OHS Specialist Services in Bursa

An OHS specialist (occupational safety specialist) is an engineer, architect or technical professional authorised by the Ministry and holding an occupational safety specialist certificate. "Technical professional" covers technical teachers, physicists, chemists and biologists, as well as graduates of university bachelor's or associate degree programmes in occupational health and safety. Article 6 of Law No. 6331 requires every employer with employees to assign a specialist.

When choosing an OHS specialist in Bursa, the first thing to check is the certificate class. Under Article 8 of the Law, very hazardous workplaces need a class A certificate, hazardous workplaces at least class B, and less hazardous workplaces at least class C. For example, vehicle parts production and machining in the automotive supply industry are in the hazardous class, while laser cutting of metals or nickel plating are very hazardous and require a class A specialist. The class is determined by how the main activity carried out at the workplace appears in the NACE list renewed in 2025.

The specialist's minimum time is 10 minutes per employee per month in less hazardous, 20 in hazardous and 40 in very hazardous workplaces — at least twice the workplace physician's time at the same workplace. The regulation groups the specialist's duties under guidance, risk assessment, monitoring of the working environment, training, information and record-keeping, and cooperation with related units. Key tasks include planning periodic maintenance, inspections and measurements, following up the emergency plan and drills, preparing instructions and permit-to-work procedures, and investigating accidents and near misses.

The specialist's findings are notified to the employer in writing and, once entered in the approved logbook, are deemed to have been served on the employer. This does not mean that OHS responsibility passes to the specialist: outsourcing the service does not remove the employer's responsibility. The specialist's job is to make sure the employer takes the right decision in time.

Bursa Sistemer OSGB (joint health and safety unit) assigns OHS specialists certified for the relevant hazard class to workplaces in Bursa and neighbouring provinces. Our specialist works from a joint annual plan with the physician serving the same workplace; risk assessment, periodic inspections and OHS training are tracked in the same calendar.

How are certificate classes obtained?

Classes A, B and C build on each other. Graduates of engineering or architecture faculties and technical professionals start with class C training and an exam. A specialist who documents, through contracts, at least 3 years of actual work with a class C certificate may take the class B training and exam, and a specialist with at least 4 years of work at class B may move on to class A. A master's degree in OHS opens a separate route to the class B exam, and a doctorate leads directly to a class A certificate. A specialist who reaches class A through the exam route has therefore worked in the field for at least seven years. A higher-class certificate is also valid for the lower classes.

What do we look at during a site inspection?

1. The status of recommendations entered in the approved logbook at the previous visit.
2. Machine guards, emergency stop buttons and lockout-tagout practice.
3. Separation of forklift and pedestrian routes, stacking heights, rack damage.
4. Electrical panels, earthing and temporary cabling.
5. Chemical storage, accessibility of safety data sheets and labelling.
6. Suitability of personal protective equipment and whether it is actually used.
7. Emergency exits, evacuation routes and access to fire extinguishers.
8. Periodic inspection labels and report dates: at least once a year for lifting equipment, pressure vessels and electrical installations, and at least every 6 months for construction scaffolding.

Approved logbook: the legal weight of a finding

If the employer does not remedy, within a reasonable time, situations the specialist has notified in writing that require an immediate stop, or life-threatening hazards such as fire, explosion, collapse or chemical leakage, the specialist is obliged to report the situation in writing to the provincial Labour and Employment Agency directorate. The employer is responsible for signing the logbook and keeping it properly; a well-kept logbook is also evidence of the measures taken.

OHS committee

In workplaces with 50 or more employees where continuous work lasting longer than 6 months is carried out, the employer sets up an OHS committee. The committee includes the employer or their representative (chair), the OHS specialist, the workplace physician, a person from human resources or administration, the civil defence specialist if there is one, a foreman, supervisor or master craftsman, and the employee representative. The committee meets at least once a month; the committee may decide to extend this interval to up to two months in hazardous workplaces and up to three months in less hazardous workplaces. Where the specialist does not work full time, the secretariat is run by the member responsible for human resources or administration. Every meeting is recorded in signed minutes; the committee may hold an extraordinary meeting after fatal accidents, accidents causing loss of limb or other serious accidents.