Principals' opinions on the implementation and competency of occupational health and safety in schools

Schools constitute the main system of education. The school ensuring the effectiveness of the education system must be well managed. A well-planned teaching process, effectively overwhelmed issues, school safety and healthy must be ensured coordinately. Institutions should provide safety and comfort for their staff and students. Due to their responsibilities principals must be well versed. One critical area with vital importance is Organizational Health and Safety (OHS)and it requires indetailed knowledge. The responsibility of school principals, who also try to ensure the physical fitness of their school, increases due to their accountability. With the entry into force of the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331, which regulates the duties and powers of employers and employees in ensuring occupational health and safety in workplaces and improving the current situation, the Ministry of National Education published a circular (2014/16) and tried the central and provincial units to adapt it. The school principal is the only one who will implement and keep an eye on the law. According to this circular, schools are considered workplaces while principals are employers and as the employer, the school principal appoints an assistant principal to assist him/her. School OHS practices are highly complex including foreseeing and eliminating all risks that may pose a danger to staff and students, the physical conditions of the school building and the use of materials and equipment. OHS in schools not only ensures the safety of school staff, students and visitors, but also takes into consideration the health and safety of school environment and other people around, and takes steps for necessary precautions. This study reveals principals' views on OHS practices and sufficiency in schools. The study group consists of five principals and seven assistant principals in Kepez district of Antalya. The views of participants were obtained voice recorder recordings and by taking notes on semi-structured interview forms. Thematic coding was done to identify the thoughts expressed while analyzing the data. The participants' ideas were summarized through analysis. The compiled opinions constitute the findings and comments section of the study. In the light of the findings, the conclusions and recommendations sections were formed. As a result of the research, some of the principals mentioned that they had no training on OHS, and those with OHS training mentioned that the training provided was not at the desired level. Moreover, it was discovered that OHS practices were found inadequate because the required budget has not been allocated by the ministry, personnel is insufficient, and inspections have not been served the purpose.