The Health and Safety Labor Watch (ISIG Council) has announced that at least 156 workers lost their lives in their workplace in Turkey in May. 

At least 29 of the deceased died of coronavirus (COVID-19), the report added.

The report also compared deaths on the workplace since January: At least 114 workers lost their lives in January, 133 in February, 113 in March, 221 in April and 156 in May."

In total, since the beginning of 2020, at least 737 workers lost their lives in work-related incidents.

The report underlined that 113 of the dead workers were employed with a salary (for example civil servants) while 46 workers were self-employed. 

Six of the workers who lost their life in May were women while 150 were men.The women workers were employed in the sectors of agriculture, food, textile and metal.

Six child workers also lost their lives. They were working in the agricultural sector.

The average age of the workers who died in May was 50 for the self-employed and 41 for the salary earners.

The report also underlined that 14 migrant/refugee workers lost their lives. Of these, six were from Afghanistan, five from Syria, one from Azerbaijan, one Georgia, one Iraq.

As it is often the case, only two of the workers who died were unionized.

The highest number of deaths occurred in the sectors of agriculture, construction, transportation, trade/bureau, municipal/general affairs, metal, healthcare and textile.

As for the provinces which the higher number of deaths, these were: Istanbul (30); Izmir (9); Kocaeli (8); 6 in Antalya, Bursa and Denizli; 5 in Ankara and Antep.