16.07.2010

Another fatality at Tuzla

A man died yesterday after falling from a work platform at the Tuzla shipyards in Istanbul, Turkey.

The accident occurred at the Torlak dock when, according to local reports, the “safety bars” holding the basket snapped, allowing it to tip upside-down dumping the occupant, Nurettin Bingöl aged 36.

Bingöl broke his neck on hitting the ground and was declared dead at the scene, the father of two was not wearing a harness.

This is the second fatal accident involving cranes or access equipment at the shipyards in less than six weeks. Metin İnanır, 23 was killed after a hoist rope failed at the end of May and there has been at least one other work related fatality at the yards since then and it brings the total of work related deaths there in the past 20 years to 136.

Vertikal Comment

We are not exactly certain of the equipment involved, some reports report this as a basket on a crane, although a work platform is often referred to a as a crane by those who are not familiar with them. On balance the feedback we have received suggests that the mechanical levelling bars failed. If so such a failure is usually caused by a collision or impact but this is just conjecture.

It does sound as though in this incident a harness could well have saved a young life.