Sectors

What are the OHS obligations in healthcare?

In healthcare (NACE 75, 86, 87, 88) seven of the 40 activity codes are highly hazardous, 24 are hazardous and nine are less hazardous. SGK recorded 38,627 accidents, 20 deaths and 16 occupational disease cases in these divisions in 2025, with 36,436 of the accidents reported in human health activities (NACE 86).

Hazard class distribution

The healthcare view covers four NACE divisions: 75 veterinary activities, 86 human health activities, 87 residential care activities and 88 social work activities without accommodation. Of the 40 activity codes in the communiqué annex, seven are highly hazardous, 24 hazardous and nine less hazardous. The sector therefore cannot be managed at a single weight: a laboratory and an administrative unit of the same institution can fall into different classes.

The SGK 2025 table

NACE divisionAccidentsDeathsOccupational diseases
75 · Veterinary activities36000
86 · Human health activities36,4361913
87 · Residential care activities1,40313
88 · Social work without accommodation42800
Sector total38,6272016

The sector carries 5% of the country's accidents but 1% of its deaths — 0.5 deaths per 1,000 accidents against a national average of 2.5. Human health activities rank sixth nationally by accident count: in healthcare the issue is frequency, not severity.

What the employer has to put in place

  • General obligation of the employer; establishing occupational health and safety services.
  • Risk assessment, control, measurement and research — biological agents, chemicals, radiation and sharps injuries are each handled separately.
  • Health surveillance, including immunisation and exposure follow-up.
  • Informing and training workers; with shift work the training plan follows the shift pattern.
  • Emergency plans, firefighting, first aid and evacuation — patient evacuation is its own chapter of that plan.
  • Recording and reporting occupational accidents and diseases, sharps incidents included.
  • Worker representative and the occupational health and safety board.

Incidents of violence are also recorded as occupational accidents; the reporting duty does not change because the incident originated with a patient or a relative.

The class of your own unit

A hospital, a laboratory and a care home carry different activity codes; verify yours with the hazard class query. All 40 codes and the division-by-division accident table are in the healthcare sector view, and the national breakdowns are on the Türkiye OHS statistics page.

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.

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