Occupational safety and health in North Cyprus: Evaluation of risk assessment

Safety Science 94 (2017) 17–25

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Occupational safety and health in North Cyprus: Evaluation of risk assessment Isßıl Nurdan Isßık, Emine Atasoylu ⇑ Industrial Engineering Department, Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimag˘usa, TRNC via Mersin 10, Turkey

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history: Received 1 March 2016 Received in revised form 5 November 2016 Accepted 22 December 2016

Keywords: Occupational safety and health (OSH) Risk assessment (RA) SME Legislation

a b s t r a c t Surveillance data show that preventable occupational accidents persist in North Cyprus despite the occupational safety and health (OSH) law. The main objectives of this study were to determine employer awareness of this law, to find out to what extent the employers fulfilled their obligations to conduct risk assessments, and to measure the effectiveness of the law and the risk assessments taking place. Study methods included oral interviews and written surveys of employers of small and medium sized businesses. In most of the workplaces studied, employers did not pay attention to occupational safety. Seventy-five percent were unaware of an OSH law. Of those that knew of the law, 95% did not know what the law encompassed, and 87% of companies did not fulfill the risk assessment (RA) requirement or take preventive actions. Ninety-eight point nine percent reported that a government labor office inspector never visited their company for an OSH inspection. Companies that carried out risk assessments found the law sufficient and conducted satisfactory risk assessments. Areas that need attention include risk assessments of rare and unusual work tasks and those associated with temporary contract employees. Monitoring of the work environment and using risk assessments for future planning was not common practice. The lack of preventive inspections by government labor office inspectors appears to be the main reason why employers are not meeting the extremely important RA obligation. This study highlights the current practice around OSH law in North Cyprus and suggestions are made for future improvements. Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

1.1. Legislation

Effective occupational safety and health (OSH) management plays an important role in protecting the workforce and reducing the direct and indirect costs of accidents (Goetsch, 2008). Preventive measures can also increase employee morale and productivity (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, 2009). Companies in North Cyprus (NC) are mostly small and medium sized enterprises (SME) (North Cyprus State Planning Organization, 2012). It is well known that OSH issues occur more often in SME’s, and that they have a higher rate of occupational accidents when compared with large industries (Fabiano et al., 2004; Sorensen et al., 2007). The reasons are well established in the literature including financial, technical and staff limitations (Hasle et al., 2009). Small firms are more vulnerable due to insufficient staffing making it difficult to build an effective OSH management system.

Legislation is important in requiring that companies provide a healthy and safe environment for their workforce. Moreover, it is important that companies comply with legislation, however, this is difficult for SMEs. The NC OSH Law numbered 35/2008 was established and approved in July 2008 and has been enforced since March 2009 (North Cyprus Labor Office, 2008). The preparation of the related standards, rules and regulations are still in progress. Before this law was established, OSH was mentioned as general statements in a section under articles 54 and 55 in the NC Labor law (North Cyprus Labor Office, 1992). Section six which is named as worker health and occupational safety is a two page section with only five short articles (articles 54–58). Article 54 of this section says that the employer should provide a safe work environment, should provide equipment for this purpose, and should report all accidents/incidents to the government labor office within two days. Remaining articles state that if the life of an employee is at risk, the government labor office has the right to stop work or shut down the workplace until precautions are taken. The general statements, and especially the most relevant one pointing out that the employer has an obligation to provide a safe work environ-

⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (I.N. Isßık), emine.atasoylu@emu. edu.tr (E. Atasoylu). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2016.12.020 0925-7535/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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ment, were determined to be insufficient to ensure an effective OSH management system in the NC industries. As a consequence, the NC government established the 35/2008 OSH law with the goal of harmonizing with the OSH laws of the European Union (EU). As written, the NC OSH law is very similar to the EU directive (89/391/ EEC), addressing the concern for inadequate regulations. However, the effectiveness of this law in reducing occupational safety and health incidents remains unanswered. The main goal of this study is to answer this question. The second section of the NC OSH law, which is about employer obligations, includes 12 articles and forms the majority of the law. It makes clear to the employer that an OSH management system is important and the employers are responsible for building this into their organizations.

2.1. Hypotheses Given the high rate of occupational injury in NC, the following hypotheses were generated: (1) Most employers are unaware of the NC OSH law and RA requirement. (2) Risk assessments are not conducted in the workplaces. (3) Labor officers are not conducting preventive inspections. (4) Risk assessments are ineffective. (5) Employers are not taking corrective actions based on risk assessments. (6) The OSH law is ineffective in ensuring a safe and healthy work environment. 3. Materials and methods

1.2. Employer obligation The NC OSH Law 35/2008 Article 8 is about employers’ risk assessment (RA) obligation. Article 8(1) states that employers should carry out regular risk assessments and file all related reports and documents in their workplace. Article 8(2) states that based on the RA results, employers should take preventive measures, provide suitable personal protective equipment (PPE), and make sure that the employees use the PPE. Article 8 also states that in the event that there are no qualified company personnel to conduct a RA, assistance from an outside OSH professional can be requested. Additional regulations under this law specify for employers the steps for proper RA and reporting. The RA obligation is an important component of establishing and maintaining a safe and healthy work environment. Through RA, workplace hazards and at risk employees are identified, risks are evaluated, and decisions are made for preventive action. Ongoing monitoring and re-evaluation with periodic risk assessments ensures a robust system where corrective measures are taken as needed. The NC government trained and licensed OSH professionals ensuring risk assessments were conducted by qualified professionals meeting a specified standard. In 2011, the NC labor office organized a training program consisting of a series of courses offered by mostly university professors. Those who passed the exam at the end of the training were licensed as OSH professionals. These professionals are now the only individuals authorized to conduct official risk assessments, prepare and sign all related documents, and offer other OSH related services to companies. The OSH professional and employer share legal responsibility for an undesirable OSH event. Any RA carried out without the involvement of a licensed OSH professional would not be enough for the employer to meet this obligation. While the initial training only included 50 OSH professionals, the intention was to increase the number of trained OSH professionals in subsequent years by offering periodic training programs. Fig. 1 shows the total number of accidents that took place between the years 2006 and 2014. The four industries with the highest number of accidents during this period are listed in Table 1 (North Cyprus Labor Office, 2014a).

After review of the government labor office records on occupational incidents between the years 2006 and 2013, it was determined that there was no meaningful difference in the number of accidents after the NC OSH law was established (230 accidents in 2008 compared to 237 in 2013). Based on this finding, the decision was made to investigate the construction and production industries which were rated as the top two industries with the highest reported occupational events. A list of all companies in the Gazimag˘usa region was obtained from the Gazimag˘usa Municipality. From this list, active construction and production companies were identified and randomly selected for this study. In 2014, employers or their representatives were interviewed regarding their knowledge of the NC OSH law and their implementation methods. In addition, an OSH RA questionnaire was given to those who reported having conducted a RA. For the purposes of this study occupational incident was defined as any undesirable occupational event including any occupational accident, injury or health problem. 3.1. Employer interviews Employers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire in order to obtain the following information:            

2. Aim of the study The main objectives of this study were to determine employer awareness of the NC OSH law, to find out to what extent the employers fulfilled their RA obligation, and to identify the effectiveness of the law and the risk assessments. No similar study is found in the literature.



Employer awareness of the NC OSH law. Employer knowledge of their obligations as written in the law. Whether companies carried out risk assessments. What employers thought of risk assessments as a legally mandated obligation. Employer awareness of any workplace hazards. Whether employers were taking any precautions to prevent harm. The reasons risk assessments were not conducted. Whether employers knew how to contact an authorized OSH professional. Whether a NC labor office inspector visited their company for an OSH preventive inspection. Whether OSH training was available to employees. And, if so, where this training took place, and the content of the training. Whether the employer had attended any OSH training, seminar or workshop. The type of occupational incidents that had occurred and whether records were being kept and reported to the labor office. Whether employers knew that occupational incidents needed to be reported to the labor office within two days.

The last part of the questionnaire included an open ended question to get input from employers on their perceived problem areas

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300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Total Accidents

Tot. Construct. Accidents

Tot. Producon Accidents

Total Injuries

Const. Tot. Deaths

Producon Tot. Deaths

Total Deaths Fig. 1. Number of accidents between 2006 and 2014 in North Cyprus.

Table 1 Four industries with the highest number of accidents between years 2006 and 2014.a

a

Industry

Total number of accidents

Total number of injuries

Total fatalities

Construction Production Vehicle and Household Maintenance Hotels and Restaurants NC total

599 514 337

573 507 343

26 7 7

257 2300

256 2260

1 57

Accidents reported to the NC labor office (North Cyprus Labor Office, 2014a).

and get their suggestions on improving OSH, their OSH learning needs, and what expectations they had from the government. The questions were prepared and the questionnaire was finalized after piloting the instrument and after consultation with a psychologist experienced in questionnaire design. 3.2. OSH risk assessment questionnaire An OSH RA questionnaire was given to those employers who said that they had carried out a RA in their companies. The first three questions where designed to get information on the respondent’s position within the company, the company’s field of activity, and the number of employees. Using Yes/No and a 5-point Likert scale responses, questions were designed to assess the effectiveness of the law and the effectiveness of the risk assessments performed. The questionnaire was designed with reference to previous work by Niskanen et al. (2012). 3.2.1. Questions on the effectiveness of the OSH law The effectiveness of the OSH law was assessed with three sets of questions using a 5-point Likert scale. The response options were strongly agree, agree, no idea, disagree, and strongly disagree. The first set of questions was prepared to identify whether the law resulted in OSH improvement in the following areas: commitment of management, a focus on obligation and responsibilities, employee-employer cooperation, systematic improvement, opportunities for OSH professionals to impact the workplace, work environment, working conditions, hazard/risk identification and carrying out RA. Whereas, the second set of questions was designed to identify whether the law resulted in improvement of OSH measures in the workplace including risk reduction, physical or mental overload, unfair treatment causing harm or risk to the

health of workers, chemical risk factors, excessive noise exposure, workplace ergonomics, work methods, training and guiding of workers. The third set of questions was designed to understand the degree to which employers take responsibility for RA, carry out RA, identify and prevent OSH hazards and harm.

3.2.2. Questions on the effectiveness of the risk assessment The rest of the questions were related to the effectiveness of the RA. These included an evaluation of the planning for RA, hazard identification and subsequent specific RA of this hazard, and, whether the results of the RA were used to improve OSH in the workplace. Two yes and no type questions aimed to understand how the company prepared for RA including whether employees and OSH professionals were involved in the planning, and whether accident records, relevant measurements, and material safety data sheets (MSDS) were taken into consideration. The other yes and no type questions were designed to understand how risk assessments were carried out. One question addressed whether risk assessments were performed for daily work routines, rare and unusual tasks, and whether evaluations included temporary contract employees. The second question aimed to understand whether the following important areas were included in a RA: accident risks, factors affecting mental and physical strain, ergonomic, chemical, biological (e.g. mold, bacteria) and physical (e.g. noise, vibration, temperature, lighting) risk factors at work. Here respondents were given two options for ‘‘no,” the first specifying that the item was not included in the RA but was perceived as important to be included, and the second specifying no such risk at that workplace. Three sets of questions were designed to understand how the RA results were used. A 5-point Likert scale included response options of always, often, sometimes, seldom and never. One set of questions measured whether the results of RA were used (or to what extend these were used) to address the following areas: plan preventive measures, give on-job training and guidance to workers, prepare operational instructions, plan and implement occupational policies and activities, plan and manage work, develop managerial tasks, plan research, inspections or measurements, design individual workstations, and monitor improvements of the work environment. The second set of questions addressed the RA documents and how these were managed. These questions were aimed at identifying whether

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 print and/or electronic versions of the RA documents were available,  RA documents were available to employees,  updates were made to these documents based on follow-up results,  these updates were reported to management,  the RA was being addressed in cooperation with the responsible person, employee and OSH professional. The final set of questions was designed to address the effectiveness of RA in taking preventive measures, such as, where possible, preventing hazards by taking proactive measures, eliminating or minimizing observed hazards and risk factors, replacing hazard causing factors (such as chemicals) with less hazardous ones where appropriate, and adopting general safety measures over individual ones. This set of questions addressed the awareness, and use of the best available technologies for risk reduction, as well as whether there was thought put into developing improved preventive technologies.

4. Results 4.1. Interview results Out of 170 active construction and production companies, 92 were randomly selected, visited, and employer or employer representatives were interviewed. The range of products produced by the visited manufacturing companies can be categorized as dairy, bakery, soft drinks/beverages, cleaning, metal, aluminum, wood and ship manufacturing and maintenance. The respondents’ number of years of employment ranged from 1 month to 35 years. They reported to be managers ranging in responsibility from overseeing a department to being a company director. Of note, company directors are also company main shareholders. All had a minimum of a high school education, most had a university degree, and a few reported to have a master’s degree. As noted in Table 2, 75% of the respondents were unaware of the existence of an OSH law, 3.3% had no idea, and the remaining 21.7% knew there was an OSH law but were unaware of employer obligations as written in the law. All employers thought it was good that RA was an obligation, but they added that they had not yet benefited from this law in practice, as they weren’t informed of the law or their workplace was never inspected. Those that were aware of the RA obligation but did not meet this obligation stated the reasons as: finding it unnecessary for their workplace, considering the

Table 2 Some responses to the interview type questionnaire. Questions

YES %

NO %

NO IDEA %

Is there an OSH law in North Cyprus? Should there be an OSH law? Do you (or did you ever) carry out RA in your workplace? Do you have an OSH professional in your company or do you have an OSH professional from another company working for you? Do you know how to reach a North Cyprus OSH professional? Has a labor office inspector ever visited your company for OSH preventive inspection? Have you received any OSH training? Are you giving or did you ever give OSH training to your employees? Are you keeping records of accidents? Did you know that accidents have to be reported to the labor office within two days?

21.7 80.6 13.0

75.0 0 87.0

3.3 19.4

10.9

89.1

7.6

92.4

1.1

98.9

32.6 44.6

67.4 55.4

0 71.6

100 28.4

cost prohibitive, and referring to their way of practice as conventional. Most employers (77%) were aware of the hazards that could cause serious harm, taking some daily precautions based on their practical knowledge, while others did not think they had any hazards. Workplace hazards identified by companies included: those related to machinery, risk of fire, exposure to chemicals, excessive heat, noise, dust, pressurized devices, steam, risks associated with working at heights, heavy lifting, and objects falling from overhead. They were unable to comment on any preventive measures they might be taking but most companies (98%) reported to have fire extinguishers, 38% provided personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, glasses and gloves, and 7.6% mentioned that they had machine and forklift operating procedures. There was no mention of monitoring noise levels or providing PPE to prevent hearing loss. Respondents that reported receiving OSH training, when asked, described the training as a 1 day seminar given by the chamber of commerce. Those who did carry out risk assessments, received training from the company providing the OSH service. Only two companies were found to have systematic and periodic training for their staff. All responses to the open ended question asking employers what they identified as OSH problems, any suggestions they had for OSH, and their expectations from the government to support OSH, resulted in requests for the government to: (1) announce a fixed price for RA service provided by OSH professionals or companies giving this service, (2) pay for at least the first RA, (3) pay 70% of RA expenses as an incentive, (4) pay for safety warning signs, (5) provide companies with OSH related information, (6) offer training, (7) train more OSH professionals so that companies can have their own engineers or staff trained and certified instead of getting OSH services from other companies, and (8) accept external international certification as meeting the OSH RA requirement. 4.2. Risk Assessment questionnaire results A total of 12 firms out of the 92 interviewed (13%) reported having a RA conducted in their workplace at least once. The numbers of these companies by industry are given in Table 3. Five of these companies carried out RA for external certification to get international recognition for exporting goods. One had this policy set by their main office in Turkey, and one was doing work for a company that had external certification. The size of the companies conducting RA was larger than the majority of other companies that did not conduct RA, however, this did not represent the total number of larger companies interviewed. All 12 had company managers with a master’s degree. 4.2.1. OSH law effectiveness 4.2.1.1. The effectiveness of the OSH law on workplace improvement. Eighty-three percent strongly agreed or agreed that the OSH

Table 3 The number of companies that responded to the RA questionnaire by industry. Industry

Number of companies

Percentage (%)

Dairy Products Wooden Products Manufacturer and Distributor Construction Aluminum Products Bakery (food) Beverage (soft drinks) manufacturer and distributor Ship Manufacturing and Maintenance

3 3

25 25

2 1 1 1

16.7 8.3 8.3 8.3

1

8.3

There was 100% participation of the 12 representative companies. All responded to the RA questionnaire evaluating the effectiveness of the OSH law and that of the RA.

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law increased the commitment of management and increased their focus on responsibilities and obligations, whereas 17% had no idea about the impact of the law. Fifty percent disagreed that the law resulted in an increase in employer-employee cooperation and that OSH professionals worked in the company. Thirty-three percent disagreed that the law promoted a systematic improvement of OSH in the company whereas the rest (67%) either strongly agreed or agreed that it did. A hundred percent either strongly agreed or agreed that hazard identification and RA was made possible, and that the work environment and the working conditions were improved due to the existence of this law. 4.2.1.2. Impact of OSH law on improvement of preventive measures. A hundred percent of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that the OSH law promoted reduction in accident risks and that employee training and guidance improved as a result of the OSH law. Fifty percent strongly agreed or agreed that there was a reduction in physical workload by improving workplace ergonomics including the proper use of equipment and work methods, whereas 50% disagreed. Fifty percent either disagreed or strongly disagreed that there was a reduction in mental overload, 33% had no idea, while, only 17% agreed that there was a reduction. Sixty-seven percent strongly agreed or agreed that chemical risk factors were reduced while 33% disagreed. Thirty-three percent strongly agreed or agreed that risk factors related with excessive exposure to noise were eliminated while 50% disagreed, and 17% had no idea. Sixty-six percent strongly agreed or agreed that reduction in unfair treatment causing harm or risk to the health of workers took place, while the rest had no idea. 4.2.1.3. Impressions on how the OSH law worked in practice. A hundred percent of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed that the law was sufficient for identifying OSH hazards and possible harm, for carrying out RA, for employers taking responsibility for RA, and for preventing or minimizing hazards and harm. 4.2.2. The effectiveness of the risk Assessment carried out by companies The results of the two yes or no type questions used for identifying how the companies prepare for RA are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In preparing for RA, 100% of respondents used records of accidents and near misses, and 60% or greater of respondents used documents prepared by OSH professionals, results of hygiene measurements, and chemical MSDS sheets.

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Figs. 4 and 5 show the results of the questions designed to understand how risk assessments were carried out. It is seen that only 33.3% of companies took into account physical risk factors when conducting the RA. From these no attention was given to noise and it was identified to be a top problem besides heat and vibration. Rare and unusual work tasks, and temporary contract employees were only considered by 50% and 33% of companies, respectively. Questions addressing how the RA results were used had a 5point Likert scale with response options Always, Often, Sometimes, Seldom, and Never. The average of each item in these questions was calculated in order to have a better comparison of results (see Figs. 6–8). Of the six hypotheses generated by researchers for this study, five are supported and one is rejected by results as summarized in Table 4.

5. Discussion The NC OSH law requires the employers to carry out RA in their workplace which is accepted to be the most important approach in protecting the workforce. With an effective RA, companies identify and understand workplace hazards and potential harm, and decide on preventive action to protect their employees from harm by minimizing risk. The companies selected for this study were production and construction companies from the Gazimag˘usa region and are believed to be a representative sample of SME companies throughout NC. All companies were comparable in size and capacity to others in different regions of NC. The results support five and reject one of the hypotheses of this research. Eighty-seven percent of companies did not conduct RA. All respondents liked the idea of RA being an obligation. This receptivity is promising, potentially making it easier to transform companies into ones that offer safe and healthy work environments. Lack of enforcement was the most common reason risk assessments were not carried out by those companies aware of the RA obligation, followed by cost or the idea of extra cost. The request made by most companies aware of the RA obligation, was to get financial support for occupational safety and health. This is worth considering since the ministry of economy is providing incentives for new businesses or for those wanting to expand (North Cyprus Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Development Center, 2015). It may be possible to include OSH among the offered incentives, by financing equipment, devices,

Do you use the following data/informaon when planning for RA in your workplace ? 120 100 80 60 Yes % 40

No %

20 0 Accident records

Dangerous Documents Workplace Chemical situaons and prepared by hygiene MSDS sheets near-accident OSH measurement records professionals results Fig. 2. Planning for RA in the workplace.

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RA is organized with 120 100 80 60

Yes %

40

No %

20 0 Employee-employer cooperaon

The use of worker experse

Parcipaon of OSH professional

Fig. 3. Personnel involvement in preparing for RA.

Are the following taken into account when you are idenfying hazards and carrying out RA? 120 100 80 60 Yes %

40

No %

20

No risk %

0 Accident Physical risks at the strain workplace factors and ergonomic hazards

Mental strain factors

Physical risk Chemical Biological factors risk factors risk factors

Fig. 4. Factors taken into account during RA (a ‘‘no” response indicating the item was not included in the RA but was considered important by employers, and ‘‘no risk” indicating no identifiable workplace risk).

Are the following taken into consideraon during hazard idenficaon and RA ? 120 100 80 60

Yes %

40

No %

20 0 Daily work rounes

Rare and unusual work tasks

Temporary contract employees

Fig. 5. Work tasks taken into consideration for hazard identification and RA.

and consultancy for taking preventive action, training, or financing the first RA carried out by the OSH professional. This will also help those companies who cite cost as a limiting factor in taking OSH measures including hiring OSH professionals. Licensure trainings of OSH professionals should be offered periodically to give companies a chance to have their employees trained. This will avert any potential shortage of OSH professionals to do all the required work when the OSH regulation is more effectively enforced by the gov-

ernment. The training sessions and licensing were for university graduates, most were engineers from different fields, and initially the training sessions were offered only for NC citizens with the goal of providing new jobs and reducing unemployment. In order to further overcome barriers to ‘‘official” risk assessment, other risk assessments should be recognized as official such as those conducted for external certification as long as they meet the same standards. These may include ISO22000 certificate, OSHAS18001

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Monitor improvements of the work environment Plan individual workstaons Plan research, inspecons or measurements Develop managerial tasks Plan and managing work Implement OSH policies Plan and implement occupaonal policies and acvies Prepare work or operaonal instrucons Give on-job training and guidance for workers Plan prevenve measures 0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Fig. 6. How the RA results are used (averages of 5-point Likert scale: always (4), often (3), sometimes (2), seldom (1), never (0)).

In cooperaon with the OSH professional In cooperaon with the employees In cooperaon with the responsible person Reported to management Updated based on follow up results Available to workers Print and/or in electronic documentaon 0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Fig. 7. How RA documents are used (averages of 5-point Likert scale: always (4), often (3), sometimes (2), seldom (1), never (0)).

The best technology is used and the development of technology is taken into account when prevenng hazards and risk factors General safety measures are replaced before personal ones The hazards or risk factors are replaced with less harmful ones The observed hazards and risk factors are eliminated Hazards are prevented by taking proacve measures 0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Fig. 8. How the preventive measures are taken (averages of 5-point Likert scale: always (4), often (3), sometimes (2), seldom (1), never (0)).

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24 Table 4 Summary of results based on research hypotheses. Hypotheses

Supported or rejected

H1: Most employers are unaware of the NC OSH law and RA requirement Interview results: Seventy-five percent of employers are unaware of the NC OSH law H2: Risk assessments are not conducted in the workplaces Interview results: Eighty-seven percent of employers reported that they have never conducted RA in their workplace H3: Labor officers are not conducting preventive inspections Interview results: Labor office inspectors visited only 1 out of 92 companies for preventive OSH inspection H4: Risk assessments are ineffective Questionnaire results: Even though risk assessments helped make workplace improvements, physical risk factors, rare and unusual work tasks and temporary contract employees were only included in 33.3%, 50% and 33% of the risk assessments respectively. Additionally, on average, the RA results were not used adequately as shown in Figs. 6–8 since most averages were below 3 (often). Therefore we can conclude that the risk assessments are effective with these stated limitations H5: Employers are not taking corrective actions based on risk assessments Interview results: H5 is proven to be correct since 87% of the employers interviewed reported that they did not conduct RA in their workplace H6: The OSH law is ineffective in ensuring a safe and healthy work environment Questionnaire and interview results: Companies that answered the questionnaire found the OSH law to be sufficient. However, since 75% of employers were unaware of the law, and with the lack of preventive inspections conducted by labor officers, one can conclude that in practice the law is ineffective

Supported

Supported

Supported

Rejected (RAs are effective with limitations)

Supported

Supported

occupational health and safety management system standard, FSMS ISO22000 food safety management system standard including HACCP (hazard analysis and critical central points) principles, and those conducted to meet requirements for exporting goods, and those conducted by company headquarters which are based abroad. Risk assessments carried out for these purposes are currently not considered official since the NC OSH professionals are not involved. Only 1 out of 92 of companies had a preventive inspection by a labor office OSH inspector. This explains why risk assessments are not conducted, and that the law and its requirements are not known by the majority of companies. A well-organized visit plan to companies by a compliance officer would contribute to having a better environment for the workforce. When the current situation in NC is analyzed, it is expected that these inspections will have a greater impact on improving the work environment by informing and educating companies regarding OSH law, than would be expected from collecting penalties alone. Current research in progress focuses on further identifying why preventive OSH inspection are not taking place in NC including surveys of OSH professionals and labor office inspectors (unpublished work by Isßık and Atasoylu, 2015). Further review of the labor office records showed that only 39 companies met their RA obligation throughout North Cyprus. Of this 39, only 13 are production or construction firms and 11 of

these remains in the Gazimag˘usa region (North Cyprus Labor Office, 2014b). This information strengthens the reliability of the results since only one company out of those surveyed did not report their RA to the labor office yet. The study shows that risk assessments are not conducted and those companies who did were all included in this study. Of the small percentage (13%) of companies performing risk assessments, risk assessments were found to be effective with some limitations. Participation of an OSH professional needs to be increased when planning RA. More attention needs to be placed on identification of physical risk factors, hazards for rare and unusual work tasks, and for temporary contract employees. While the OSH law was noted to be sufficient for organizing a safe and healthy work environment, the majority of companies were not carrying out risk assessments because of the lack of enforcement, in effect making the OSH law ineffective. Although effectiveness studies exist in the literature (Tompa et al., 2016), none were found to be similar to this study since in NC there are no active OSH enforcement, inspection, and risk assessments taking place but in the studies in literature all these were in place. This study highlights some of the barriers that arise in countries like NC who are initiating new laws around OSH. These findings can be instructive, particularly in resource poor areas, on how to overcome potential problems associated with the implementation and enforcement of new laws. An ongoing extended study (Isßık, Atasoylu) is addressing more specific effectiveness measures including the practice and perspectives of employers, OSH professionals, as well as government inspectors and regulatory personnel. The North Cyprus government should look for avenues to assist companies in OSH management and in effective enforcement of the OSH laws. A coherent policy and government commitment to OSH is essential (Annan et al., 2015). The North Cyprus government established an OSH law with good intention but did not show the commitment needed for the enforcement of the law. The interrelationship between policy, guidelines and compliance is well documented by research. A call to action is necessary especially for SMEs (New Zealand NOHSAC report, 2009) which are more at risk for accidents compared to large companies (EU, 2003). As stated in the OSH convention of ILO (International Labor Organization), an adequate and appropriate system for inspection is necessary in order to effectively enforce OSH laws and regulations (ILO, 1981). To achieve effectiveness of regulations and improve OSH in the workplace, it is important that these regulations are clearly communicated to companies and enforced by regulators (Tompa et al., 2016). It is known that the role of inspectors is not only to issue citations but to also serve as a source of information and guidance to companies around OSH issues (Niskanen et al., 2014). Inspections with or without a penalty have an impact on compliance rates, and there is strong evidence that inspections with penalties reduce OSH incidents by having a deterrence effect (Tompa et al., 2016). Even though this deterrence effect is known, for developing countries with new regulations, like NC, the information and guidance provided by inspectors is even more important. The need for this is underscored by the results of the current study. Safety programs are needed in NC as is the case worldwide, even in countries with good OSH law enforcement structures (New Zeland NOHSAC, 2009; EU, 2003). Countries of the European Union developed programs to effectively assist SMEs in improving their OSH system (EU, 2003). Various tools and strategies have been developed for informing SMEs about OSH legislation, and helping them take responsibility to implement necessary OSH measures. Some of these include printed and electronic informational documents, campaigns on occupational risks in a given sector, as well as training by specialists on OSH in the workplace. Similar educational programs have been developed by OSHA

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in the United States, which have included printed and electronic educational materials in the form of brochures, fact sheets, online safety and health topics, and posters, published in different languages to reach a wider audience (OSHA, 2015). There are several essential elements for establishing a safe and healthy work environment of which the presence of a OSH policy is only one. It is essential to have commitment by the government to establish a structure for the effective enforcement of this policy. An effective communication system whereby companies receive information on regulations through various channels including trainings and guidance by OSH professionals, media and published materials is paramount. Lastly, recommendations for improvement as informed by inspections with follow-up to ensure that these recommendations have been put into place or at least considered allows for closing of the loop and ongoing dialogue for improvement. Recommendations for improvement of OSH in North Cyprus and directions for future research follow.

6. Conclusions This study shows that the lack of knowledge of the companies and the lack of preventive inspections by NC labor office inspectors appear to be the main reasons why employers are not meeting the extremely important RA obligation. Recommendations to Improve OSH of Small and Medium Sized Companies in North Cyprus Recommendations to increase OSH awareness  Brochures should be prepared and distributed to companies in order to increase employer and employee awareness related with the OSH law and specifically employer obligations.  General and industry specific brochures including occupational risks in the different sectors and ways of taking preventive measures should be prepared and shared with each workplace.  General training courses and seminars followed by industry specific training should be organized by the government.  University faculty members could help with employer and employee training as they did when OSH professionals were trained.  All educational materials should be available on a web site prepared by the government to increase awareness.  The OSH inspections should be conducted and provide guidance for future improvement. Recommendations on cost reduction Government should consider:  financing the first RA and OSH trainings.  financing the preventive measures that should be taken based on the recommendations made from the first RA.  licensing more OSH professionals and recognizing risk assessments conducted for external certification (without the involvement of NC OSH professionals but those that might be conducted by professionals who are licensed by agencies recognized internationally).  creating other incentives to improve compliance. Additional Recommendations for building a structure for effective enforcement of the OSH law.

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 After a grace period of inspections from which to gather information and guidance, companies should be informed of the date inspectors will start giving citations and penalties for noncompliance with OSH law, rules, regulations and standards.  Follow up studies will help identify the effectiveness of these measures and any additional barriers to implementing OSH laws.  All expectations and inspections should be planned and communicated in advance, a calendar of events should be prepared at the beginning of each year, shared with companies by e-mail and all events should be posted on a web site. Future research can aim to determine the following:  the number of certified OSH professionals needed to effectively service NC  whether hiring licensed OSH professionals will influence an employer’s perception of their own responsibility and ownership of OSH decisions made.  whether, in practice, improvement in OSH can be achieved with regular inspections, whether the inspections will be effective, and the number of inspectors needed to make this possible.  an effective systems approach to enforcing OSH law which will include the recommendations outlined above.

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