Investigation of health and safety perception levels of employees in perlite mining facilities

Turkey is located in the upper row in the world for mining work accidents. One of the main reasons for accidents in the mining sector is undoubtedly that the employees do not have the desired level of knowledge and equipment on occupational safety and health, and that they do not have sufficient accumulation to minimize or eliminate the risk of accidents. The fact that the accidents occurring due to insufficient development of occupational health and safety awareness of the employees in the mining sector makes it important to examine the practices in this sector. In this context, this study was carried out in order to determine occupational health and safety perception levels of perlite mining enterprises. To this end, knowledge of occupational health and safety for the general Perlite Mine employees have been determined. The universe of this study, which was designed in the survey model, consists of the workers in Perlite mining enterprises. The sample of the study consisted of 200 volunteer participants selected by simple random method. In this research, data were collected from 200 volunteer participants by using Occupational Health and Safety Practices Assessment Scale "in order to determine the perception levels of the participants regarding occupational health and safety. The data obtained from 200 volunteer participants were analyzed with SPSS program. As a result of the analyzes, it was found that the perceptions of workers working in Perlite mining enterprises in terms of workers' health and safety were high. In addition, according to demographic characteristics, it was found that perlite mining enterprises employees' perception of worker health and safety differed. In the light of these findings, it is recommended that occupational health and safety trainings are given in a practical manner and that the awareness of employees on occupational health and safety is increased with in-service trainings.