Construction Inspections Increase, Sector Remains Dangerous

Although on-site construction inspections have increased following a disaster that resulted in the deaths of 10 workers on the site of a residential tower in İstanbul last month, the sector remains a dangerous one to work in, said job safety expert Abdullah Bozkır, speaking to the Cihan news agency on Tuesday.

“Around 9 percent of all jobsite accidents occur in the construction sector. Of these, 24 percent result in disability and 27 percent in death. These figures show how serious the problem is,” said Bozkır, adding that 40-50 percent of deadly construction site accidents are a result of falls from great heights. Falls were the most common fatal accident while the second most frequent accident resulting in death was electrocution.

Last month, 10 construction workers died on the side of the Torun Center residential high-rise tower after a faulty elevator plummeted 30 floors to the ground. It was subsequently revealed that workers had been living and working among squalid and unsafe conditions. Earlier this month a worker on the site of the Quasar İstanbul luxury residence project died after he fell from the 12th floor to the fifth floor. The Quasar İstanbul site is next door to Torun Center.

A total of 197 construction workers died in the first eight months of 2014, in a year that has been plagued with tragedy. Earlier this May, 301 miners were killed following an explosion in the Soma mine in Western Turkey, prompting outrage as neither the company nor the government took any responsibility for the disaster.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)