Why Occupational Safety?
Statistics do not reveal any good figures. According to a study conducted in 2010, there are close to 1,4 million businesses in Turkey and there are over 10 employees in these establishments. In these workplaces, there were around one thousand occupational accidents and occupational diseases on 63. The number of employees who lost their lives due to occupational accidents and occupational diseases is close to 500. The number of employees who are permanently unable to work is over 1500 thousand. The number of working days lost due to these events is more than 2 million. It is estimated that this situation leads to 1,5 billion TL of gross domestic product. Although financial losses can be recovered, unfortunately compensation for life losses is not possible.
Based on these facts, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has introduced the Law No. 2010 on Occupational Health and Safety in 6331. However, the precautions to be taken for occupational health and safety should not be a cost but a priority for the employees to work more peacefully and safely and to be more productive.
Almost all of the enterprises operating in our country are SMEs with fewer than 250 employees. 84 percent of the total working population works in these establishments. And 80 is the percentage of these accidents. The Ministry did not discriminate between large and small enterprises while enacting the said law. There is no distinction between the private and public sectors. It is important to ensure the occupational health and safety of the employees. However, another important point will be that these principles of legislation can be achieved by the adoption and implementation of all relevant parties.
In the Occupational Health and Safety Law, a preventive approach is adopted instead of a prescriptive approach. According to the principles of the law, businesses are divided into hazard classes by looking at the sector in which they operate and the nature of the work performed. All workplaces will now have a trained and experienced specialist, such as an occupational safety specialist and a workplace doctor. In enterprises with fewer than 10 employees, the government will support the expenditures on occupational health and safety.
According to the principles of the law, to prevent work accidents and occupational diseases, enterprises should have risk assessment in advance. In addition, employees will undergo health checks at regular intervals. Records of occupational accidents and diseases will be kept more effective.
Occupational health and safety committee will be established in enterprises with more than fifty employees. Emergency plans are also required in the enterprises. Businesses are obliged to explain their rights and responsibilities to occupational health and safety. In this way, employees must participate more effectively in occupational health and safety activities in the enterprise. Employees have the right to refrain from working in case of any danger. If there is a life-threatening danger for the employees, the work may be stopped in the whole or part of the enterprise.
Briefly, enterprises with high risk of accidents need to have safety report and accident prevention policy document in order to start and maintain.
What is Safety Inspection of Machines?
The Machinery Safety Regulation issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade includes machinery, interchangeable equipment, safety components, lifting accessories, chains, belts and ropes, removable mechanical transmission equipment and partially completed machinery.
If all kinds of machines used in the establishments are installed in accordance with the purpose of production, are regularly maintained and used for the purposes expected from them, they should not harm human health and property safety. The said regulation is intended for the placing of machinery and equipment with these characteristics on the market and for use in the workplaces,
- Basic safety requirements to be observed during design and production
- Compliance assessment processes to be followed and
- It sets the minimum criteria for the appointment of notified bodies to carry out conformity assessment studies.
This regulation has been prepared in accordance with the directive 2006 / 42 / EC issued by the European Union. Which machines and equipment covered by the regulation are defined in detail in the regulation. Simply put, vehicles and equipment with the following characteristics are considered machines:
- Other than partially completed machinery
- People with their own mobility other than human and animal power
- At least one of the parts which are assembled together for a certain application
- Capable of working only when connected to a means of transport or installed in a building
- Designed and managed to work as a whole
Thanks to these regulations, the benefits of the enterprises by having the safety inspections of the machinery and equipment are as follows:
- Prevent work accidents and occupational diseases
- Building a safe working environment
- Improve production efficiency
- Preventing environmental pollution
The safety inspections of the machines can be carried out by the units that the enterprises will establish within their own bodies and only the employees who are responsible for doing this work, as well as by the inspection institutions which provide this service as impartial, independent, reliable, fast and high quality. Inspection institutions test and control whether the machines and equipment that are in low risk group are in compliance with the criteria of the regulation. These tests and inspections are carried out by experienced and trained engineers and a report is prepared and delivered to the company. For these studies, inspection institutions will want to see technical documents and product samples to be checked from the enterprises.
A few standards considered during these studies are:
- TS EN ISO 12100 Machinery safety - Risk assessment and risk reduction
- TS EN 60204-1 Safety in machines - Electrical equipment of machines
Market surveillance and inspection of the machines within the scope of the said regulation is carried out by the official institutions in accordance with the Regulation on Market Surveillance and Inspection of Products and the Regulation on Market Surveillance and Inspection of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
