Joint Occupational Health and Safety Services For Small Undertakings in Turkey

SUMMARY

According to the most recent (1996) statistics,

1. Of the workplaces employing 50 or less “insured labour”, 98.4 % of the workplaces,and 57.7 % of the work-force, are small-scale enterprises;
2. Of the workplaces employing 250 or less “insured labour”, 99.8 % of the workplaces, and %80.1 of the workforce are small- and medium-scale enterprises.

Including workplaces employing, non-insured and family-labour these percentages inevitably rise.

Under these circumstances, the problem of “child labour” becomes more accentuated in small and medium scale enterprises.

Both workplace data, and our comparative studies reveal that violations of labour laws, illegal working hours, unhealthy working conditions, etc., are most widespread in small and medium workplaces.

According to existent legislation in Turkey, “occupational health and safety services” are not compulsory in workplaces employing less that 50 workers. Legally speaking, it is compulsory in workplaces employing 50-250 workers, but these legal obligations are not fully implemented.

According to our “Labour Law” and our “Protection of Public Health Law”, middle-scale enterprises are legally obliged to employ occupational physicians, but, small-scale enterprises have no such obligation. In the latter they are voluntary. Safety engineers are not obligatory, either in one, or the other.

Our efforts, starting in 1982, were aimed at organizing the voluntary efforts and contributions of small-scale entrepreneurs for establishing a joint medical unit.

In our fifth year, we reached 150 small scale enterprises, and in our twelfth year 250, expanding our efforts to two provinces. After 16 years, we are heading towards 3 centers in 2 provinces, and a coordinated centre in the third.

The characteristics of our “FISEK MODEL” are the following:

1. It can be renewed and replenished
2. It can be repeated
3. It is multi-disciplinary and emphasise the social aspects of health and medicine
4. It is dynamic, and open to multi-disciplinary participation
5. It is sustainable
6. Priority is given to risk groups, i.e., children and women,
7. Advisory, training, etc., services are provide to employers,
8. Solidarity, justice, fair-play.

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Our periodical, “Working Environment” has been in publication for 6 years.

It is the most long-lived publication in the field of “occupational health and safety”.

We have supplemented it with an exhibition-house on “Personal and Environmental Safety Measures”.

These two efforts are amalgamated in our “Joint Occupational Health and Safety Services”.

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One of our foremost priorities is solving the problems of “Female Child Labour”, and the furthering of “Female Labour” in the general work-force.

We cannot achieve this purpose alone, and on a macro level.

Our aim is based on the cooperation and integration of our model, and the cooperative effort of the labour and women’s movements.

Inequalities and disparities can be removed with our model.

Health and working conditions, personal and social status, are interrelated.

Their furthering ise a joint effort.