An explosion and subsequent fire at the HABAŞ Iron and Steel Plant in İzmir’s Aliağa district on November 9 killed at least 17 workers. Twelve workers were injured, one seriously.
Operating in Aliağa since 1987, HABAŞ is one of Turkey’s major iron and steel producers.
According to HABAŞ’s current corporate figures, the steelmaking facility at its Aliağa plant has an annual production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes of liquid steel. The company also operates in industrial and medical gases, energy, heavy machinery, LPG and natural gas.
However, HABAŞ has long been associated with intense production pressure, understaffing, long working hours, deferred maintenance and shortcomings in workplace safety.
HABAŞ’s 2025 sustainability report shows a marked deterioration in the company’s occupational health and safety indicators compared with the previous year.
According to the report, the number of lost-time workplace accidents among HABAŞ employees rose from 109 in 2024 to 146 in 2025, an increase of approximately 34 percent in one year.
The increase was considerably higher among subcontractor employees. Lost-time workplace accidents rose from 38 in 2024 to 83 in 2025, an increase of more than 118 percent.
The company explicitly acknowledged the rise in its report:
“The increase in the number of lost-time accidents in 2025 became a priority on HABAŞ’s occupational health and safety performance management agenda.”
The company also stated that it recorded no fatal workplace accidents among its own employees or subcontractor employees throughout 2025.
According to data compiled by bianet from open sources, a total of 34 workers employed by HABAŞ and its subcontractors lost their lives: four in 1999, one in 2007, one in 2008, two in 2013, two in 2018, three in 2020, one in 2022, one in 2024 and at least 19 in 2026.
Işıkhan: “Inspections found no very serious problems”
Minister of Labour and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan said that 37 occupational health and safety specialists, two workplace physicians and one healthcare worker were employed at the factory.
Işıkhan said the ministry’s Directorate of Guidance and Inspection had conducted checks and inspections at the workplace on various occasions. “Our inspectors found no very serious problems. However, this workplace accident has caused a very serious problem,” he said.
Asked by a journalist when the factory’s crane had last undergone maintenance, Işıkhan replied:
“It is too early to say anything at this stage; the incident has only just happened. The necessary statements will be made once the checks and inspections are complete.”
At least 110 metalworkers killed in 10 months
The deaths at HABAŞ came at a time when workplace fatalities remained high across the country.
According to the Health and Safety Labour Watch (İSİG) October 2026 report on workplace killings, at least 193 workers died while working in October alone, bringing the total for the first 10 months of 2026 to at least 1,930.
At least 110 workers died in the metal industry during the same period. According to İSİG’s monthly figures, 16 metalworkers died while working in January, 10 in February, six in March, 10 in April, 10 in May, 19 in June, 10 in July, 11 in August, six in September and 12 in October.
This article was translated into English using an AI tool.
Source: BIANET
