The primary law regarding occupational health and safety in Turkey is the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 of 2012.
According to the aforimentioned law, the employer is obliged to ensure the work-related health and safety of employees and is responsible for fulfilling the following duties within the framework of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS):
- He/she works to prevent occupational risks, take all kinds of precautions including providing training and information, organize, provide the necessary tools and equipment, adapt health and safety measures to changing conditions and improve the current situation.
- He/she monitors and inspects whether occupational health and safety measures taken in the workplace are followed and ensures that any nonconformities are eliminated.
- Conducts or has a risk assessment carried out in the workplace.
- When assigning tasks to the employee, he/she takes into account the employee’s suitability for the job in terms of health and safety.
- He/she takes the necessary precautions to prevent employees other than those who have been given sufficient information and instructions from entering areas where there is a life-threatening or special danger.
Outsourcing OHS services, receiving services from experts and organizations outside the workplace does not eliminate the employer’s responsibilities.
Employees’ obligations in the field of occupational health and safety do not affect the employer’s responsibilities.
The employer cannot pass on the cost of occupational health and safety measures to employees.
The employer must take into account the following principles in fulfilling its obligations regarding OHS:
- Avoiding risks.
- Analyzing risks that cannot be avoided.
- Fighting risks at their source.
- To pay attention to the design of workplaces and the selection of work equipment, working style and production methods in order to make the work suitable for people, and to prevent, or if not preventable, to minimize the negative effects of monotonous working and production tempo on health and safety.
- Adapting to technical developments.
- Replacing the dangerous with the non-dangerous or less dangerous.
- To develop a consistent and general prevention policy covering the effects of factors related to technology, work organization, working conditions, social relations and the work environment.
- To give priority to collective protection measures over personal protection measures.
- Giving appropriate instructions to employees.
