How to Change Your OSGB: A Transition Guide

When should you change your OSGB?

There is no legal obstacle to changing your OSGB (joint health and safety unit). As long as you comply with the termination terms of your contract, you can start working with another authorised OSGB. The decision to change is usually triggered by these signs:

The OHS specialist or workplace physician is not on site for as long as the contract states.
Findings are not reported in writing and the approved logbook is not filled in regularly.
Training, periodic medical examinations or inspections of work equipment are delayed.
The assigned personnel change often and you are not informed.
Your hazard class or number of employees has changed, and the current service does not adapt to it.

The good news is that changing your OSGB does not automatically invalidate your risk assessment or emergency plan. The situations that require these documents to be renewed are listed one by one in the legislation: relocation, a change in technology or production method, a work accident, an occupational disease, a near miss and so on. A change of service provider is not among them. The new team will still review the documents and revise them where necessary.

Timing also matters. If possible, align the transition with the renewal period of your current contract; this way you can start the new service without having to deal with a termination notice period. Busy production periods, annual maintenance shutdowns or months when the drill and training calendar is crowded are not suitable for a transition; letting the new team get to know the workplace during a quiet period makes the first findings more reliable.

If you have not yet chosen the new OSGB, first look at our OSGB selection criteria.

Transition without a service gap: 7 steps

Read your current contract. Note the end date, the termination notice period and the clauses on handing over documents upon termination.
Choose the new OSGB. Check the authorisation certificate, service region, specialist class and monthly minutes.
Set the transition day. Choose a date that leaves no gap between the last day of the old service and the first day of the new one, and notify both parties in writing.
Have the new contract approved on time. The new contract and assignment must be entered on ISG-KATİP (the Ministry’s online OHS registration system) so that they are approved before the transition day. Both parties approve within 5 days at the latest; without approval the new team cannot start work.
Terminate the old contract. The termination is reported to the system within 5 working days. If the termination is not processed, the old record stays open and the new assignment becomes confused.
Take over the documents. Use the checklist below and carry out the handover with a signed record.
Inform your employees. Announce the names of the new specialist and physician, how to reach them and the date of the first visit; involve the employee representative in the process.

Common mistakes during the transition

Changing your OSGB looks simple on paper; problems usually arise from sequencing and communication. The most common mistakes are these:

Ending the old contract first. Unhappy with the current service, the employer terminates the contract immediately and only then starts looking for a new OSGB. Even if the new quote, contract and system approval take only a few days, the workplace is left without assigned personnel during that time. The correct order is to prepare the new service and set the transition day accordingly.

Postponing the documents with “we’ll ask for them later”. Once the contract has ended, it becomes harder to obtain documents from the former provider. Send the handover list together with the termination notice and set the handover date before the last day of the contract.

Forgetting open findings. Findings written in the approved logbook but not yet closed do not disappear because the OSGB has changed. The new team’s first task should be to take over this list; otherwise the same shortcoming will come back to you in an accident or an inspection.

Not informing employees. If employees do not know whom to turn to, near misses and health complaints go unreported. Posting the names of the new personnel on the notice board is a small but effective step.

Not rechecking the class and time. The transition is a good opportunity to verify your hazard class and number of employees. The minutes in the old contract may fall short for your current headcount; build the new contract on the current number.

Document handover checklist

OHS documents belong to your workplace; the OSGB only supports their preparation and management. Even if your contract has no clause governing handover on termination, carry out the transfer with a written record stating which document was handed over, on what date and to whom. Also ask for editable copies of records kept electronically.

Document	Where it should be	What to check at handover
Risk assessment report	At the workplace	Is the method stated, are the pages initialled and the last page signed? What is the renewal date?
Emergency plan and evacuation layout	At the workplace; layouts posted at entrances and on each floor	Are team lists and contact details up to date?
Drill forms	At the workplace	Is the last drill more than a year old?
Training records	At the workplace	Are induction records, attendance lists, exam results and certificates complete?
Health files (ANNEX-2 forms, test results)	At the workplace, confidential; under the physician’s control	Handed to the new workplace physician, not opened to human resources
Approved logbook (findings and recommendations logbook)	At the workplace	Has a list of open findings been drawn up?
Periodic inspection reports for work equipment	At the workplace	Are the next inspection dates known?
Workplace environment measurement reports	At the workplace	Laboratory accreditation and measurement date
Records of work accidents, near misses and occupational diseases	At the workplace	SGK notifications and root cause analyses
OHS committee minutes (if a committee is mandatory)	At the workplace	Follow-up of open committee decisions
First aid and vocational training certificates	At the workplace	Validity periods; a first aid certificate is valid for 3 years
PPE issue records	At the workplace	Who has which personal protective equipment?

Under Art. 22 of Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety, an OHS committee is mandatory in workplaces with 50 or more employees where continuous work lasting more than six months is carried out. To refresh your memory on the content and renewal rules of these documents, see our guides on risk assessment, the emergency plan and periodic inspection intervals.

Health files: how is confidentiality protected?

The most sensitive issue in the transition is the health files. These files contain pre-employment and periodic examination forms, test results and the physician’s notes.

In practice, follow these rules:

Files are handed over from the former physician to the new physician. The handover record states the number of files and the list of employees; the content of examinations is not written down.
Human resources knows only the fitness-for-work result, not the details of the examination.
Files are kept at the workplace in a locked cabinet with restricted access, or in an authorised digital environment.
If the former OSGB keeps the files at its own office, clarify the handover date in writing before the contract ends.

The same principle applies to digital records. If health data are kept in software or in the cloud, agree in advance on the format in which the data will be transferred, when access to the old system will be closed and who will carry out the transfer. Sending examination results scattered across email attachments is the weakest link in terms of confidentiality; choose an encrypted and recorded delivery method.

After taking over the files, the new workplace physician draws up the periodic examination dates. Examinations are carried out at least every 5 years in less hazardous workplaces, at least every 3 years in hazardous workplaces and every year in very hazardous workplaces; any that are overdue are scheduled first.

The first 30 days with the new OSGB

The success of the transition becomes clear in the first month. The plan below is a realistic sequence for a medium-sized manufacturing business in Bursa; in small workplaces the steps are completed more quickly.

First week

Meeting the new specialist and physician; a workplace tour covering all departments and shifts.
Completing the document handover and listing missing documents.
Writing the first findings in the approved logbook.
Checking emergency teams, first aiders and the contact list.

Second and third weeks

Reviewing the risk assessment; a revision schedule if anything has changed.
Drawing up a training matrix: who received which training and when, whose refresher period is due, and whether new starters have received the 2-hour induction training?
Health surveillance calendar: those whose periodic examination is approaching and those who need tests according to their risk.

Fourth week

Planning the periodic inspection calendar for work equipment and the need for workplace environment measurements with authorised laboratories.
Setting the date of the year’s drill; a drill is carried out at least once a year.
A summary report of the first 30 days for management: open findings, priorities and the schedule.

At the end of the first month you should have three things: a fully transferred set of documents, a list of open findings with an owner and date for each, and a calendar for the rest of the year. If you have these three, the transition has been completed successfully. If any item is missing, deal with it first at the first visit of the second month; every postponed shortcoming will come back to you at the next inspection or in a possible accident.

To see all renewal dates in one place, you can use the OHS calendar tool. You can also use the same checklist when switching to the occupational safety specialist service of Bursa Sistemer OSGB in Bursa and neighbouring provinces.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change my OSGB before the contract period ends?

The legislation does not prevent it; what matters is the termination clauses in your contract. Observe the notice period, report the termination to ISG-KATİP within 5 working days and complete the approval of the new contract before the transition day.

Does the new OSGB have to redo the risk assessment from scratch?

No. A change of OSGB is not among the situations that require the risk assessment to be renewed. The new team reviews the existing assessment; it revises it if there has been a change at the workplace, an accident or a near miss, or if the renewal period has expired.

What should I do if the former OSGB does not hand over the documents?

Request the documents in writing and remind them of the handover clause in the contract. List the documents that have not been handed over and plan with the new team how to recreate the missing ones. Producing the documents at an inspection is the employer’s responsibility, so rather than waiting, start filling the gaps immediately.

How long does the transition take?

The deciding factors are the termination notice period in the old contract and the ISG-KATİP approval of the new contract. Approval is completed within 5 days at the latest, so set the transition day far enough ahead for the new contract to be entered into the system and approved. The document handover and the 30-day plan continue after the transition.

Do employees need to be trained again?

No. Training already delivered and its certificates remain valid; they are renewed when the refresher period comes due. Training delivered before the 2026 training regulation also remains valid. For details, see our article on the new OHS training regulation.