in Turkey, the legal definition of “work accident” is made by the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Code No. 5510, as this is the primary law of the Turkish Social Security Regime.
According to the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Code No. 5510, a “work accident” is defined as an event that occurs during the course of employment (including self-employment) and results in death, injury, or illness. For an accident to be considered as “work accident” by the Turkish Social Insurance Law, the event must must immediately or subsequently harm the social insured physically or mentally and/or renter him/her disabled.
Examples of work accidents as defined by the law include:
- Accidents that occur while an employee is performing their job duties on the employer’s premises or as mobile or while on a business trip,
- Accidents that occur while the employee is within the boundaries of the workplace and its add-ons (regardless of the accident is related to the work or not),
- Accidents caused by the work carried out by the employer,
- If the insured works independently on his own behalf and account, accidents that occur as a result of his/her own work,
- Accidents that occur 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,
- Accidents that occur in the times allocated to breast-feeding her child in accordance with the Turkish Labour Legislation,
- Accidents that occur while an employee is commuting to or from work by a vehicle provided by the employer,
In terms of insurance holders working under an employer, it is obligatory to notify the work accident to the authorized law enforcement officers of that place immediately and to the Social Security Institution within three working days after the accident at the latest. The reporting obligation is on the employer.
In terms of the insured working on his own behalf and account, the occupational accident must be reported to the Social Security Institution within three working days after the day when the illness does not prevent reporting, provided that it does not exceed one month.
The work accident must be sent directly or by registered mail to the Social Security Institution with a document called “Declaration of Work Accident and Occupational Disease”. The notification period starts from the date of learning of the work accident, if the work accident occurs in places beyond the employer’s control.
