Over One Thousand Workers Killed in Workplace Accidents in Six Months

The newspaper 'Shargh' reported in its issue on Thursday, January 4, that the death toll from workplace accidents has increased by 15.7% compared to the same period last year, with over one thousand deaths in the first six months of this year. According to the report, the provinces with the highest number of workplace fatalities from Farvardin to Shahrivar this year are Tehran with 217, Isfahan with 81, and Mazandaran with 70 deaths. The leading cause of death in workplace accidents was reported as 'falls from heights.' The published statistics indicate that 498 individuals died from falls, 246 from 'striking by a hard object,' 155 from 'electrocution,' 65 from 'burns,' and 35 due to 'lack of oxygen.' Experts and labor activists have always viewed the mortality statistics during work with skepticism. Previously, Ehsan Sohrabi, a former labor member of the Supreme Technical Safety Council, had rejected the Ministry of Labor's claims about the number of fatalities from workplace accidents. He stated that there is no consistent and reliable data regarding workplace accidents, and sometimes there is a discrepancy of about one thousand between the Ministry of Labor's data and that of forensic medicine. In this context, Farshad Ismaili, a labor issues expert in Iran, wrote on his social media account that based on the statistics he extracted, 'more than 77 accidents threaten workers' lives daily.' Mr. Ismaili emphasized that the average of 28,000 recorded accidents per year is significantly lower than the actual situation, and the real statistics are higher. Independent labor activists and organizations have repeatedly pointed out that the official statistics regarding mortality in workplace accidents do not consider workers not covered by labor law. One of the factors contributing to the statistical discrepancies in this area is the prevention of independent labor unions and syndicates in Iran, which has resulted in a lack of precise oversight over the status of employment contracts in workshops, the level of workplace safety, and their legal structures. Activists in this sector believe that workers in Iran are one of the oppressed groups, and this oppression occurs systematically across various dimensions, including rights, wages, and types of contracts.