Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkish Journal of Civil Engineering, cilt.36, sa.4, ss.35-66, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
Suspension of work is a type of sanction frequently used by labor inspectors worldwide in cases of life-threatening situations. In this study, the suspension of work sanctions imposed in Türkiye between 2013 and 2023 is evaluated for the first time using the administrative measure reports and general evaluation reports of the Turkish Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Directorate of Guidance and Inspection. The construction sector, which has the highest incidence of fatal occupational accidents (32.65%) and suspension of work sanctions (85.52%) in Türkiye, is compared with the mining and metal sectors. The relationship between suspension of work sanctions and fatal occupational accidents was examined through Spearman correlation analysis and a Poisson regression model. From a dataset of 97,104 inspections, a total of 6,627 suspensions of work sanctions imposed during the first stage of inspections were analyzed. The correlation analysis (2013–2023) revealed a weakly positive and statistically insignificant relationship between fatal occupational accidents in the construction and mining sectors and the number of suspensions of work sanctions imposed. Conversely, a strong negative and statistically significant relationship was found in the metal sector. The study also considers the possibility that suspension of work sanctions may affect fatal occupational accidents in the years following the inspections. For periods after widespread inspection in a sector, only in the mining sector was a strong negative and statistically significant relationship observed between suspension of work sanctions and fatal occupational accidents, four years after implementation. Additionally, a Poisson regression model was developed to predict fatal occupational accidents in the construction sector. This model was created in two versions: one using pre-pandemic data (2013–2018), and another using data from the entire period (2013–2023), including post-pandemic years. According to the model incorporating building license and GDP data, a one-unit increase in the construction sector's contribution to GDP during 2013–2018 is expected to reduce the number of deaths from occupational accidents by 0.91%. While the effect of suspension of work was found to be limited during these years, it still showed a decreasing effect on fatal occupational accidents. However, when the entire period (2013–2023) was evaluated, no statistically significant results were obtained from the Poisson regression model after including data from 2021, 2022, and 2023. This outcome may be attributed to several factors: the sector's share in GDP decreased by 2.83% during the 2019–2023 period compared to 2013–2018, the number of fatalities in the sector did not decline as expected, and the sector experienced a contraction due to the economic crisis.