New Health and Safety Regulations in Turkey...
Purpose of the law is to arrange the duties, powers, responsibilities, rights, and obligations of the employers and employees with the intent of maintaining labor health and safety at the workplaces, and improving the current health and safety conditions.
The law is applicable, disregarding the subjects of their activities, to all businesses and workplaces within the scope of both public, and private sectors, to the employers and deputy employers of the aforesaid workplaces, and to all the employees thereof, including the apprentices and interns as well.
First of all, workplace doctor is being defined in the Labor Health and Safety Law No.6331 as the doctor being the holder of workplace medicine certificate, who has been authorized by the Ministry of Labor and Health so as to be functioning in the field of labor health and safety. One of the most important improvements being introduced by law in the field of workplace medicine is the aforementioned definition. By means of the definition in question, the dispute on whether Turkish Medicine Association (TTB) is also entitled in the workplace medicine practices has been ceased, and the field of workplace medicine has entirely been left to the authority of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
The condition for the employment of labor safety specialists and workplace doctors or for the procurement of equivalent services externally will become effective intwo years as from the date of publication of the respective law, among the workplaces with less than 10 employees, in those being ranked within highly-hazardous class;three years as from the date of publication of the respective law, among the workplaces with less than 10 employees, in those being ranked within hazardous and highly-hazardous classes;one year as from the date of publication of the respective law, among the workplaces with no less than 10 employees, in those being ranked within all hazard classes.
According to the current regulation, the employers being ranked in the field of industry, and employing more than 50 employees are obliged to employ labor safety specialists and workplace doctors. Such employers may optionally procure the aforementioned services externally. However, in accordance with the new Law on Labor Health and Safety, the limit of 50 employees is cancelled, and it becomes obligatory for all workplaces to employ labor safety specialists and workplace doctors. In other words, a workplace, in which only three workers are being employed, is also to obtain service from labor safety specialists and workplace doctors.
We hereby advise our esteemed customers to receive training and consultancy
from a labor safety company after the publication of the respective regulations due
to not only the penal sanctions of the new law, but also due to the likelihood of
being imposed to respective proceedings due to potential labor safety risks.