Mine workers in Turkey will each have mandatory accident cover of TRY150,000 (US$56,300) for injury and death, at a premium of TRY700, according to local media reports citing the Official Gazette.
The gazette notification follows a law approved by the Cabinet on 6 February that makes accident insurance compulsory for all personnel working in the mining sector.
The law took effect in May, one year after Turkey’s worst mining disaster in which an explosion at a coal mine in the western town of Soma resulted in an underground fire that killed 301 people. A report after the Soma disaster found a long list of faults at the mine, including a lack of carbon monoxide detectors, gas masks in poor condition and bad ventilation.
According to the February decree, insurance companies will be responsible for the inspection of production safety.
“If a facility provides the conditions that are compatible with the essential insurance requirements, insurance companies will issue the policy. Within six months, starting from the issue date of the policy, insurance companies are obliged to repeat the inspection process. If the facility does not fulfil the conditions during the second inspection, insurance companies will deny the insurance request and notify the relevant public institutions authorized to give a licence to these facilities,” the decree said.
The number of people who died in workplace accidents in Turkey rose by 83% in 2013 to 1,360 from 745 in 2012. While 75,000 accidents took place in 2012, that number more than doubled to 191,000 in 2013.
The number of workplace deaths is estimated to be 1,886 in 2014, said the Turkey Chamber of Architects and Engineers, but figures are likely to be much higher in reality as reported statistics refer only to insured, formally employed workers. In Turkey, large numbers of sub-contracted and unregistered workers are employed in dangerous sectors such as mining and construction.
TRY1 = US$0.37