A blast at the state-owned explosives factory on Thursday in Turkey's Ankara killed one worker and injured four others.
The blast occurred at a Mechanical and Chemical Industry Cooperation plant. The injured workers were hospitalised.
Organized at the factory, Turkey's Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Workers' Union (Petrol-İş) previously drew attention to the existing problems, calling for taking measures considering previous blasts.
MANY MORE BLASTS WITNESSED
A blast at an explosives factory in Ankara’s Elmadağ district killed two workers on May 20, 2013. After the blast, some inspections were launched following Petrol-İş’s attempts. However, yet another explosion took place on May 20, 2013, when the inspectors were investigating the same factory. The production came to a halt on July 10 for 21 days following the inspections.
A blast hit a chemical factory on February 3, 2014, yet another blast followed it on June 19, leaving three workers wounded as the workers escaped a disaster by chance.
HIGH RISKS AT THE FACTORY
The explosives factory in Elmadağ is known with its outdated technology, poor working conditions and production lines that are risky for workers’ health and work safety.
The Turkish trade union Petrol-İş and the workers raised the questions at factories many times, staging alarming actions in order to fix the conditions.
However, a continuous production could not be enabled as the working conditions have further deteriorated due to the lack of precautions in the field of workers’ health and work safety and the lack of required investments and technological innovations.
CONSECUTIVE OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENTS IN 2018
Having been established in the early Republican era, the explosives factory in Ankara has turned into an idle institution with low production, low capacity, outdated technology and insufficient employment, where workers lose their lives because of blasts.
Nine occupational accidents have taken place at the factory since the beginning of 2018 as deadly incidents and blasts were witnessed in the past. Some workers were exposed to third and fourth degree burns, high pressure due to water pipe bursts, loss of organs and traffic accidents. Moreover, workers are often forced to work without protective materials.
