By chemical means any element, compound or mixture that is naturally occurring, produced, used during a process or that occurs, including waste.

If businesses have to work with chemical substances in their fields of activity, they are responsible for the following situations:

• Preventing workers from exposure to chemicals
• Minimize chemical exposure if they cannot
• To take all necessary precautions to protect the employees from the hazards of chemical substances

Businesses are obliged to carry out a risk assessment study in order to determine the presence of hazardous chemicals in the working environment and to determine the negative effects on the health and safety of the employees. The principles of this study are included in the Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment Regulation published by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 2012.

In this risk assessment study, the following points should be taken into consideration:

• What hazards and hazards the chemical creates for health and safety
• Material safety information from manufacturer, importer or supplier
• Type, level and duration of exposure of chemical substances
• Amount of chemical substance, conditions of use and how often it is used
• Occupational exposure limit values ​​and biological limit values ​​stated in the annexes of the Regulation
• Effects of the measures taken and the measures to be taken
• If there have been previous medical examinations, their results
• If more than one chemical substance is used in the enterprise, the extent to which these substances affect each other

Chemical Exposure Measures

The Ministry of Labor and Social Security issued a Regulation on Health and Safety Measures in Working with Chemicals in 2013. The objective of this method is to protect the health of the employees. The Regulation aims to protect employees from the risks arising from the negative effects of chemicals that are present, used or processed in a manner. These risks may be present or may arise in the future. In order to protect employee health and provide a safer working environment from all these risks, the minimum requirements that enterprises must meet are stated in the regulation.

This directive is based on the following directives issued by the European Parliament and the Council:

• Directive 1998 / 1998 / EC issued in 24
• Directive 1991 / 1991 / EEC issued in 322
• Directive 2000 / 2000 / EC issued in 39
• Directive 2006 / 2006 / EC issued in 15
• Directive 2009 / 2009 / EU issued in 161

Measures to be taken to work with hazardous chemicals and to prevent chemical exposure are included in the regulation. Accordingly, in order to ensure the health and safety of the employees in the works carried out with dangerous chemicals, the following precautions should be taken in order to eliminate or minimize the possible risks:

• Making arrangements in accordance with the activities and work flow in the enterprise
• Doing work with hazardous chemicals with very few employees
• To minimize the amount of chemicals to be exposed to employees and the duration of exposure
• To keep the minimum amount of chemicals that should be used in the enterprise
• To keep the working environment and environment clean and tidy at all times
• Provide appropriate and sufficient conditions for employees to perform personal cleaning
• To provide the most suitable conditions for the processing, use, transportation and storage of dangerous chemicals in the enterprise.
• Using a substitution method and thereby reducing the exposure of workers (ie using other substances instead of hazardous chemicals and not jeopardizing employees' health and safety)
• Following the technological developments and using new methods and new machines, materials and equipments
• Implement collective protection measures to prevent risks at source
• To apply personal protection methods where risks cannot be prevented
• To carry out adequate controls, audits and inspections to ensure the effectiveness of the measures taken

Businesses must ensure that the measurement and analysis of chemical substances that are at risk for health and safety of employees are carried out continuously. When new situations arise that affect workers' exposure to chemicals, these measurements need to be repeated.

These tests and measurements carried out by accredited testing and inspection bodies take into account occupational exposure limit values ​​as defined in the Annexes to the Regulation on Health and Safety Measures in the Working with Chemicals (Annex 1). The annex to this regulation also describes the prohibited use of chemicals and the prohibited works (Annex 3).

In the Regulation, exposure limit values ​​are determined on two different basis.

• Time-weighted average measured or calculated for 8 hourly period
• Unless specified otherwise, the maximum exposure limit for the 15 minute period should not be exceeded.

In fulfilling their obligations, enterprises must take into account the measurement results obtained. If occupational exposure limit values ​​are exceeded, protective and preventive measures must be taken at the establishment. Therefore, chemical exposure measurements and tests should be performed. In short, the operating building, the working environment and the machinery and equipment used must be under constant control.

If the chemical sector is classified in terms of chemical enterprises, the following can be listed:

• Organic and inorganic chemicals
• Plastics, fibers, synthetic resins
• Pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical chemicals
• Cleaning, washing, polishing and perfumery
• Paints, varnishes, enamels and lacquers
• Chemicals used in agriculture
• Various chemical products
• Petroleum products

All chemicals have harmful effects if they enter a certain amount of organisms in a certain way. The severity of the effect of the chemical substances taken into the body is proportional to the amount.

Chemicals used for health and nutritional purposes may improve the quality of life, but it is also a fact that they are harmful to workers and environmental conditions in the above-mentioned areas. Not all chemicals are equally harmful. Furthermore, their harmful effects are not limited to their properties. Chemical substances can have harmful effects in many ways. However, they may not work in the same way and at the same time. The effects of chemicals depend entirely on the conditions of use and storage.