Occupational safety at sea according to IMO conventions

With the inclusion of the OHS Law No. 6331 in the national legislation, these law requirements have been started to be applied in the maritime sector, and the internationally-operated vessels are excluded from the scope of the OHS law by Law No. 6552. In this context, the provisions of the OSH law are in force in Turkish flagged vessels that are navigating in international waters in accordance with the cancellation decision of the Constitutional Court in 2015. The relatively short-term navigation performed in our territorial waters and the seafaring needs of the vessels making the ports can be met without problems. Turkish shipping companies engaged in international transport are prepared according to the requirements of the port state to be subjected to international contractual obligations and are trying to fulfill the obligations of OHS law. In fact, the main backbone of the maritime safety practices in the maritime sector is the requirements of SOLAS and STCW conventions. IMO's SOLAS and STCW main convention, which was ratified by Turkey. Within this framework, Turkish flagged vessels have taken measures in line with OHS in compliance with SOLAS. In this context, the ISM code, which contains provisions similar to SOLAS, STCW conventions and especially OHS law, has been examined in detail. In the continuation of my study, the provisions of ISM Code, which contains similar provisions, are compared with OSH law. Currently, there are no regulations for the implementation of OSH law except for ships engaged in fishing. In this context, legislative arrangements are needed. The Port Authorities, which controls the Turkish flagged vessels under the legislation on maritime safety, approve and certifies seaworthiness, and the Coast Guard Command, which controls the maritime safety, may also be authorized to control the provisions of the OHS Law. OHS certification methods such as SMC, DoC can be introduced in different formats from the existing documents where OSH law provisions are added. Keywords: Ships, IMO, ILO, ISM code, OHS Law.