- IS OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES A LEGAL OBLIGATION?

IS OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES A LEGAL OBLIGATION? Occupational health and safety is a legal institution brought in order to prevent work accidents and occupational diseases that are frequently encountered in working life. Occupational safety is the whole of the obligations for employers to prevent the dangers to their lives and bodily integrity that employees encounter in their working life. However, there is no doubt that besides the employer, the state and the worker also have certain obligations in terms of ensuring occupational safety. Occupational health, on the other hand, refers to taking the measures determined in the legislation so that the workers can work in a healthy and productive way and to prevent accidents and diseases that may occur. The basis of occupational health and safety measures is based on many national and international sources. The most comprehensive regulations in our law have been brought with the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331. Article 4 of the relevant Law clearly states that the employer is obliged to ensure the occupational health and safety of the employees. In this context, the obligations of the employer can be briefly listed as follows: 1. Obligation to ensure occupational health and safety 2. Obligation to supervise the implementation of occupational health and safety measures 3. Obligation to inform and train employees about risks in the workplace 4. Obligation to make a risk assessment 5. Obligation of health surveillance taking into account the risks in the workplace 6. It is the obligation to establish an Occupational Health and Safety Board in workplaces with fifty or more employees.