Learn the main employer duties under Turkey’s Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331, including risk assessment, OHS services, emergency planning, accident reporting, health surveillance, training, worker participation, committees, and enforcement risks.
Occupational Health and Safety in Turkey
Occupational health and safety in Turkey is governed principally by Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331, which was enacted to regulate the duties, authority, responsibilities, rights, and obligations of employers and workers in order to ensure occupational health and safety at workplaces and improve existing conditions. The law applies broadly across Turkish working life and has become one of the most important compliance statutes for employers operating in Turkey.
The practical importance of Law No. 6331 is hard to overstate. In Turkey, occupational health and safety is not treated as a narrow technical issue delegated entirely to an outside consultant. It is a core employer responsibility affecting workplace organization, equipment, training, supervision, emergency planning, accident reporting, health surveillance, and even whether operations may continue at all. A failure in any of these areas can create administrative sanctions, work stoppage risk, labor disputes, compensation exposure, and in serious cases wider civil or criminal consequences.
This article explains Occupational Health and Safety in Turkey: Employer Responsibilities Under Law No. 6331 in a practical, SEO-friendly format. It focuses on the current legal framework, the broad scope of the law, the employer’s general duty of protection, risk assessment, OHS professional services, emergency planning, the right to abstain from dangerous work, accident and occupational disease reporting, health surveillance, training, worker participation, OHS committees, multi-employer coordination, and the main enforcement risks employers should understand.
1. Scope of Law No. 6331
Law No. 6331 has a deliberately wide scope. Article 2 states that it applies to all works and workplaces in both the public and private sectors, to employers and employer representatives, and to all workers including apprentices and interns, regardless of the field of activity, subject to limited statutory exceptions. The Ministry’s OHS FAQ likewise states that the law applies across public and private workplaces and that apprentices and interns are also protected by this framework.
This broad scope matters because many employers still assume that occupational health and safety obligations are mostly an issue for factories, mines, and construction sites. That assumption is legally unsafe. The Turkish framework is not limited to classic high-risk sectors. Office workplaces, service companies, retail businesses, logistics operations, workshops, and public institutions are all potentially within the law’s reach unless they fall into a specific statutory exception.
The Ministry’s FAQ also confirms a particularly important current point: after the latest postponement rules expired, the obligation concerning OHS professional assignment also began for public workplaces and for fewer-than-50-employee workplaces in the less hazardous class as of 31 December 2024. In practical terms, by 2026 employers should not assume that being small or low-hazard keeps them outside the OHS services framework.
2. The employer’s general responsibility
Article 4 is the heart of Law No. 6331. It states that the employer must ensure workers’ safety and health in every aspect related to the work. This includes taking necessary measures for health and safety protection, preventing occupational risks, providing information and training, organizing the work appropriately, checking whether measures are followed, eliminating nonconformities, carrying out or having carried out risk assessments, and taking the worker’s health and safety capacities into account when assigning tasks. The same article also states that workplace health and safety measures may in no circumstances impose financial cost on workers.
This general-duty structure is fundamental because it makes OHS a management obligation rather than a narrow documentation exercise. Turkish law expects the employer to build a functioning protection system, not just to keep a file of forms. It is not enough to say that an expert was hired or that a document exists somewhere in the HR archive. The employer must also monitor implementation, remove unsafe conditions, and adapt measures as circumstances change.
Article 5 then sets out the principles of protection from risks. These include avoiding risks, evaluating unavoidable risks, combating risks at source, adapting work to the individual, adapting to technical progress, replacing dangerous factors with less dangerous ones, developing a coherent prevention policy, prioritizing collective protective measures over individual ones, and giving appropriate instructions to workers. For employers, this means the Turkish OHS regime is prevention-oriented from the outset.
3. Hazard classification and why it matters
Law No. 6331 also relies on workplace hazard classification. Article 9 states that hazard classification is assigned based on the workplace’s main activity. The Ministry’s regulatory and guidance framework uses this classification to determine the intensity of some obligations, especially around OHS service assignment, training, health surveillance, and sector-specific compliance expectations.
In practice, hazard classification matters because the employer’s compliance model is not identical in every workplace. A less hazardous office environment and a very hazardous industrial site may both be subject to Law No. 6331, but the operational depth of the OHS program, the types of risks examined, and the professional support structure will differ significantly. Employers therefore need to identify their classification accurately rather than assuming a generic OHS template is enough.
4. Occupational health and safety services
Article 6 requires the employer to provide occupational health and safety services related to the protection and prevention of occupational risks. To do this, the employer must designate an occupational safety specialist, an occupational physician, and where applicable other health staff. If the employer lacks sufficiently qualified internal personnel, the employer must obtain these services from an authorized common health and safety unit. The law also allows employers meeting the required qualifications and certification conditions to perform certain OHS services themselves, depending on hazard class and worker numbers.
The Ministry’s FAQ adds an important practical explanation: the legal system first encourages employers to appoint qualified personnel from among their own workers, but if that is not possible, services must be obtained externally from Ministry-authorized units. The FAQ also stresses that employers must provide the necessary means, space, time, coordination, and support for OHS professionals to work effectively, and must implement written OHS measures communicated by those professionals when those measures are in line with the legislation.
This point is crucial because employers sometimes misunderstand outsourcing. Hiring an external OHS unit does not transfer the employer’s legal responsibility. Law No. 6331 and the Ministry’s own explanations make clear that the employer remains the central duty holder. OHS professionals support compliance; they do not replace the employer’s obligation to build and enforce a safe system.
5. Risk assessment is not optional
Article 10 states that the employer must conduct a risk assessment or have one conducted, taking into account which workers may be affected by risks, the choice of work equipment, chemical substances or preparations used, workplace organization and housekeeping, and the position of workers who need special protection, such as young workers, older workers, disabled workers, pregnant workers, and breastfeeding workers. The article also requires the employer to identify the measures and protective equipment needed as a result of the assessment and to carry out controls, measurements, examinations, and research to determine workplace risks.
The Ministry’s OHS FAQ puts the point in even more direct terms: all workplaces within the scope of Law No. 6331, in both the public and private sectors, must have risk assessment performed. The same FAQ also explains that the assessment is carried out by a team formed by the employer and should include the employer or employer representative, OHS professionals where assigned, employee representatives, and support personnel.
For employers, risk assessment is one of the most legally important OHS duties because it links nearly everything else together. Emergency planning, training content, health surveillance needs, protective equipment decisions, and work-method adjustments should all flow from a realistic risk assessment. A copied or purely formal assessment may look acceptable on paper but can fail badly in inspection or litigation if it does not reflect the actual workplace.
6. Emergency planning, fire-fighting, first aid, and evacuation
Article 11 requires the employer to assess foreseeable emergency situations that may affect workers and the work environment, take measures to prevent and limit adverse effects, conduct measurements and assessments for emergency protection, and prepare emergency plans. The employer must also designate a sufficient number of trained persons for prevention, protection, evacuation, fire-fighting, first aid, and related tasks, taking into account the size of the workplace, the specific hazards, the nature of activities, and the number of workers and other persons present. The law further requires necessary contacts with external services, especially first aid, emergency medical care, rescue, and fire-fighting services.
Article 12 then addresses evacuation in cases of serious, imminent, and unavoidable danger. The employer must take action and give instructions enabling workers to stop work and leave for a place of safety, and must refrain from requiring them to resume work while the serious and imminent danger remains, except in duly justified exceptional cases. Workers who take appropriate steps to avoid the consequences of such danger may not be placed at a disadvantage unless they acted carelessly or negligently.
From a practical standpoint, employers should understand that emergency preparedness in Turkey is not satisfied by hanging a fire plan on the wall. The law expects a living system: identified scenarios, trained personnel, drills, available rescue capacity, and clear evacuation logic. In inspections and post-incident analysis, emergency preparedness is judged by whether the system actually works, not by whether a template exists.
7. The worker’s right to abstain from dangerous work
Article 13 gives workers an important substantive right. A worker exposed to a serious and imminent danger may apply to the OHS committee, or to the employer where there is no committee, requesting identification of the danger and emergency intervention. If the committee or employer supports the request, the worker may abstain from work until the necessary measures are implemented, and the worker remains entitled to payment and to rights arising from the employment contract and other laws during that abstention period. In cases of serious, imminent, and unavoidable danger, workers may leave their workstation or dangerous area immediately and may not be disadvantaged for doing so. If necessary measures are still not taken despite workers’ requests, workers under labor contracts may terminate their contracts in accordance with applicable law.
This is one of the strongest employee-protection mechanisms in Turkish OHS law. It shows that occupational safety is not merely something the worker hopes the employer will manage correctly. In certain danger situations, the worker has a legal right to stop working and to protect themselves without automatically losing pay or contractual protection.
For employers, this means complaints about serious and imminent danger cannot be treated casually. Once the legal threshold is engaged, delay or dismissal of the complaint can create not only safety risk but also wage, termination, and broader liability consequences.
8. Recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases
Article 14 requires the employer to keep a list of all occupational accidents and diseases, prepare reports after the necessary inquiries, and also investigate and report incidents that could potentially harm workers, the workplace, or equipment even if they did not cause injury or death. The employer must notify the Social Security Institution of occupational accidents within three working days from the date of the accident, and of occupational diseases within three working days after receiving notification from health care providers or occupational physicians. Authorized health providers also have their own notification duties.
This reporting structure matters because Turkish law does not focus only on actual injury events. It also expects employers to learn from near misses and dangerous incidents that did not yet produce bodily harm. That approach fits the preventive logic of the law: OHS is supposed to stop the next accident, not merely document the last one.
For employers, accident and disease reporting is a major procedural duty. Delays, underreporting, or failures to investigate can damage both compliance posture and evidentiary position later. For employees, the reporting regime matters because it helps formalize workplace incidents and connect them to the legal OHS framework.
9. Health surveillance
Article 15 requires the employer to ensure workers receive health surveillance appropriate to the occupational health and safety risks they face. Medical examination is required before assignment, after job changes, when returning to work after repeated absence due to occupational accidents, occupational diseases, or health problems upon request, and at regular intervals depending on the nature of the work, the worker, and the hazard classification of the enterprise. Workers in hazardous and very hazardous jobs must receive a medical report before employment. The law also states that the employer bears all costs of health surveillance and that medical examinations may not impose any financial burden on workers. Workers’ health data must be kept confidential.
This is another area where employers often underestimate the law’s expectations. Health surveillance is not just a hiring formality. It is an ongoing OHS function linked to real workplace risk. In sectors with exposure to chemicals, physical hazards, heavy work, ergonomic strain, or recurring incident patterns, health surveillance becomes a central part of lawful risk control.
10. Information and training
Article 16 requires the employer to inform workers and worker representatives about workplace risks and protective measures, their legal rights and responsibilities, and the workers designated for first aid, emergency situations, disasters, fire-fighting, and evacuation. The employer must also quickly inform workers who are or may be exposed to serious and imminent danger about the risks involved and the steps taken or to be taken, and must ensure that support staff and worker representatives can access risk assessments, preventive measures, records, reports, inspections, and related technical information.
Article 17 then requires the employer to ensure that each worker receives adequate safety and health training. This training must be provided on recruitment, when the worker is transferred or changes job, when equipment changes, or when new technology is introduced. It must be adapted to new or changed risks and repeated periodically if necessary. Workers’ representatives are entitled to appropriate training, and workers who lack proof of vocational training may not be employed in hazardous and very hazardous jobs requiring such training. Importantly, training may not impose a financial burden on workers, and the time spent in training counts as actual working time; if it exceeds weekly working hours, it counts as overtime.
For employers, training is often where OHS programs become visibly real or visibly superficial. A generic annual presentation rarely satisfies the spirit of the law if workplace risks have changed or if the content is disconnected from actual tasks. Turkish law expects training to be linked to recruitment, change, technology, and risk, not merely to calendar repetition.
11. Worker consultation, representatives, and committees
Article 18 requires the employer to consult workers or their representatives on OHS matters and ensure their participation. This includes consultation about safety and health issues generally, as well as the introduction of new technology and the consequences of equipment choice, working conditions, and the work environment for worker safety and health. Worker representatives must also be consulted in advance on appointments of OHS professionals, designation of first-aid and evacuation personnel, risk-assessment-based protective measures, preventive services, worker information, and training plans. Workers and their representatives may report inadequate measures to the competent authority and may not be disadvantaged for doing so.
Article 20 deals with worker representatives. Where no representative has been elected or chosen, the employer must designate worker representatives in line with workplace risk and worker numbers. The law sets the representative numbers by workforce size, grants representatives the right to request measures and make proposals to reduce hazards or eliminate danger sources, and protects them from disadvantage due to their representative activities.
Article 22 then requires the employer to establish an Occupational Health and Safety Committee in workplaces where at least 50 employees are employed and permanent work has continued for more than six months. Employers must implement committee decisions taken in accordance with OHS legislation. The same article also contains coordination rules for main employer–subcontractor relationships lasting more than six months. The Ministry’s committee guide explains that the current committee regime is based on Article 22 of Law No. 6331 and the corresponding regulation.
12. Coordination in multi-employer workplaces and subcontracting
Article 23 addresses workplaces where more than one employer operates in the same work environment. In those situations, employers must cooperate in implementing OHS measures and occupational hygiene, work together to prevent occupational risks and protect against them, and inform each other and the workers’ representatives about these risks. In business centers, office blocks, industrial zones, and industrial estates with more than one workplace, the management must help ensure OHS cooperation and notify the Ministry if employers fail to take necessary measures affecting other workplaces.
This multi-employer coordination rule is extremely important in practice because many Turkish workplaces involve layered contractor structures, shared sites, or principal employer–subcontractor arrangements. OHS liability cannot safely be analyzed as if each employer exists in complete isolation. Where work environments overlap, the law expects coordination, information-sharing, and preventive cooperation.
13. Work stoppage and enforcement risk
Article 25 creates one of the most serious enforcement tools in the OHS system: cease of operations. If a situation dangerous to workers’ life is found in the workplace premises, methods, or equipment, operations may be stopped in all or part of the workplace until the hazard is eliminated. The law also specifically states that in very hazardous workplaces, mining, metal, construction, hazardous-chemical workplaces, and workplaces where major industrial accidents may occur, operations shall be stopped if there is no risk assessment.
This is a crucial message for employers. OHS non-compliance in Turkey is not limited to fines. In sufficiently serious cases it can stop the business itself. That makes risk assessment, emergency planning, and hazard correction not only a legal duty but a continuity-of-operations issue.
The Ministry also publishes annual administrative-fine schedules under Law No. 6331, including a current 2026 schedule. Even without listing every amount, the existence of that annually updated sanction framework shows that non-compliance may produce recurring or continuing fines as well as specific violations tied to different articles of the law.
14. Practical employer compliance approach
A legally serious employer in Turkey should treat Law No. 6331 as a management system statute. In practice, that means first identifying the workplace’s scope status and hazard classification, then building the OHS structure accordingly: assigning or procuring the required OHS professionals, ensuring they have the necessary means and time, carrying out a real risk assessment, translating that assessment into preventive measures, creating emergency and evacuation systems, training workers, documenting incidents, conducting health surveillance, consulting worker representatives, and maintaining committee and coordination structures where required.
Just as importantly, employers should not separate documentation from implementation. Turkish OHS law clearly expects monitoring, correction of nonconforming situations, and continuous improvement. A beautifully written risk assessment combined with unchanged dangerous practice is not good compliance. The law is designed to judge whether the preventive system is functioning in real life.
Conclusion
Occupational health and safety in Turkey is built around a broad and demanding legal framework. Law No. 6331 applies across most public and private workplaces, imposes a general duty on employers to protect workers’ safety and health in every aspect related to work, requires risk assessment, OHS services, emergency planning, accident and disease reporting, health surveillance, worker information and training, and structured worker participation, and supports these obligations with committees, coordination duties, administrative sanctions, and work-stoppage powers.
For employers, the main lesson is that OHS under Turkish law is not a side file handled only after an inspection or an accident. It is a standing legal responsibility built into the organization of work itself. For employees, the law provides not only protection in principle but also concrete rights: to be informed, trained, medically monitored where appropriate, represented, consulted, protected from serious danger, and in some cases to abstain from dangerous work without losing pay. The most effective OHS strategy in Turkey is therefore not reactive defense after an incident. It is active, documented, and continuously updated prevention before the incident happens.
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