Levent Çelik, who lives in Van, moved to Istanbul 1 year ago because of the job he found in a construction company. Çelik also found a job for his childhood friend, Mazlum Gürbüz, at the company where he worked as an occupational safety personnel. The two friends worked together at the same construction site for about 5 months.
Gürbüz and Çelik, who were working at the construction site in Kemerburgaz District around 11:00 on September 29, stopped working due to the rain and went to the ward where they were staying. After a while, when the rain eased, two workers were called by their supervisors and summoned back to the field to assemble the sign. One of the workers, who went to the area where the sign was located with a platform with a basket, touched the high voltage line when he lifted the metal bar in his hand. As a result of the metal bar conducting electric current, both workers were electrocuted. Mazlum Gürbüz, one of the workers who fell into the basket, fainted. After Levent Çelik asked for help, the operator lowered the basket. First aid teams at the construction site intervened and tried to revive Gürbüz, whose heart stopped. After the first aid, two workers were taken to the hospital.
HE DIED HIS LIFE A WEEK LATER
Mazlum Gürbüz, who was treated in intensive care for about a week, died on October 5. Levent Çelik, who was injured, was discharged after treatment. Following the autopsy at the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute, Gürbüz's body was handed over to his family. Gürbüz was buried in his hometown, Tuşba district of Van.
'THEY FORCED MY SON TO WORK'
Claiming that her son was forced to work in rainy weather, mother Cahide Gürbüz said, "My son dropped out of school, our situation was not good, he had to come to work. There was a work accident, negligence, they forced him to work, it was not his job. They asked my son to remove and dismantle the sign on the rainy day. They took my son by force, they forced him to work."
'While he was lifting the bar, he touched the electric wire, and we were both electrocuted.'
Levent Çelik, who was injured in the work accident, explained the day of the incident and said, "We got up in the morning, went to our room and went to bed because it was raining, we did not work. At 11:00, our chief called. He said, 'The rain has stopped for a while, go and make the sign.' It was raining, we got on the work machine. My friend had an iron bar in his hand, we were going to mount the sign. While lifting the bar, he touched the electric wire, we were both electrocuted. We fell into the basket, he "I fainted. As soon as we got electrocuted, we called our chiefs. They came and the first aid team of the construction site intervened. The ambulance arrived 15-20 minutes later. Maybe if the ambulance had arrived 5 minutes earlier, we came to the hospital."
'WE WORKED IN RAINY WEATHER FOR FEAR OF DISMISSAL'
Stating that they had to work in the rainy weather for fear of being laid off, Çelik said, "I couldn't feel my own pain when I saw my friend like that. I wasn't aware of anything at that moment, but afterwards, everything hurt and I was shaking. I had an open wound on my hand, my hand was bleeding. We told the chief that we didn't want to go out because it was rainy. The chief said, 'The weather is not that bad, go out.' We had to, out of fear of being laid off, we went to work in the rainy weather. Neither of us wanted to work. He said, 'It doesn't rain very much.' "We had to go, we went," he said.
'WE DID NOT KNOW IT WAS A HIGH VOLTAGE LINE'
Claiming that the necessary security measures were not taken at the construction site, Çelik said, "We were working as occupational safety sub-personnel at the construction site. We were there to ensure the safe work of the workers, but the company could not ensure our safety. I have been working here for 1 year. I started in September last year, and my friend started in June. We are childhood friends, we grew up in the same village. We were studying, but since we had financial difficulties due to family reasons, we left school and came here and worked in construction. Normally, the work we did did not belong to us. We were only ensuring the job security of the workers on the site. "I'm so sad right now, I can barely stand. He was a dear friend of mine, we grew up together, he was like my brother. They didn't tell us that there was a power line. They didn't tell us whether they had cut off the electricity or not. Neither of us knew that there was high voltage on the poles and wires," he said.
'THEY WERE OPERATED WITH A METAL ROD WITHOUT GLOVES'
Doğan Bayer, the family's lawyer, stated that the installation was done by another team the day before, but it was swaying in the wind because it was not solid. "On September 28, another team was doing this installation, but it was swaying in the wind because it was not installed well. On September 29, the upper employer gave instructions to occupational safety experts to strengthen the assembly. Due to the rainy weather, the workers were told 'Don't work today, go to the wards'. However, our people are told to do the installation work. This job is not in their job description. Their duties are at the workplace." "To identify deficiencies, risks and dangers and report them to occupational safety experts. If an electrical work is to be done, appropriate protective equipment must be used. The children were given a metal rod without gloves. This rod caused the current to be transmitted to their bodies. This is one of the reasons for the work accident. Unfortunately, one person died and another was injured." Bayer claimed that the assembly work was not included in the job description of the workers, that the necessary training was not given, and that seat belts were not provided, and said, "If an insulating material against electricity had been used, if gloves had been worn, or if the bar in their hands had not been made of metal, the transmission of current could have been prevented. It is also negligence that the workers were raised to a high point for this assembly. We think that the fault rate is 100 percent. We also consider that the intervention of the ambulance and the workplace physician was delayed. Maybe lives could have been saved with early intervention. This issue is also being followed up in the judicial process." "We will be," he said.
'WE WILL SEARCH FOR OUR RIGHTS TILL THE END'
Uncle Şerafettin Canpolat, who stated that the family was in a miserable situation, said: "He was young, he was only 19 years old. He fell victim to this accident without even knowing what the accident was. We think it was a great negligence. Since this is a work accident, we will try to defend our rights until the end. His mother and father have been fainting continuously for a week. They sent their children here to work, and now they are taking their funerals. His family is really devastated."
