On November 28, 2018, a large concrete block fell during the construction of a highway viaduct in Gebze, Turkey, killing 3 workers and leaving one worker injured.
Turkish Union of Road, Construction and Building Workers (YOL-IS) issued a press release remarking the high rate of deadly accidents in Turkey by giving information on 3 deadly accidents happened in last 2 days as 3 workers died and 1 injured after concrete block collapsed during the construction of the North Marmara Highway near the town of Gebze in Kocaeli while on November 29, 2 workers died and 1 injured as a container fell on them in a furniture company in town of
The union stressed that workplace accidents mostly happen at workplaces with no union presence and where subcontracting is mainly adopted. During the last 5 years, more than 10 thousand workers were killed in workplace accidents. 2.500 of these were construction workers.
YOL-IS strongly underlines the demands on renouncement of subcontracting practices, as well as abolishing all barriers to unionization and the right to organize, increasing the number of
Turkey has been criticized for skyrocketing number of workplace accidents for the past ten years. The construction sector is the most fatal sector which is followed by metal manufacturing and mining sectors.