Workplace accidents in Iran: 58 workers die in 25 days

At least 58 workers died in workplace accidents in Iran in the first 25 days of the month of Mehr 1405 (23 September–17 October 2026).

This figure covers only the cases reported in the media and is neither an official nor a complete count; the real number of victims of workplace accidents is therefore probably higher. Falls from height, overturned vehicles carrying workers, gas poisoning, collapses of mines, tunnels and buildings, accidents with industrial machinery, fires and explosions were the main causes of these accidents.

From the Sungun mine to the industrial parks

Among the accidents of this period were a landslide at the Sungun copper mine in East Azerbaijan, the collapse of a tunnel wall at a mine in Narch and an accident at an open-pit clay mine in Ardakan. In the village of Qareh Hasanlu near Urmia, three workers died of gas poisoning in a well on 17 October. In the Kashmar industrial park a worker died while operating a press, and in the Toos industrial park a worker died in the mixer of a sausage factory; in the Bu-Ali industrial park in Delijan a worker lost a part of his body.

In Hamedan, from the start of the walnut harvest season to 30 September, 144 seasonal workers were injured and three killed after falling from trees. In Mazandaran, the province's director-general of forensic medicine reported 55 work-related deaths in the first five months of the Iranian year (March–August 2026), a 31 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

Worn-out equipment and job insecurity

Industrial safety experts see worn-out equipment, economic pressure, job insecurity and weak hazard control as the roots of these recurring accidents. At a time when the economic crisis and meagre wages are putting workers and employees under pressure, spending on safety in workplaces is the first victim of cost-cutting, and there is no effective oversight of compliance with standards.

Based on these reported cases alone, on average more than two workers die in workplace accidents in Iran every day.