28 February, 2012On February 4, a big explosion at the NUH Industrial Path within the Tuzla Shipbuilding Zone disturbed the daily routine of around 10,000 workers. The explosion took place in the shipyard MENGI YAY YATCILIK producing luxury yachts.
TURKEY: According to the information received from Asli Odman, a specialist on shipbuilding workers in Turkey of the Turkish Union of Port, Dock, Ship Building and Repair Workers (Limter-İş), the concrete reason of two consecutive explosions remains unclear, but the union suspects they were caused by improper storage of inflammable material. Four workers, Ümit Damgaci, Kadir Soy, Ali Okur and Engin Yildiz, were badly injured. The youngest, Kadir Soy, is a student of the vocational technical school. Ten days after the accident on February 14, Ümit Damgaci died in the hospital of severe wounds. The others remain hospitalized.
Limter-İş made a press declaration on February 16 in front of the NUH Industrial Path in the Tuzla shipbuilding zone and stated that the fatal accidents at Turkish shipyards will not stop until decent, safe and legal work is offered to shipbuilding workers. The union added that safe working conditions are still seen primarily as cost factors of the industry, which refuses to directly employ workers at yards instead relying on a whole system on precarious, illegally hired subcontracted workers with a very high turnover rate.
"The disposable shipyard worker system will inevitably lead to more fatal and non-fatal accidents, not even mentioning the long-term effects of professional diseases in the sector. The accidents do and will continue in the new shipbuilding zones of Anatolia unless 'a stable and safe working system' required by law is introduced in Turkey," reads the Limter-İş statement.
Between 2002 and 2012 at least 104 workers died at Turkish shipyards, most of them in the biggest shipbuilding zone of Tuzla, located in the southeast of Istanbul.
Limter-İş made a press declaration on February 16 in front of the NUH Industrial Path in the Tuzla shipbuilding zone and stated that the fatal accidents at Turkish shipyards will not stop until decent, safe and legal work is offered to shipbuilding workers. The union added that safe working conditions are still seen primarily as cost factors of the industry, which refuses to directly employ workers at yards instead relying on a whole system on precarious, illegally hired subcontracted workers with a very high turnover rate.
"The disposable shipyard worker system will inevitably lead to more fatal and non-fatal accidents, not even mentioning the long-term effects of professional diseases in the sector. The accidents do and will continue in the new shipbuilding zones of Anatolia unless 'a stable and safe working system' required by law is introduced in Turkey," reads the Limter-İş statement.
Between 2002 and 2012 at least 104 workers died at Turkish shipyards, most of them in the biggest shipbuilding zone of Tuzla, located in the southeast of Istanbul.