 people were killed in the huge mine disaster in Soma, 1,497 people were killed at work, according to the data. In 2013, 1,315 people died in occupational incidents. 

In terms of injuries, 94,005 people were injured at work in 201,645 recorded incidents, the SGK said. 

The total injury figures stood at 97,713 in 2013 and 108,567 in 2014, while there were 195,016 registered accidents in 2013 and 226,837 last year. 

However, the number of recorded occupational illnesses fell sharply to 383 in the first 10 months of this year, from  815 over the whole of last year and 1,685 in 2013. 

Last year was a particularly bad year for workplace disasters, with 301 coalminers losing their lives in the Aegean province of Manisa’s Soma district in May, the largest industrial accident in Turkey’s history. In September 2014, 10 construction workers were killed in central Istanbul after an industrial lift fell from height. In October, 18 more miners died in the Ermenek district of the Central Anatolian province of Karaman. 
The lawsuits for both the Soma and Ermenek mine disasters are still ongoing. 

The latest SGK figures show that workplace safety remains a major concern in Turkey.