Occupational health has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the work carried out to maintain, maintain and improve the mental, physical and social well-being of employees in all professions.
The health risks in this definition are as follows:
- Physical factors: noise, vibration, radiation and hot or cold weather
- Chemical factors: airborne dust, gas and vapor, smoke, liquids and aerosols
- Biological factors: viruses, bacteria, parasites and rodents
- Ergonomic factors: rapid motions, repetitive motions and motive motions
The subject of occupational safety refers to the planned and scientific studies that are carried out in order to protect from the dangers that occur during the continuation of the activities in the enterprise or the conditions that would harm the health of the employees and to create a better working environment. In simple terms, occupational safety is to take a number of measures in order to ensure that employees work in a healthy and safe state.
In this case, the objectives of occupational safety studies can be listed as follows:
- To protect employees against various dangers and their health
- To improve working environment and working conditions
- To eliminate various hazards and health-damaging causes
- To create an order in the working environment to make employees more comfortable and secure
- To carry out all of these studies based on planned and scientific methods
As well as employers, employees are responsible for ensuring occupational health and safety. Regardless of the field of activity, these activities are not in a hurry and important enough to be carried out without any job security. Businesses have to keep in mind the following: simple accidents that do not cause loss of workforce are actually the precursors of major accidents.
Occupational accidents are all kinds of unexpected events that may harm the health of the employees and the property of the enterprise. Therefore, accidents are not known in advance. It emerges out of control and temporarily or permanently interrupts the operations of the entity and causes major or minor damage. There is a causal link between the field of activity and the accident.
Statistically, 330 results in death and 1 in organ loss and 29 is avoided inexpensively from each 300 accident. This statistic is very important for occupational health and safety.
The Occupational Health and Safety Law enacted in 2012 regulates the duties, powers and responsibilities of employers and employees in terms of providing occupational health and safety in enterprises and improving the existing health and safety conditions.
Again, let's take a quick look at the statistics: business accidents occur every three minutes, employees are crippled every ninety minutes, employees lose their lives every four hours. From another perspective, the average 4 employee dies every day, 15 thousand employees are injured every year and 140 thousand employees have an occupational accident each year. These are very serious figures and it is necessary to go over work accidents. Construction, mining and metal work are the leading sectors where occupational accidents are most encountered in our country.
Another risk that threatens employees is occupational diseases. Occupational disease means that employees experience a temporary or permanent illness, disability or mental distress due to a repeated reason according to the nature of the work or due to the conditions of the work environment and the work. Some angelic diseases are noise-related hearing disorders. Some are due to various metal powders, welding fumes and gases, carbon monoxide gas, solvents and other cleaning agents and chemicals such as acids. It is affected by chemical substances, through the respiratory and lungs, through the skin or through the mouth and digestive system.
Scope of Occupational Safety Tests
A significant number of accidents are caused by insecure behavior and conditions or coexistence. Factors contributing to accidents are the mental state of the employees, their physical characteristics and the safety measures of the company.
Pensiveness, hastiness, attitude, non-compliance with security measures, joke, being overly fast, carelessness, neglect and dangerous work, which are inherent in employees, are the best examples of unsafe behaviors. Some of this is due to insufficient knowledge and experience.
Examples of unsafe situations include the lack of maintenance, damage, misuse, use of inadequate protective equipment, use of improper equipment, use of improper preservatives and inadequate warning systems during the activities. An important part of this is due to the irregularity of the working environment, being scattered and not being clean.
The invisible cost of occupational accidents to businesses is an average of five times higher than their apparent cost. These invisible costs include work day and labor losses due to the downtime, damage to buildings, machinery, equipment and products, reduced productivity, reduced employee motivation, poor image and market loss for the company.
Considering all these losses, the importance of occupational safety tests is better understood. These tests, measurements and analyzes carried out by authorized testing and inspection laboratories are based on the current regulations and domestic and foreign standards.
To take all necessary measures to ensure occupational health and safety in work environments in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Law, to keep all the necessary tools and equipment in full, to check whether the occupational health and safety measures taken in the enterprise are complied with and to carry out risk assessment studies, must educate them about the professional risks to be faced by the employees and the necessary measures to be taken and their legal rights and responsibilities. Employees are also obliged to comply with all measures taken in relation to occupational health and safety.
