Turkish Parliament approves ILO’s mining safety convention

The Turkish Parliament has finally approved the International Labor Organization (ILO) convention on safety and health in mining, following debates after the recent Soma and Ermenek mining disasters.

Labor Minister Faruk Çelik had stated on Sept. 23 that the Cabinet had already approved signing of the related ILO convention, however, the formal adoption was only approved at Parliament’s General Assembly on Dec. 4.

On May 13, 301 coal miners were killed in a disaster in the western town of Soma, the worst mining disaster in Turkey’s history, which brought working conditions at mines across Turkey into the spotlight.

Before the Soma mine disaster, the country had refused to ratify the ILO convention, highlighting that employers always complain about the cost of enforcing work safety regulations.

The ILO’s Convention No. 176, established in 1995, aims to prevent fatalities, injuries or ill health affecting workers or members of the public, including damage to the environment, from mining operations.

The Safety and Health in Mines Convention has been ratified by 28 countries, including the United States, Brazil, Russia, Armenia, Germany and Zimbabwe, but Turkey has refused to recognize it up to now

The convention delegates responsibility to governments and the owners of mines with regard to safety and health.

The convention came into focus after the mine accident in Soma, with many suggesting that Turkey’s poor workplace safety standards stem partly from its failure to ratify it.

The latest disaster came in October when 18 miners were trapped in a mine in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman’s Ermenek district, after water flooded into their shaft from a neighboring disused mine....