Notification of occupational injuries is one of the liabilities of employers in the Turkish Social Insurance Laaw.
According to the Article 13 of the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Code No. 5510; occupational injury (work accident) is an event that occurs in the following situations and causes physical or mental disability to the insured immediately or later.
The following cases can be considered as work accidents specifically:
• An accident that occurred while the insured was at work and within the boundaries of the workplace.
• If the insured works independently on his own behalf and account, due to the work carried out by the employer, an accident due to the work he/she is carrying out.
• An accident that occurs when the insured working for an employer is sent to another place outside the workplace as an employee, without performing his or her main job.
• The accident that occurs during the time allocated to the breastfeeding female insured to give milk to her child in accordance with the Turkish Labour Legislation.
• An accident that occurs during the insured’s arrival and departure to the place of work with a vehicle provided by the employer.
According to the Article 13 of the Social Security and General Health Insurance Code No. 5510, the employer who employs the accidentee has to report the work accident to the law enforcement at that location immediately and to the Social Security Institution within three working days after the accident, in case the workers employed with a service contract within the provisions of the Act No. 5510.
In the face of this obligation, it is seen that there may be hesitations about which events and cases will be considered as work accidents. One of the most doubted situations is traffic accidents. In this context, accidents that occur in vehicles belonging to the workplace are included in the scope of work accidents, regardless of this is happening due to execution of the job or not. Likewise, traffic accidents that occur during arrival and departure to the place of work with a vehicle provided by the employer are also included in the scope of work accidents. The inside of the workplace vehicle is being considered within the boundaries of the workplace according to the Turkish Social Insurance Law.
It is of great importance that employers fulfill their notification obligations without delay in the event of an occupational accident as to avoid any legal and administrative sanctions against themselves.
