Employer's occupational health and safety responsibilities within the scope of employer debt for preservation of employee

Rapid change in production process necessitated various precautions in the matters of occupational health and safety. Precautions within this scope set in labor law until the emergence of the law no 6331 which is occupational and safety law. The scope of the law no. 6331 which entered into force in 2012 is considerably wide and affects many employers. This case is a highly important development considering the recent occupational accidents. However, the disperse structure of legislation and unilluminated points caused various debates in the discipline. The aim of this study is to band these debates together and scrutinize legal sanctions employers may encounter because of the quality and obligations of the employers' liability and occupational accidents and illness. The basis of occupational health and security is mostly consisted of employers' obligation to preserve and surveillance workers. The employers' liability concerning the obligation of preserve and surveillance was provided only in labor laws and law of obligations in the past. With the acceptance of law no. 6331, the obligations on employers attain separate regulation. In the event of occupational accident and illness, the liability of employers arising from private law are pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages and as to liability arising from public law is pecuniary punishment. And employers' criminal liability is imprisonment or punitive fine due to reckless killing or reckless injury. There is a debate on the liability of the employer concerning occupational health and safety in the discipline about whether it is fault liability or strict liability. In Turkish law of obligations defect liability is primary liability and strict liability is exceptional liability and thus as long as it is not regulated by law, in cases of occupational accidents and illness it is advocated that defect liability prevails. Keywords: Occupational Health and Safety, Occupational Accident and Illnes