The Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation

The Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation sets out the health conditions that must exist in the places where employees work. Alongside this, the Regulation also sets out the measures and equipment needed to prevent health problems that may arise from the tools, machinery and raw materials used in the workplace, together with the equipment that must be present in the workplace and the safety measures to be taken in order to prevent accidents at work.

Every employer is obliged to comply with the rules set out in the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation in order to protect the health of the employees working at the workplace and the safety of the workplace itself. Alongside this, the employees working within the workplace are also obliged to comply with the procedures and conditions contained in the Regulation.

Details of the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation — 2019–2020 Update

The purpose of the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation is to safeguard the occupational safety of a workplace and the health of the employees working within it.

Opening with a preamble and general provisions, the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation contains detailed conditions and rules affecting every sector — from the tools and machinery used in the workplace to the measures to be taken against infectious diseases, and from the safety measures to be taken in motor vehicles to those to be taken around ovens and furnaces.

Measures Set Out in the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation

The Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation contains a great many measures, from the general health rules that must be observed in workplaces to the equipment to be used and the steps to be taken to prevent accidents at work.

Some of the measures set out in the Regulation for the purpose of protecting and maintaining workers' health and occupational safety are as follows:

• the health conditions in the workplace and the safety measures to be taken there,
• the general health conditions and safety measures required in employees' sleeping quarters and in other outbuildings at the workplace,
• measures to prevent potential health problems that may arise in workplaces for a variety of reasons,
• measures to be taken against occupational diseases,
• special measures to be taken against occupational health problems that may arise from chemical effects, mechanical causes, the raw materials used and the characteristics of the workplace,
• medical measures to be taken against accidents at work, and the first aid and treatment supplies that must be kept in workplaces,
• safety measures to be taken against workplace fires,
• the equipment that must be kept and the safety measures that must be taken in order to prevent accidents at work,
• the safety measures to be taken during maintenance and repair work on workplace installations,
• personal protective equipment.

What Is the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation?

A regulation (tüzük) is the body of provisions governing the activities, management and executive affairs of an institution, association or organisation, whose provisions can only be amended or repealed by that institution's own competent bodies.

In that sense, the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation is defined as the body of provisions compiled for the purpose of protecting and maintaining the health and occupational safety of the employees working at a workplace.

In Turkey, laws published in the Official Gazette, presidential decrees, communiqués, regulations and other administrative acts are published, kept up to date, on the Legislation Information System.

Articles of the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation

The articles of the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation are published on the Turkish Medical Association website. You can visit the Turkish Medical Association website for all of the articles.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation — 2019–2020 Update

The questions asked most often about the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation are about whether it is still in force.

News reports about the Regulation being repealed and the like have caused interest in the Regulation to concentrate on exactly this point.

You can read the answers to the most commonly asked questions on the subject in the rest of our blog post.

Is the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation Still in Force?

The Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation was repealed on 23 July 2014 by the regulation published in Official Gazette no. 29069.

The entry into force of the Regulation Repealing the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation was decided by the Council of Ministers on 16/6/2014, upon the letter of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security dated 9 December 2013 and numbered 18201.

What Replaced the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation?

The Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation was repealed because provisions on occupational health and safety were included in Labour Acts such as nos. 3008, 931, 1475 and 4857.

Under the second transitional article of Occupational Health and Safety Act no. 4857, it was stated that those provisions of the regulations brought into force under the articles of the Labour Act that are not inconsistent with it would continue to be applied until the obligations laid down in Act no. 6331 entered into force.

When Was the Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation Repealed?

The Workers' Health and Occupational Safety Regulation was repealed by the regulation published in Official Gazette no. 29069 dated 23.07.2014.