Akademik Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, Yıl: 5, Sayı: 56, Ekim 2017, s

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1 Akademik Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, Yıl: 5, Sayı: 56, Ekim 2017, s Yayın Geliş Tarihi / Article Arrival Date Yayınlanma Tarihi / The Publication Date Öğr. Gör. Serenay ŞAHİN Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Üniversitesi, Niğde Teknik Bilimler MYO, Mülkiyet Koruma ve Güvenlik serenaysahin08@gmail.com A STUDY ON THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE STUDENTS IN THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE ON OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY Abstract The field of occupational health and safety is helpful in preventing work-related accidents. This field can actively play a part in the working life in our country thanks to the occupational safety specialists. However, not everyone has the specialist's qualifications. In order to become a specialist, one has to be qualified either as architect, engineer or technical staff. However, this is dangerous in terms of occupational health and safety. This is because the graduates of these fields only receive education in their respective fields and are not particularly educated in occupational health and safety. This means that the graduates of these fields choose occupational health and safety over their own professions as an addition, maybe even to earn more money. In this study, the reasons of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering students in Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture to choose to become occupational health and safety specialists and their level of knowledge of occupational health and safety were investigated using survey method, the collected data were analyzed via SPSS 24 programme, and interpreted. Keywords: Occupational health and safety, survey, perspective, faculty of architecture, faculty of engineering, students

2 MÜHENDİSLİK VE MİMARLIK FAKÜLTESİ ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN İŞ SAĞLIĞI VE GÜVENLİĞİNE BAKIŞ AÇISI ÜZERİNE BİR ARAŞTIRMA Öz İş sağlığı ve güvenliği, iş kazalarını önlemede yardımcı olan bir alandır. Bu alanın aktif olarak çalışma hayatında yer alabilmesi de ülkemizde iş güvenliği uzmanları ile sağlanmaktadır. Ancak herkes uzmanlık vasfına sahip olamamaktadır. Kişilerin uzman olabilmesi için mimar, mühendis ya da teknik eleman vasıflarından birini taşıyor olması gerekmektedir. Ancak bu durum iş sağlığı ve güvenliği açısından tehlike taşımaktadır. Bunun nedeni ise bu alan mezunlarının sadece kendi alanları ile ilgili öğrenim görmeleri ve iş sağlığı ve güvenliği ile ilgili özel olarak eğitilmemeleridir. Yani bu alan mezunları iş sağlığı ve güvenliğini kendi mesleklerine ek olarak hatta belki de daha fazla para kazanabilmek için tercih etmektedirler. Bu çalışmada Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Üniversitesi Mimarlık ve Mühendislik Fakültesi Elektrik-Elektronik Mühendisliği Bölümü öğrencilerinin iş sağlığı ve güvenliği bilgileri ve iş güvenliği uzmanlığını tercih etme nedenleri anket yöntemiyle araştırılmış ve elde edilen veriler SPSS 24 programı ile analiz edilerek yorumlanmıştır. Anahtar kelimeler: İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği, anket, bakış açısı, mimarlık fakültesi, mühendislik fakültesi, öğrenciler INTRODUCTION While the mechanization in production increased with the advancements in technology, labour-based production persists. Thus, manpower still maintains its significance, and it is needed. However, occupational accidents can occur due to the personal or workplace-related situations, and both employees and employers can suffer. In our country, since these accidents reached to dramatic dimensions, in 2012, a step was taken and our first self-contained act, Occupational Health and Safety Act no was introduced, abolishing the previous tradition of taking precautions after the accident, and transitioning into a practice based on eliminating the factors that may cause accidents before the accident occurs. In addition, in order to perform this practice professionally, implementing the precautions via "Occupational Safety Specialist" was made obligatory. By force of this obligation, who can be qualified as a specialist was specified in the Occupational Health and Safety Act no and it was adjudged that architects, engineers and technical staff (Physicists, Chemists, Biologists, Technical Teachers and Occupational Health and Safety Program associate degree holders) can work as specialists. However, the fact that occupational safety specialist is directly responsible to the employer is still a controversial issue as this can cause vulnerability in establishing occupational safety (Taşkıran, 2016; 1751). Despite all these actions, when statistics regarding occupational accidents and occupational diseases are analyzed, the state our country is in seems really grim. For instance, according to the 2015 data from SSI, in the year 2015, a total of employees, including men and women, fell victim to occupational accidents and 1252 people lost their lives (SSI Statistics Almanack, 2015). Failing to prevent the accidents indicates that commissioning occupational safety specialists alone in this field is not enough. At this point, one thing that can be criticized is that neither of the occupational safety specialists was educated in this field and they became specialists in an 610

3 ad hoc fashion after their graduation. This is because these people learn almost nothing about how vitally important occupational health and safety practices are throughout their course of study. So, in fact, what is important in the prevention of the occupational accidents is not only the sufficient education and training of the employees but also of the occupational safety specialists who will work in this field. With the present study, the knowledge of the students in electrical and electronics engineering department in the faculty of engineering and architecture on occupational health and safety was evaluated and their reasons to choose to become occupational safety specialists after graduation were investigated using survey method and the results were interpreted. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY IN TURKEY Because of the occupational accidents at the workplace every year, employees can lose their lives, can get injured or become sick. As painful as they are for the human counterpart, occupational accidents also have devastating economic and social effects (ALLI, 2001:1). One of the reasons is that the cost of occupational accidents reach to a very high level, have a traumatic effect on the society, and shake confidence. Since this problem reached to an abrasive level in Turkey, Occupational Health and Safety Act no was introduced in The year 2012 also was included in European Union Progress Report (Korkut, Tetik: 2013:456). A number of changes have been implemented with the act. Some of these changes are as follows (Kılkış, 23:2013): A proactive approach has been adopted. By this way, it will be possible to take precautions before the occupational accidents occur. It was made obligatory to employ occupational safety specialist and on-site physician for all workplaces. Employees, or if not, employers can be in charge of carrying out the occupational health and safety activities. If these individuals as well do not have the necessary qualifications, then, occupational health and safety activities can be carried out by outsourcing. Active participation of the employees in the health and safety activities was adopted. Activities toward raising awareness in the society through the media on occupational health and safety were initiated. Difference between the public and private sector was abolished and every employee was included by the act. When the above regulations are analyzed, it can be seen that the importance of occupational health and safety started to be understood in Turkey and the government is trying to overcome the deficiencies in this field. Regarding the obligation to employ occupational safety specialist in the 8th article of the Occupational Health and Safety Act no. 6331, Regulation on the Duty, Power, Responsibility and Education of the Occupational Safety Specialists includes the following clauses: Rights and powers of the on-site physician and occupational safety specialists cannot be restricted by their duties (Act no. 6331, Article8/1). Occupational safety specialist identifies the deficiencies and faults, precautions and recommendations regarding the occupational health and safety based on the regulation and technical advancements in his field at his workplace and notifies the employer in writing (Act no. 6331, Article8/2). If the reported deficiencies and faults require emergency shutdown or include urgent and lifethreatening situations such as fire, explosion, collapse, chemical leak, etc., if the employer failed to take the required precautions despite the presence of environments that can cause occupational diseases, this is reported by the occupational safety specialist to the competent body 611

4 in the ministry, to the union representative if there is any, or to the employee representative (Act no. 6331, Article8/2). The license of the on-site physician or occupational safety specialist is suspended if their negligence in the occurrence of the occupational accident or occupational disease that caused the disruption of the physical integrity of the employee such that the employee died or became disabled (Act no. 6331, Article8/4). In order for the occupational safety specialists to work at a workplace, they need to have class (A) occupational safety specialist certificate for places classified as very dangerous, at least class (B) certificate for places classified as dangerous, at least class (C) certificate for places classified as less dangerous (Act no. 6331, Article8/5). The personnel working at public organizations and institutions according to the related regulations as on-site physician or occupational safety specialist, if they have the required certificate, in addition to their main duty, can be assigned to other public organizations and institutions with consent from the personnel himself and confirmation from the senior executive (Act no. 6331, Article8/7). Occupational safety specialist: is authorized by the Ministry to work in the field of occupational health and safety, has the occupational safety specialist certificate, is either the inspector who audits the working life at the ministry and related organizations, or graduate of the faculty of engineering and architecture, or technical staff (Regulation on the Duty, Power, Responsibility and Education of Occupational Safety Specialists, Article 4/f). When the clauses are interpreted, it is clearly seen that occupational health and safety activities can directly be carried out by the occupational safety specialists and the specialists are authorized to be involved in many subjects. This has significant importance for the prevention of accidents. But the important thing is whether the specialists are qualified for this field. As mentioned in the regulations, engineers, architects or technical staff have the right to become occupational safety specialists. However, the point that requires criticism is that not every engineer, architect or technical staff are fully equipped in terms of occupational health and safety at the time of their graduation (except those from occupational health and safety associate degree program). When those who are inexperienced and not knowledgeable about occupational health and safety start working, no matter how many regulations are issued, it would be impossible to prevent occupational accidents. In general, occupational safety, which is preferred as an additional job or as a field that can make one earn more money, became a field that requires being fixed due to the increase in occupational accidents. Thus, to demonstrate whether our criticism is true or not, a study was performed about the perspectives and knowledge of the architecture and engineering students on occupational health and safety and the following results were obtained. 612 MATERIALS AND METHODS Due to the fact that they are two different disciplines, a total of 111 students at the Faculty of Architecture and Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering were asked questions according to the survey method to reveal their level of awareness on occupational health and safety and to learn the reason behind their choice of becoming occupational safety specialists, and the results were interpreted. Reliability Analysis RESULTS In order to check the reliability of the survey, first, a reliability analysis was performed. This analysis determines whether the answers to the survey are consistent with the answers to

5 the other questions. When the results of the reliability analysis of the present survey are analyzed, in Table 1, it is seen that α value is 0.760, indicating high reliability. Table 1.Reliability Analysis Alpha Coefficient Total Number of Answered Values Analysis In this type of analysis, the results can be briefly summarized. So when the results are evaluated, replies in general and the number of replies can be easily detected. The results of the first frequency analysis of the survey are given in Table 2. When asked if they know what is occupational health and safety, only 1 student did not reply. Of the students who replied, 62 said yes and 48 said no. Table 2: Do you know what is Occupational Health and Safety Cumulative age Yes No Total In another question, the students were asked if they know about Occupational Health and Safety act no and related regulations, the following answers were obtained. When Table 3 was analyzed, it is seen that 3 students said yes and 108 students said no. 613 Table 3: Do you have any information about the Act no and related regulations? age Yes No Again, the students were asked whether there were any places that seem dangerous and their answers were provided in Table 4. Table 4: Are there any places that seem dangerous in your school? age Yes No When the information above is analyzed, 30 students stated that they considered their school dangerous while 81 stated the opposite. Since the students graduate as architects or engi-

6 neers, if they are asked whether they consider becoming a specialist, results presented in Table 5 were obtained. Table 5: Would you consider becoming a specialist? age Yes No After these questions, students were asked if they consider themselves qualified enough to work as a specialist, and the answers in Table 6 were obtained. Table 6: Do you consider yourself qualified enough to work as a specialist? age Yes No In addition to the questions on becoming a specialist, when the students were asked if they know their legal rights regarding occupational health and safety, the results shown in Table 7 were obtained. Table 7: Do you know your legal rights regarding occupational health and safety? 614 age Yes No Of the students, 4 stated that they knew about their legal rights and 107 stated the opposite. In another question which asks whether the occupational accident is fate, the students answered as shown in Table 8. Table 8: Is occupational accident fate? age Yes No Total

7 When the students were asked one of the most important questions, the reason behind choosing occupational health and safety, a total of 110 students answered this question and 44 said they would choose to become occupational safety specialist if they cannot find a job in their field of education, 16 said because they love this field, and 50 said if they would earn more money than their field of education. Table 9: Why would you choose to become occupational safety specialist? age If I cannot find a job in my field of education Because I love it If I'm going to earn more money Total When whether they knew who can become an occupational safety specialist, another important question, was asked, the answers in Table 10 were obtained. 615 Table 10: Who can become an occupational safety specialist? Cumulative (summated) age Holders of a bachelor's degree or an associate degree. Faculty of Engineering graduates OHS program graduates Engineers, architects

8 and technical staff I do not know Total CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the results of the analysis, students' perspectives on occupational health and safety are as expected. It is especially clear that the people who will become specialists need to be educated in this field. In addition, the answers confirm the criticism that engineering and architecture graduates choose the field of occupational safety for financial reasons and out of necessity. The first question, which was if the students knew about what occupational health and safety is, was answered yes by 62 students and no by 48 students. Which means that 55.9% of the students heard of the concept of occupational health and safety in one form or another. In the second question, which asked whether they knew about the occupational health and safety act and related regulations, 3 students answered yes and 108 students answered no. This is one of the answers that proved the factuality of the criticisms. This is because this field is a preventive field whose professionality is based on regulations and which does not accept any deficiencies in the regulation. When these students become specialists due to any reason after graduation, they will start working without any knowledge of regulations and this will be a barrier against rather than a support for the prevention of occupational accidents. In the third question, when asked if they consider any places in their schools dangerous, 30 students answered yes while 81 answered no. This is actually indicative of how the students' awareness can be increased through education. This is because many activities regarding occupational safety in education buildings are performed but the students cannot see the dangers at this point. In the fourth question, the students were asked if they consider becoming a specialist and 62 students answered yes while 49 answered no. In the next question, the students were asked if they consider themselves qualified enough to become a specialist, and 36 students answered yes while 75 students answered no. Students who have no knowledge or education in legal rights stated that they might work in this field after graduation. Following this question, the students were asked why they would choose to become a specialist and the answers were as expected. 44 students stated that they would do it if they cannot find a job in their field of education while 50 students stated they would do it if they would earn more money, whereas only 16 students stated that they would do it because they love the profession. So, regardless of whether they are qualified for this field, they stated that they would choose this profession only to secure their future. Another important question was whether the occupational accident is fate, which has always been an indicator of how hard it is to change the employees' perception of occupational health and safety. 25 students stated that it is fate and cannot be prevented whereas 85 stated that it is not fate and can be prevented. 616 Considering the grim status of occupational accidents in our country, the reason occupational safety specialists choose this field should be their knowledge about the field of occupational health and safety. This is because, how established occupational safety can be in a field chosen only to earn money is a matter of controversy. Thus, a restriction on who can become

9 occupational safety specialist is necessary. Again, occupational health and safety education in universities would contribute to the students' own field of education would increase their selfconfidence so that they will be determined to take precautions as occupational safety specialists. Which means that people who will study engineering, architecture, or become technical staff should obtain intense theoretical and practical knowledge throughout the course of their studies. Students must definitely perform internships on occupational safety and must practice in this field. KAYNAKLAR Benjamin O. A. (2001), Fundamental Principles of Occupational Health And Safety, International Labour Office, GENEVA. Kılkış, İ. (2013), A New Period in Occupational Health and Safety: Occupational Health and Safety Act no (OHSA), Is-Guc, The Journal of Industrial Relations & Human Resources, pp Korkut, G., and Tetik A. (2013), Innovations Introduced by Occupational Health and Safety Act no and Major Problems, Süleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Magazine, pp Taşkıran, G. (2016), Unsecured Occupational Safety Specialists, Occupational Safety Which Became Marketable: A Field Study, Labour and Society, 2016/4, Occupational Health and Safety Act no. 6331, from on SGK. SSI Statistics Almanack Regulations regarding the Duty, Power, Responsibility and Education of Occupational Safety Specialists, from urcexmlsearch= on