Workplace accidents in Iran: 59 workers killed in the first 25 days of Mehr

At least 59 workers died in workplace accidents in Iran between 23 September and 17 October 2026 (the first 25 days of the month of Mehr 1405), and another 250 workers were injured. HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, announced on Tuesday 20 October that the figures come from 64 workplace incidents and that the fate of four workers remains unknown.

According to HRANA, these figures cover only cases reported in the media and are not an official or complete count; the real number of victims of workplace accidents is therefore likely higher. Falls from height, overturned vehicles carrying workers, gas poisoning, collapses in mines, tunnels and buildings, industrial machinery accidents, fires and explosions were the main causes of these accidents.

From the Sungun mine to the industrial estates

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

In Hamedan, since the start of the walnut harvest season until 30 September, 144 seasonal workers have been injured and three killed in falls from trees. In Mazandaran, the province's director-general of forensic medicine reported 55 work-related deaths in the first five months of the year, a 31 percent increase over the same period last year.

Worn-out equipment and job insecurity

Industrial safety experts point to worn-out equipment, economic pressure, job insecurity and weak hazard control as the roots of these recurring accidents. As the economic crisis and meagre wages squeeze workers and employees, safety spending in workplaces is the first casualty of cost-cutting, and there is no effective oversight of compliance with standards.

According to HRANA's annual figures, in the Iranian year 1404 (2025–26) at least 1,270 workers died in workplace accidents and 8,264 were injured.

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