Investigation of personal protective equipment usage in construction sector of Trabzon province

The construction sector, which is one of the most dangerous business industries, acts the majority of occupational accidents in our country and attracts attention with this aspect. In this sector, apart from collective protection measures, personal protective equipment plays an important role in preventing occupational accidents and its' damages. Although there are many studies on personal protective equipment, these studies generally include employees. Therefore, they were far from producing compact general solutions with a one-sided point of view. In this study, a survey was conducted on the awareness of personal protective equipment of both employees and employers in the construction sector of Trabzon province. In this context, survey questions were prepared and addressed to employees to determine the personal protective equipment usage situations, occupational health and safety and personal protective equipment training situations, and the relationship between work accidents they experienced and personal protective equipment. In addition, survey questions were prepared and addressed to employers to determine the employers' perspective on occupational health and safety at work, the supply of personal protective equipment, and occupational health and safety training. The survey questions were applied to 115 employees and 15 employers. The data obtained after the survey were evaluated statistically with SPSS 24 program, and the results were analyzed with the help of graphics and tables. In addition, in order to test the hypotheses, the chi-square test was applied, and the results were examined in detail. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the occupational health and safety training given to the employees was insufficient, the rate of using personal protective equipment increased and the rate of accident decreased when the education level of the employees increased, all employees who did not use personal protective equipment faced a work accident, most of the employees do not use personal protective equipment on the grounds that they are not ergonomic. In addition, it was determined that all employers receive occupational health and safety services from the Common Health and Safety Unit (OSGB), 20% of employers do not provide occupational health and safety training due to extra cost, 15% of employers cannot provide personal protective equipment and the personal protective equipment provided by the employers was limited to helmets, work gloves, and work shoes. At the end of the study, some striking solution suggestions were discussed.