In brief
Occupational diseases are gathered into five groups in the list in Annex 2 of the Regulation on Procedures for Determining the Rate of Loss of Working Capacity and Occupational Earning Capacity: chemical substances, skin diseases, pneumoconioses and respiratory diseases, infectious diseases and physical agents. Each disease has a liability period; if the disease appears within this period after the worker has actually left the job, it is accepted as arising from the occupation. If the period has been exceeded, the decision rests with the Social Insurance High Health Board.
Where is the list of occupational diseases found?
Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety briefly defines occupational disease as "a disease arising as a result of exposure to occupational risks". The definition on the insurance side is in Art. 14 of Law No. 5510: temporary or permanent illness, physical or mental disability suffered by the insured person through a repeated cause due to the nature of the work they do, or due to the conditions in which the work is carried out.
The list of occupational diseases showing which diseases fall within this scope is in Annex 2 of SGK's Regulation on Procedures for Determining the Rate of Loss of Working Capacity and Occupational Earning Capacity, published in Official Gazette No. 27021 of 11 October 2008. Art. 17 of the regulation states that which diseases count as occupational diseases, and the maximum time after actually leaving the job within which a disease must appear to be regarded as arising from the occupation, are determined according to this list.
This article explains the structure of the list and how to read it. We covered separately how the diagnosis is made and the employer's notification steps in our article on what an occupational disease is, diagnosis and notification.
The structure of the list: a three-column table
Under Art. 18/2 of the regulation, each heading in the list consists of three columns:
- Left column: the main diseases caused by the harmful agent and their symptoms.
- Middle column: the liability period.
- Right column: the main jobs carrying a risk of the disease.
For example, under the heading "A-11, a Lead and lead salts", the liability period is 1 month for acute poisoning and 3 years for chronic poisoning; the right column lists jobs such as extracting lead from lead ore and scrap. The fact that the acute and chronic pictures of the same agent have different periods is the most overlooked feature of the list. Under some headings there are also explanatory notes showing which tests are to be carried out for diagnosis.
There are three common mistakes when reading the list:
- Treating the right column as a closed list. The jobs in the right column are the "main" jobs; a worker exposed to the same agent in another job may also fall within the scope. What is decisive is exposure to the agent, not the job title.
- Confusing the liability period with the exposure period. The period in the middle column shows not how long the person worked in that job but the latest time after leaving the job at which the disease can appear.
- Looking at a single line. A worker doing welding can be exposed at the same time to metal fumes, noise and infrared radiation; in this case more than one heading in groups A and E is assessed together.
Occupational disease groups and workplace examples
Art. 18/1 of the regulation divides the list into five groups. In the table below we have chosen examples from each group that are close to the industrial structure of Bursa and the surrounding provinces. The periods and job examples are taken directly from the lines in Annex 2.
| Group | Example from the list | Liability period | Example of jobs listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| A – Chemical substances | Lead and its salts (chronic) | 3 years | Recovering lead from old lead-containing metals |
| A – Chemical substances | Chromium and its compounds | 1 year | Electroplating (electrolytic chrome plating) |
| A – Chemical substances | Benzene and its homologues (leukaemias) | 10 years | Use as a solvent, making paint and varnish |
| B – Occupational skin diseases | Non-cancerous skin diseases (eczema) | 2 months | Working with nickel, hexavalent chromium, cement, detergents and cleaning agents |
| C – Pneumoconioses and respiratory | Silicosis and silicotuberculosis | 10 years | Fettling, surface finishing and sandblasting in foundries using sand |
| C – Pneumoconioses and respiratory | Byssinosis | Acute 15 days, chronic findings 3 years | Cotton processing; ginning, blending, opening and carding sections |
| D – Occupational infectious diseases | Viral hepatitis / tuberculosis | 6 months / 1 year | Work in hospitals, outpatient clinics and laboratories |
| D – Occupational infectious diseases | Brucellosis | 6 months | Slaughterhouses, animal products, milk and dairy processing |
| E – Physical agents | Noise-induced hearing loss | 6 months | Hammering, riveting, weaving looms, compressors |
| E – Physical agents | Vibration-related bone and joint damage | 2 years | Pneumatic hand tools |
| E – Physical agents | Infrared-induced cataract | 3 years | Working in front of molten glass and metal, foundries |
Two practical conclusions follow from the table. First, chemical occupational diseases are not specific to chemical plants; a supplier plant with a chrome plating line, a furniture workshop with a paint booth or a construction site working with cement also falls under groups A and B. Second, the physical agents occupational disease heading is the closest group for Bursa's metal, automotive and textile businesses: noise, vibration and heat can be present together in the same hall.
What is the liability period, and how is it calculated?
Art. 4/1-n of the regulation defines the liability period as the longest time that may pass between the date on which the insured person actually left the work causing the occupational disease and the date on which the disease appeared. The calculation starts from the day exposure ended; if the worker continues to work in the same job, the period has not started to run.
With two examples:
- A worker who worked for years on fettling in a foundry using sand and left in 2019 is diagnosed with silicosis in 2026. 7 years have passed; as the liability period for silicosis is 10 years, the disease is within the period in the list.
- Hearing loss is found in 2026 in a worker who left a noisy job at the beginning of 2024. As the liability period for noise-induced hearing loss is 6 months, the period has been exceeded.
The second example is not automatically rejected. Under Art. 17/2 of the regulation, if the disease has been confirmed by clinical and laboratory findings and the agent proven by a workplace investigation, it may be accepted as an occupational disease by decision of the Social Insurance High Health Board even if the liability period has been exceeded.
The list also requires a minimum exposure for some diseases. For pneumoconiosis to be accepted as an occupational disease, a total of at least three years must have been worked at workplaces whose air contains dust at a concentration capable of causing pneumoconiosis (Art. 20/1); an exception is also provided for rapidly progressing, severe cases with high-concentration dust. The explanatory note to the noise heading also requires a certain minimum working period in noisy work; for a definitive diagnosis it requires threshold audiograms of both ears and a finding that there is noise at a level harmful to health at the workplace, and provides for audiograms from pre-employment and periodic examinations to be used where available.
What does the list mean for the employer?
An occupational disease may be diagnosed years after the worker has left the job. So use the list not as a "hospital document" but as a control tool for organising exposure records at the workplace:
- Name the agent in the risk assessment. Writing "quartz-containing moulding sand dust" instead of "dust" and "hexavalent chromium" instead of "chemical" shows which list heading will be relevant in future.
- Keep the measurement results. Dust, noise and chemical measurement reports are the basic documents showing the presence or absence of the agent in a workplace investigation. You can find details for dust in our article on the Regulation on Dust Control, and for noise in our article on the 80, 85 and 87 dB limits.
- Match health surveillance to the list. The workplace physician decides on tests such as chest X-rays in jobs with silicosis risk, audiometry in noisy jobs and skin examinations in jobs working with chromium. For periodic examination frequencies, see our article on periodic examinations and tests.
- Act quickly on a preliminary diagnosis. The workplace physician refers cases in which they have made a preliminary diagnosis of occupational disease to healthcare providers authorised by SGK and repeats the examinations of others working in the same environment.
- Notify in time. An occupational disease is notified to SGK within 3 working days of being learned of.
The 2026 base administrative fine for failing to notify an occupational disease in time is 44,443 TL, and the fine for not keeping records of work accidents and occupational diseases is 33,326 TL. The amounts are increased according to the workplace's hazard class and number of employees; you can use the administrative fine tool for the calculation.
A short checklist for textile, metal and food businesses
In the dominant sectors in Bursa, the headings of the list that are most often relevant can be listed as follows:
- Textiles: cotton dust (byssinosis), noise in weaving halls, chemicals in dyeing and finishing departments. For sector notes, see our textile sector page.
- Metal and automotive supply industry: metals in welding fumes, chrome and nickel plating, noise in pressing and grinding, vibration from hand tools, silica and infrared radiation in casting.
- Food: diseases transmitted from animals such as brucellosis in plants processing animal products, skin diseases from cleaning chemicals, cold and damp environments.
For each of these headings, write in the risk assessment who is exposed and for how long, and set up the health surveillance plan accordingly. Bursa Sistemer OSGB prepares this plan employee by employee as part of our workplace physician services and plans the tests with authorised laboratories and healthcare institutions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many groups does the list of occupational diseases consist of?
Five: group A is occupational diseases from chemical substances, group B occupational skin diseases, group C pneumoconioses and other occupational respiratory diseases, group D occupational infectious diseases, and group E occupational diseases from physical agents.
If the liability period has expired, is the disease not accepted as an occupational disease?
It can be accepted. If the disease has been confirmed by clinical and laboratory findings and the agent proven by a workplace investigation, it may be accepted as an occupational disease by decision of the Social Insurance High Health Board.
Can a disease not on the list be an occupational disease?
The regulation explicitly provides for this for infectious diseases: even if it is not on the list, a disease confirmed by laboratory findings to have been contracted as a requirement of the work counts as an occupational disease, and the longest incubation period is taken as the liability period.
How should the employer use the list?
To name agents in the risk assessment in line with the list headings, to keep measurement and health surveillance records, and to set up the test plan with the workplace physician according to these headings.
A physician assigned for the time your hazard class requires: pre-employment and periodic examinations, fitness-for-work reports and health surveillance.
Bursa SİSTEMER OSGB Technical Team — written from the field experience of our OHS specialists and workplace physicians. Legal information is valid as of the publication/update date; contact us for an assessment specific to your business.