Iran Reports over 2,000 Work-Related Deaths in a Year, up 11%

In Iran, there have been more than 2,000 work-related deaths recorded in the last year, more than five per day, up by over 11 percent.

According to Ali Ziyai, head of the crime scene investigation unit at the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization, a total of 2,115 workers lost their lives, while an additional 27,000 sustained injuries as a result of work-related accidents during the last Iranian calendar year, spanning from March 2023 to March 2024.

Criticizing the Ministry of Labor for "statistical cover-up" on Monday state-affiliated ILNA news agency highlighted that this figure translates to an average of 5.79 worker fatalities per day throughout the year.

Ziyai told INLA that work-related fatalities "have increased by 11.3% compared to the previous year", adding that falling from heights consistently constitutes the largest portion of work accident fatalities.

He said, "Last year, 983 individuals lost their lives in workplace accidents due to falls from a height, comprising 46% of the total casualties.”

However, the numbers are likely far higher than reported by government affiliated sources. On International Labor Day last month, the HRANA Human Rights Organization reported that at least 9,879 workers lost their lives or sustained injuries over the past year in Iran from 1 May 2023 to 27 April.

According to HRANA, a minimum of 1,680 workers died due to work-related accidents. Out of these fatalities, 10 official sources documented 1,514 deaths, while independent organizations reported the remaining 166 fatalities.