Employer duties

What is the difference between a lower-tier and an upper-tier establishment?

There are two tiers. At the lower tier, notification, a major accident prevention policy and a safety management system are required. At the upper tier a safety report, an internal emergency plan, information for the external plan and a tighter inspection programme are added. The tier follows from the quantity of substances held, not from the size of the company.

What the tier decides

The tier has nothing to do with headcount or turnover; it depends solely on which threshold the quantity of dangerous substances passes. A small warehouse can be upper tier and a large factory lower tier.

The difference in obligations

ObligationLower tierUpper tier
NotificationYesYes
Major accident prevention policyYesYes
Safety management systemYesYes
Information to the publicYesYes — extended
Safety reportYes
Internal emergency planYes
Information for the external planYes
Planned inspectionYesYes — more frequent

The regimes are not identical

The naming and detail of the obligations do not map one to one between Türkiye and the European Union: the Turkish side has items of its own, such as the major accident scenario document and the dangerous substance intervention card. Copying one country's list to the other produces either missing or wasted work.

The tier can change

Stock policy, a new product or a change in a substance's classification can change the tier. When it does, the obligation list changes with it — and that this requires a fresh notification is often missed.

How this stands in Optifora

Each of the 26 obligation records is tagged with its regime (Turkish / EU) and its tier (lower · upper · both); when the establishment's profile changes, the list regenerates itself.

Manage this in Optifora

Optifora is not a single program but a compliance platform assembled from modules. The catalogue states which module is ready today and which is on the roadmap.

See what Optifora is