The Workers’ Health and Occupational Safety Observatory (ISIG) published its first workplace fatality report of 2026. According to the report, at least 146 workers died in January. Most of the deaths occurred in the construction, transportation, and metal sectors. Sixty-one percent of the workplace deaths were identified through reports in the national press, while 39 percent were based on information from coworkers, families, unions, occupational safety specialists, and local sources.
The highest number of workplace deaths in January occurred in the construction sector, where 29 workers died. This was followed by transportation with 23 deaths and the metal sector with 16 deaths. In terms of sectoral distribution, 67 workers died in industry, 36 in services, 31 in construction, and 12 in agriculture. The leading causes of death were crushing and cave-ins, commonly seen in agriculture, construction, and metal work. Falls from height ranked second, with 61 percent of these deaths occurring at construction sites. Traffic and service vehicle accidents, particularly in the transportation sector, ranked third.
Workplace deaths occurred most frequently in cities with intensive industrial, agricultural, and construction activity, such as Istanbul, Kocaeli, Denizli, Antalya, Aydın, Bursa, Amed (Diyarbakır), Dîlok (Gaziantep), İzmir, Ankara, Erzurum, and Sakarya.
In January, four children lost their lives in workplace deaths. Two of the children were working in construction, one as a motorcycle courier, and one as a farm worker.
Six of the workers who died were women. These women were employed in the food, education, health, and general services sectors. The exact sector of employment for two of the women could not be clearly determined, though they were identified as industrial workers.
According to the report, four migrant workers died in workplace incidents in January: one from Algeria, one from Iraq, one from Egypt, and one from Syria. Two of the migrant workers were employed in construction, one in shipbuilding, and one in the accommodation sector. Only two of the workers who lost their lives were union members, while 144 were non-unionized. The unionized workers were employed in the health and municipal sectors. The report also emphasized that beyond the identified data, more unionized workers may have lost their lives.