Assessment of occupational health and safety studies in combating forest fires in Turkey

Assessment of occupational health and safety studies in combating forest fires in Turkey Abstract :  It is a stubborn fact that industrialization is a rapidly growing phenomenon in our age. Under such conditions, improving the working conditions of laborers with a humanistic approach is still a big problem not only for the less developed countries (newly industrializing countries) but also for the industrialized ones. It is possible to argue that “Humanization of the working conditions” is a very broad research and application area as it includes various areas of professions such as worker’s health and labor hygiene. Thus, this approach is both in the labor and employer organizations’ field of interest. As is known, forest firefighters are receiving various trainings for a long time; fire disasters, equipment and supplies, nutrition, hygiene, forest fire extinguishing techniques, labor organization methods and first-aid training can be given as examples to these main trainings mentioned above. However, on 20th June 2012, a new legislation (no. 6331 “Occupational Health and Safety”) which is aiming to bring stricter criteria and liabilities on training programs especially concerning forest firefighters was adopted. To make it clearer, the criteria and liabilities that are brought forward by the legislation titled as the “Occupational Health and Safety” will implement more detailed theoretical and practical trainings. To sum up, forest firefighters are always under the risk of getting injured and losing their lives during fire extinguishing operations. In the light of this fact, it can be argued that occupational health and safety can only be achieved through increasing forest firefighters’ consciousness regarding the job safety.  This subject will be handled in detail in this study. Keywords:  Forest fires, firefighters, occupational health and safety, working conditions. Turkiye’de orman yanginlariyla savasta is sagligi ve guvenligi calismalarinin degerlendirilmesi Ozet:  Sanayilesmenin buyuk bir hizla gelistigi cagimizda; calisanlarin is kosullarinin ve is cevrelerinin, insanca bir yaklasim ile iyilestirilmesi, sadece sanayilesme yolundaki ulkelerde degil, sanayilesme acisindan onemli atilimlari gerceklestirmis ulkelerde de onemli bir sorun olma ozelligini korumaktadir. Devleti, isci ve isveren orgutlerini ayni olculerde ilgilendiren “calisma kosularinin insancillastirilmasi” denilebilecek bu yaklasim; insan faktoru, is duzeni, isci sagligi, is hijyeni gibi onemli uzmanlik alanlarini iceren, genis bir arastirma ve uygulama alanidir. Gecmisten gunumuze orman yanginlariyla savasanlara yanma ve yanginin meydana getirdigi tehlikeler, arac-gerec donanim, beslenme, hijyen, orman yangini sondurme yontemleri ve isci organizasyon yontemleri ile ilk yardim konularinda egitimler verildigi bilinmektedir. Ancak bugun ulkemizin icinde bulundugu yasal zorunluluklarda dikkate alindiginda; ornegin 20 Haziran 2012 tarihinde yururluge giren 6331 sayili is sagligi ve is guvenligi kanunu ve bu kanuna dayali olarak cikartilan yonetmeliklerde yanginla savasanlarin ve ozellikle orman yangin iscilerinin her an can guvenliklerini tehdit eden orman yanginlari bakimindan daha etraflica pratik ve teorik bilgileri iceren egitime tabi tutulmalari zorunlulugu vardir. Bu egitimlerde kazalarin nedenleri, calisma ortamindaki fizyolojik stresler, kisisel koruyucular, hijyen ve saglik onlemleri, beslenme ve kazalardan korunmak ile is guvenligi ve onemi ana basliklari altinda ele alinarak ogretilmelidir. Bunun sonucunda yanginlarla savasta her an olum ya da kazalanma ile karsi karsiya kalan orman yangin savascilarinda guvenlik bilincinin gelistirilmesiyle kazalardan korunmak mumkun olacaktir. Calismamizda yukarida deginilen konular ele alinmak suretiyle ulkemizdeki yangin koruma ve savas organizasyonunun orman yanginlariyla savasta ozellikle “is sagligi ve is guvenligi” konularinda yangin savascilarina verilen egitimlerin nasil yapilmasi gerektigi gerekceleriyle ortaya konacaktir. Anahtar Kelimeler:  Orman yanginlari, yangin iscileri, is sagligi ve guvenligi, calisma kosullari. Received (Gelis):  17.08.2016 -  Revised (Duzeltme):  17.11.2016 - Accepted (Kabul):  28.11.2016 Cite (Atif):  Kucukosmanoglu, A., Kucukosmanoglu, M.A., Ayberk, H., Bakirci, A.E., Kucukosmanoglu, G., 2017. Assessment of occupational health and safety studies in combating forest fires in Turkey.  Journal of the Faculty of Forestry Istanbul University  67(2): xxx-xxx. DOI: 10.17099/jffiu.xxxxx