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İş Güvenliği Uzmanlarının Mesleki Bağımsızlığı

ÖZ

Çalışma hayatının önemli sorunlarından biri, çalışanların sağlık ve güvenliklerinin sağlanması ve sağlıklı bir ortamda çalışma olanağının yaratılmasıdır. İşyerinde kaza ve hastalık riskinin en aza indirgenmesi ve riskler gerçekleşmeden çalışanların korunması, iş sağlığı ve güvenliğinin de temel amacını oluşturmaktadır. İş sağlığı ve güvenliğinin etkin bir şekilde sağlanabilmesi için, denetimlerin yapılması ve risklerin varlığı halinde işverence önlem alınması gereklidir. Bu amaçla işyerinde görevlendirilen iş güvenliği uzmanlarının görevlerini gereği gibi yerine getirmeleri ve mesleki açıdan tam bir bağımsızlığa sahip olmaları önem taşır. Mesleki bağımsızlığa ilişkin mevzuatta kanuni düzenleme ve sınırlı çerçevede kanuni bir güvence getirilmiş olmakla birlikte, uzmanların bağımsızlığının tam olarak sağlanabildiğini söylemek güçtür. Özellikle uzmanların ücretlerini işverenden almaları ve feshe karşı korunmalarını sağlamak amacıyla etkili ve özel bir iş güvencesi sisteminin bulunmaması, mesleki bağımsızlık içerisinde görevlerini yerine getirmelerini olumsuz yönde etkilemektedir. Çalışmamızda genel olarak iş güvenliği uzmanlarının mesleki bağımsızlığı konusu incelenmeye, uygulamada bu alanda doğan sorunlar tespit edilmeye ve bu sorunlara çözüm aranmaya çalışılacaktır.
Anahtar Kelimeler : İş Güvenliği Uzmanı, Mesleki Bağımsızlık, İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği
Professional Independence of Occupational Safety Specialists

ABSTRACT

A significant problem of working life is to ensure the employee’s health and safety in the workplace and to create the opportunity to work in a healthy workplace. The fundamental purpose of occupational health and safety is to protect employees by minimizing the risks of accidents and diseases before these risks occur. In order to ensure the occupational health and safety effectively, it is important to carry out inspections and to take precautions by the employer in case of risks. A significant element of this aim is to ensure the professional independence of the occupational safety specialists. Although legal regulation and a limited legal guarantee stated in the legislation on professional independence, it is difficult to say that the independence of specialists has fully achieved. In particular, the absence of an efficient employment security to protect occupational safety specialists against termination and the payment of their wages have executed by the employers are the factors that negatively affect the ability to fulfill their duties within professional independence. In our study, our main purpose is to explore the independence of occupational safety specialists, to identify the problems arising in this field and to seek solutions to these problems.

Extended Summary

Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act No. 6331, various regulations have been enacted to ensure occupational health and safety at workplaces and to improve health and safety conditions. One of the most important requirements at the workplace is to protect employees against the risks that may arise at their workplace and to ensure full occupational health and safety. To this end, many obligations have been imposed on employers. One of the important measures that employers should take is to ensure the organisation of occupational health and safety at the workplace and to assign occupational health and safety specialists to workplaces. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, employers shall employ occupational safety specialists to provide labour protection services, including activities related to the protection and prevention of occupational risks. An occupational safety specialist is defined in Article 3 of the Law as an engineer, architect or technician who is authorised by the Ministry to work in the field of occupational health and safety and who holds an expertise certificate. The principles of occupational safety experts are also regulated in the Regulation on the Duties, Authorities, Responsibilities and Training of Occupational Safety Specialists. The same definition is made in this Regulation.

According to Article 6 of the above-mentioned Act, in order to provide occupational health and safety services, including activities related to the protection and prevention of occupational risks, the employer shall appoint an employee as an occupational safety specialist, occupational physician and other health personnel. If there is a shortage of personnel in the enterprise who are competent enough to be designated, the employer shall appoint a joint health and safety unit to provide all or part of these services. Provided that the employer has the required qualifications and documentation, these services can be provided by the employer, taking into account the hazard class and the number of employees.

The legal relationship between the specialist and the employer is based on an employment contract. The basic elements of the employment contract, i.e. performance, remuneration and subordination, must be present in the relationship between them. Subordination means that the employee performs the work in accordance with the employer’s orders and instructions. For OHS specialists, subordination should be limited to administrative dependence. Specialists cannot take orders and instructions from the employer to carry out their profession; their professional independence must be guaranteed. Otherwise, it won’t be possible to ensure health and safety at work.

For this purpose, Article 8 of Law No. 6331 stipulates that the rights and authorities of occupational safety specialists may not be restricted in the execution of their duties, and that they shall seek and maintain professional independence and observe the rules of ethics in the execution of their functions. Article 35 of the Regulation on the Duties, Powers, Responsibilities and Training of Occupational Safety Specialists also states that specialists shall be equal and not be subject to any influence in making recommendations to employers and employees according to the health and safety risks and shall act in cooperation with both parties. It is also emphasised that the results of the professional independence can’t be used against the specialists and the contracts can’t contain conditions that may limit the professional independence and the rights and authorities of the specialists.

The fact that specialists are dependent on the employer, in particular that they receive their wages from the employer, and that they are subject to pressure from the employer to terminate their employment contracts, are the main factors that negatively affect their independence and, consequently, occupational health and safety services. The relevant regulations are not sufficient to provide complete protection in this respect. As a result, the objective expected of occupational safety and health professionals cannot be achieved and the objective of ensuring occupational health and safety, which is one of the most important issues in the workplace, cannot be achieved. In this respect, the factors that threaten the professional independence of specialists must be identified and solutions must be proposed.

Keywords : Occupational Safety Specialist, Professional Independence, Occupational Health and Safety

Kaynak Göster

APA
ERKANLI BAŞBÜYÜK, B., & . ( 2023). İş Güvenliği Uzmanlarının Mesleki Bağımsızlığı. Çalışma ve Toplum, 3(78), 2315-2346. https://doi.org/10.54752/ct.1325645