IPA President Gökce: It is not accidents, but negligence, lack of oversight, and lawlessness that kill!

Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA) President Dr. Buğra Gökce pointed out that according to data from the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG), 22 thousand 755 people lost their lives in workplace homicides between 2013 and 2024.

Providing examples from European Union (EU) countries, Gökce stated that according to data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), 3 thousand 347 people lost their lives in 2.17 million accidents in the EU, which has a population of 450 million, in 2021.

Stating that Turkey is the country with the highest number of workplace homicides in Europe, Gökce used the expression, "It is not accidents that kill us: It is negligence, lack of oversight, and lawlessness that kill."

The post Gökce made on his X account is as follows:

"It is not accidents that kill us: It is negligence, lack of oversight, and lawlessness that kill! According to İSİG data, 1,897 workers lost their lives in workplace accidents in 2024 alone. Between 2013 and 2024, 22 thousand 755 of our citizens were victims of workplace homicides due to workplace accidents. 

According to Eurostat data, in 2021, only 3,347 people lost their lives in 2.17 million accidents in the EU, which has a population of 450 million. While the population/accident ratio in the entire EU is 4.4 per 1000, the population/accident ratio in Turkey is 6.1 per 1000. Again, according to Eurostat (2022) and İSİG data, Turkey is the country where the most worker deaths occur.

While the death rate per 100 thousand people in employment is 1.66 in the European Union, it is 5.7 in Turkey. In the last 22 years in Turkey, at least 54 thousand 780 of our citizens have lost their lives in 24 disasters such as mining accidents, floods, earthquakes, and fires.

The number of people who lost their lives in 56 major earthquakes that have occurred in the 80 years since the Second World War is only 32 thousand 781. Chile, which experienced the largest recorded earthquake in the world in 1960 with a magnitude of 9.5, learned the necessary lessons and took important steps. What was the result? For example, in the 8.3 magnitude Illapel earthquake in 2015, which lasted longer than 3 minutes, only 13 people lost their lives. No one lost their lives in the 7.6 magnitude Chiloé earthquake that occurred in 2016. We are not dying because of accidents or disasters. We are losing our lives because the necessary modern precautions are not taken, work, structural, and disaster safety are neglected, regular and periodic inspections are not carried out, and the law does not punish those who make mistakes as the supreme authority, and those responsible are not held accountable.

In this country, we need the same thing to live well and beautifully, to survive, and to ensure that accidents and disasters do not happen to us. Guided by reason and science, prioritizing justice, and implementing the best methods, always applying them."