Workplace fatalities on the parliamentary agenda: The government's 13-year occupational health and safety record

CHP İzmir MP Rahmi Aşkın Türeli has brought workplace fatalities to the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) by submitting a parliamentary question to the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Vedat Işıkhan.

Türeli's statement is as follows:

“The issue of occupational health and safety in Turkey is not merely a technical deficiency, but a chronic social wound where thousands of workers lose their lives every year. Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety, which entered into force on June 30, 2012, with great claims, has failed to prevent loss of life despite the 13 years that have passed; on the contrary, deaths have continued to rise during this period. This picture, which the public now rightly calls 'workplace murders,' shows that legal regulations have no practical equivalent.”

A BALANCE SHEET BEYOND STATISTICS

Indeed, according to data from the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG) Assembly, a total of 25,049 workers lost their lives due to workplace fatalities between the 2013-April 2026 period, including 1,235 in 2013, 1,886 in 2014, 1,730 in 2015, 1,970 in 2016, 2,006 in 2017, 1,923 in 2018, 1,736 in 2019, 2,427 in 2020, 2,170 in 2021, 1,843 in 2022, 1,932 in 2023, 1,897 in 2024, 2,105 in 2025, and 189 people in the first four months of 2026.

These data prove that Law No. 6331 has had no effect in reducing workplace fatalities. The continuation of high-fatality accidents is the most concrete evidence that the legislation on paper cannot curb the greed for profit and lack of oversight in the field.

THE BANKRUPTCY OF "MARKET-ORIENTED" OVERSIGHT

The fundamental obstacle to the functioning of the system is that occupational health and safety has been left to market conditions. This "workplace-centered" model, where occupational safety experts and workplace physicians receive their salaries directly from the employer and oversight is carried out by private companies (OSGB), has been paralyzed due to conflicts of interest. Professionals who are forced to audit the employer who pays their salary have become not the protectors of the system, but a part of the shield of impunity.

CONSTANT POSTPONEMENT OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

While a holistic system should be established, the constant postponement of articles aimed at including public institutions in the system through legal amendments shows the political will's indecisiveness in solving this problem. This model, which lacks a public component, has outsourced oversight to the private sector, and whose cost is paid with the lives of workers, has reached an unsustainable point.

RADICAL TRANSFORMATION WITHOUT DELAY

Turkey must fundamentally revise its occupational health and safety system:

• Independent auditing: A model must be established where occupational safety professionals are completely economically independent from the employer, and salaries are paid from a pool financed by the public.

• Sectoral specialization: Necessary regulations must be implemented, especially in the construction, agriculture, and mining sectors where workplace fatalities are concentrated.

• ILO norms: An autonomous authority must be created that is in line with international labor standards (ILO), centers the right to life, and is based on public oversight.

Market-oriented approaches that cannot protect the worker's right to life against the profit focus of capital are inviting new workplace fatalities. A safe working environment is not a favor, but a constitutional necessity.

QUESTIONS IN THE PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY

1- What are the reasons for the occurrence of high-fatality workplace accidents in our country?

2- Has Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety, which was published in the Official Gazette and entered into force on June 30, 2012, made any contribution to worker health and safety to date?

3- Do you agree with the findings that the "workplace-centered audit" system, based on the wage relationship between occupational safety experts and workplace physicians with the employer and the execution of the occupational health and safety system by market-oriented private companies, is not working?

4- How do you evaluate the constant postponement of the effective date through legal amendments, despite the need for public institutions to be included in the occupational health and safety system?

5- From this perspective, what is your opinion on the fact that Turkey needs to review its occupational health and safety system without delay?

6- Do you have any work underway to implement specific regulations for the construction, agriculture, and mining sectors where workplace accidents are most frequent?

7- What is your thought on establishing a model based on an autonomous regulatory and supervisory authority whose expenses are financed by the public in order to prevent workplace accidents in working life?

8- When do you plan to implement policies and programs aimed at taking concrete secondary legal and institutional steps and creating permanent solutions to prevent and reduce workplace accidents in working life?

News Source: 12punto