Tenth Sulaymaniyah casualty this year
Worker dies after fall at housing project in Sulaymaniyah
SULAYMANIYAH — A construction worker who fell at a Sulaymaniyah housing project last week has died, officials said Tuesday. The incident is part of a troubling trend in workplace fatalities within the region.
Osman Zindani, head of the Construction Workers Union, told 964media that the worker succumbed to injuries sustained while working on a project for Qaiwan company. “The worker had been in the intensive care unit since the incident and passed away today,” Zindani said. He identified the deceased as a 29-year-old man from Sulaymaniyah.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, a 25-year-old worker was injured after falling at an unfinished building near Smart Hospital, according to Saman Nader, head of Sulaymaniyah Emergency Services.
Chalak Raouf, head of the Sulaymaniyah branch of the Construction Workers Union, noted to 964media that ten workers have died in the governorate of Sulaymaniyah since the beginning of 2024.
From January to April 28, the Kurdistan Construction Workers’ Organization recorded 19 worker deaths in the Kurdistan Region and one fatality in Kirkuk Governorate. The breakdown includes nine deaths in Erbil, eight in Sulaymaniyah, and two in Duhok.
The organization attributed these fatalities to inadequate safety standards at workplaces, a lack of protective equipment, and minimal safety training provided by employers. Common causes of death reported were electrocution, building collapses, falls from heights, machinery-related incidents, and severe bleeding.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Union reported that worker fatalities in 2023 totaled 53, including 39 local workers and 14 foreign nationals. This marked an increase from 41 deaths in 2022.
Construction worker dies by electrocution in incident at Kalar housing project
