The First OSGB Visit: What Should the Employer Prepare?

Why is the first OSGB visit decisive?

The first OSGB (joint health and safety unit) visit draws the starting line for every subsequent month of the OHS service; it is the first on-site step in starting OHS services. On this visit the specialist and physician see your workplace in full for the first time and determine which documents you have, which are missing and which risks are urgent. A well-prepared first visit means the first month is spent on findings, planning and training; an unprepared visit is spent searching for documents.

One condition must be met before the first visit: the contract and assignment must be approved on ISG-KATİP (the Ministry’s online OHS registration system). Under Art. 14 of the Regulation on Occupational Health and Safety Services, the specialist, physician and other health personnel cannot start work with an unapproved assignment. For the approval steps, see our article on ISG-KATİP contract approval, and for what the contract should state, see OSGB contract clauses. If your workplace is newly opening, first complete the list in OHS when opening a new workplace.

OSGB onboarding documents to prepare before the visit

Working with an OSGB for the first time is a good opportunity to gather everything you have in one place. Missing documents are not a problem; the aim is to see what exists and what does not.

Document or information	Why is it needed?	Where do you get it?
Up-to-date employee list	Time calculation, training and examination plan	Human resources or the accountant
SGK workplace registration number and NACE code	Verifying the hazard class	SGK registration record
ISG-KATİP contract printout	Checking that the assignment uses the correct registration and class	ISG-KATİP
Site layout or sketch	Planning the site tour, emergency plan	Project drawings, lease annex or a hand-drawn sketch
Machinery and equipment list	Identifying equipment subject to periodic inspection	Maintenance manager
Chemical list and safety data sheets	Identifying chemical risks and PPE	Purchasing, supplier
Previous risk assessment and emergency plan, if any	Seeing the need for revision	Workplace archive
Training, first aid and vocational training certificates	Who received which training and when	Personnel files
Pre-employment and periodic examination records	Health surveillance calendar	Previous physician or healthcare facility
Periodic inspection and workplace environment measurement reports	Identifying those that have expired	Inspection company, laboratory
Work accident and near miss records	Input for the risk assessment	Workplace records, SGK notifications
Approved logbook	The official record in which findings are written	Existing logbook or a new one to be approved

The approved logbook is the single logbook for each workplace in which the specialist and physician write their findings and recommendations; each page is sealed and approved by the provincial directorate of the Turkish Employment Agency or by a notary (Art. 7). If no logbook has been kept before, obtain one before the first visit. For details, see our article on the approved logbook. When preparing the chemical list, our article on how to read a safety data sheet will be useful.

Preparing the employee list correctly

The employee list is the most used document on the first visit. From this list the specialist and physician verify the time calculation and draw up the training and examination plan. The list should contain the following information:

Name, job and department
Start date and shift pattern
Whether the job requires a vocational training certificate and, if so, the certificate details
Whether the person is assigned as a first aider or support staff
Whether the person is an apprentice, intern, part-time worker or subcontractor employee

Do not write employees’ health information on this list. Health information is confidential and is shared only with the workplace physician; human resources knows only the fitness-for-work result, not the details of the examination. Report employees in groups requiring a special policy, such as young, pregnant or disabled employees, separately to the physician; the risk assessment and examination interval for these employees are planned differently.

Keep subcontractor employees on a separate list. Who will track the training and examination certificates of contractor personnel working at your workplace is one of the issues to clarify on the first visit.

How is the OHS baseline assessment done on the first visit?

The OHS baseline assessment is the finding that shows where the workplace currently stands against the legislation and its risks. A typical first visit proceeds in this order:

Opening meeting: A short meeting with the employer or their representative, the production manager and the employee representative. The workflow, shifts, recent accidents and planned changes are discussed.
Site tour: All areas are visited, including production, the warehouse, the maintenance workshop, the compressor and boiler room, electrical panels, welfare areas and the outdoor area. If possible, different shifts are also seen.
Document review: The documents you have prepared are checked against the table; expired and missing items are listed.
Talking to employees: Operators, maintenance staff and warehouse workers are asked about the risks they see.
Review of health files: The workplace physician reviews existing examination records confidentially and identifies those whose periodic examination is overdue.
Recording findings: The specialist and physician write their findings and recommendations in the approved logbook. Findings written in the logbook are deemed to have been notified to the employer.

If a life-threatening danger is seen on the site tour, there is no waiting. If the danger is serious and unavoidable and requires urgent intervention, the OHS specialist applies to the employer to stop the work. If findings that require an emergency stop or involve a life-threatening danger such as fire, explosion or collapse are not remedied within a reasonable time, the specialist is obliged to report this in writing to the provincial directorate of labour and employment (Regulation on the Duties, Powers, Responsibilities and Training of OHS Specialists, Art. 10–11).

What is checked on the site tour?

The site tour is not a “walk-around” but an area-by-area check. Walking around your workplace beforehand with the same eye allows you to anticipate the findings you will face on the first visit:

Production area: Are machine guards in place, do emergency stop buttons work, is there an energy isolation procedure for maintenance? Which areas are noisy and dusty?
Warehouse and dispatch: Rack loads and rack damage, separation of forklift and pedestrian routes, stacking heights, loading ramps.
Electrical: Panel fronts kept clear and covers closed, exposed cable joints, machines fed by extension cables.
Chemicals: Unlabelled containers, accessibility of safety data sheets, the quantity and storage location of flammable liquids.
Emergencies: Escape routes and emergency exit doors kept clear, the location and inspection tags of extinguishers, the evacuation layout, the first aid cabinet.
Technical rooms: Places that only authorised persons should enter, such as the compressor and boiler room, generator and transformer, being locked and signposted.
Welfare areas: Cleanliness of the canteen, changing rooms and toilets, drinking water.
Through the physician’s eyes: Jobs involving heavy lifting, standing and repetitive work, display screen work, the night shift, and areas where health complaints are concentrated.

Photographs taken on the tour are a good record showing the location of a finding and its previous state. Make sure employees’ faces are not visible in the photographs.

Outputs of the baseline assessment

At the end of the first visit you should have three things:

A prioritised list of shortcomings: A responsible person and target date for each finding. Life-threatening risks are dealt with immediately, overdue legal obligations in the short term, and improvements in a planned way.
A schedule for the first months: Induction and basic training, periodic examinations, periodic inspections of work equipment, workplace environment measurements and the drill. We plan measurements and tests with authorised laboratories and healthcare facilities.
A document plan: Whether the risk assessment and emergency plan will be prepared from scratch or revised, and when the annual work plan will be drawn up. For the annual plan, see our article on the annual work plan.

For how to organise all the documents at the workplace, see our article on OHS file contents, and to track renewal dates, use the OHS calendar tool.

Announcement to employees and subsequent visits

Under Art. 6 of the Regulation on Occupational Health and Safety Services, the employer informs the employee representative and employees about the persons it assigns or who work at the OSGB it obtains services from, and about their working hours, duties, powers and responsibilities. Posting the names of the specialist and physician, their visit days and how to reach them on the notice board is the most practical way to meet this obligation.

On visits after the first, the list of shortcomings opened is reviewed each time and closed items are ticked off. This list is also evidence that the service is being carried out on site. If you have worked with another OSGB before, see our article on the OSGB change process for the transition steps.

Bursa Sistemer OSGB provides occupational safety specialist and workplace physician services in Bursa and neighbouring provinces. Whichever OSGB you work with, you can use the table in this article as a checklist before the first visit.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the first visit take?

The duration varies with the size of the workplace, the number of departments and the shift pattern. The visit time counts towards the monthly minutes in the contract; the specialist and physician provide service at the workplace for the time stated in the contract.

We have no OHS documents at all; will we be fined at the first visit?

The first visit is not an inspection but a baseline assessment. Shortcomings are written in the approved logbook and tied to a schedule. However, the employer is responsible for remedying the shortcomings; since findings are deemed to have been notified to the employer, keeping to the schedule is important.

Should we write health information on the employee list?

No. Health information is confidential and is shared only with the workplace physician. Information such as job, department, start date and shift is sufficient on the list.

Does the risk assessment prepared by the previous OSGB become invalid?

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

Who should be present at the first visit?

The employer or their authorised representative, the production or operations manager, the maintenance manager and the employee representative should be present. Having department managers accompany the site tour allows findings to be discussed on the spot.