An Evaluation on Yesterday and Today with the world and in Turkey Towards the Mine Workers’ Occupational Health and Safety Developments in Context
Atanur KaraahmetoğluThe purpose of this study was to analyze what developments have occurred towards miners in the field of occupational health and safety and how these developments have affected miners. In this direction, the policies of the states towards mine workers in terms of occupational health and safety and the steps they have taken in this area are discussed. Because, in every period of history, mine workers worked on the basis of their body power and they were exposed to many dangers. However, the reaction of each state to this situation was different. Some states have used mine workers hard, while some states have followed mine workers’ protective policies. As a result of these protective policies, legal arrangements have been made in the field of occupational health and safety for mine workers. However, these legal regulations have not always brought a solution. Despite legislative arrangements, the negative picture observed in the mines has not changed, mostly due to the lack of enforcement or incomplete enforcement of the provisions of the law. Although there are many protective legal arrangements for mine workers in our national legislation, these legal regulations have not been put into practice most of the time.
Dünü ve Bugünüyle Dünyada ve Türkiye’de Maden İşçilerine Yönelik İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Bağlamında Yaşanan Gelişmeler Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme
Atanur KaraahmetoğluBu araştırmanın amacı, iş sağlığı ve güvenliği alanında maden işçilerine yönelik ne gibi gelişmelerin yaşandığı ve bu yaşanan gelişmelerin maden işçilerini ne şekilde etkilediğini analiz etmektir. Bu doğrultuda devletlerin iş sağlığı ve güvenliği açısından maden işçilerine yönelik izledikleri politikalar ve bu alanda attıkları adımlar ele alınmıştır. Zira, tarihin her döneminde maden işçileri beden gücüne dayanarak çalışmış ve birçok tehlikeye maruz kalmıştır. Ancak, bu duruma her devletin gösterdiği reaksiyon farklı olmuştur. Kimi devletler maden işçilerine karşı zor kullanma yoluna giderken, kimi devletler de maden işçilerini koruyucu politikalar izlemiştir. Bu koruyucu politikalar neticesinde de maden işçilerine yönelik iş sağlığı ve güvenliği alanında kanuni düzenlemeler yapılmıştır. Ancak, yapılan bu kanuni düzenlemeler her zaman için bir çözüm getirmemiştir. Kanuni düzenlemeler yapılmasına karşın, çoğu zaman kanun hükümlerinin uygulanmaması ya da eksik uygulanması nedeniyle madenlerde görülen olumsuz tablo değişmemiştir. Ulusal mevzuatımızda da maden işçilerine yönelik koruyucu nitelikte birçok hukuki düzenleme yapılmış olmasına karşın, çoğu zaman bu kanuni düzenlemeler hayata geçirilememiştir.
The origin of mining activities is quite old. Even in ancient times, many civilizations engaged in mining activities. For this reason, many civilizations have benefited from the blessings of the mines.
In this direction, many states have been enriched by mines. For this, increasing the production in the mines has become inevitable. However, this situation also caused some negative results. For example, mining workers started to work under more difficult conditions. In addition, risks threatening occupational health and safety have increased in mines. In other words, mines have turned into areas of great risk.
For these reasons, how healthy and safe mines are has become controversial over time. Many scientists have come up with different ideas in terms of occupational health and safety. For example, from the 16th century onwards, scientists discussed how healthy and safe mines were. They investigated the factors that impaired the health of mining workers. They proposed solutions in this direction. They found that there was a relationship between the faults of the mine workers and the work done. However, the most important developments regarding mining workers in Europe have been experienced along with industrialization. With industrialization, the working conditions of the miners deteriorated. In addition, many occupational accidents occurred in the mines and occupational diseases also increased significantly. With these developments, many legal regulations were made in the field of occupational health and safety for mining workers. However, the negative factors experienced in the mines were not completely prevented.
Similarly, there were many important developments for mining workers in the USA with industrialization. For example, the relationship between disease and the work done was investigated. In addition, it examined whether the occupational health and safety methods applied in the mines were sufficient. After these developments, legal regulations were made in the USA in the field of occupational health and safety for mine workers. However, in the USA, the disadvantages experienced in the mines were not completely prevented.
The first important developments for mining workers in our country started with the industrialization process. However, although the industrialization process in our country started later as compared to Europe, many legal arrangements were made for mining workers. The poor working conditions in the mines were also very effective in making these legal regulations since the working conditions of mining workers had deteriorated considerably from the second half of the 19th century. Also, there were no favorable conditions for occupational health and safety in the mines. For these reasons, many consecutive legislative arrangements were made for mine workers. However, the desired results have not been achieved.
In the 20th century, many legal arrangements were made for mining workers in our country. The basis for these legal regulations was the idea of creating occupational health and safety in mines. For this reason, there were provisions made for mining workers in the legal regulations of labor law. However, the basic law concerning mine workers in our country was the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331, which came into force in 2012. Occupational health and safety came into force as a law and directly addressed occupational health and safety. Although many laws concerning mine workers have come into force in our country, there have been many problems in the mines especially since the 2010s.Many mining accidents occurred during this period and many workers died. Therefore, if the legal regulations in the field of occupational health and safety are not applied, it does not make sense.
As a result, there have been many developments in the field of occupational health and safety for mine workers, both in the world and in our country. However, accidents continue to occur in mines. For this reason, both employers and workers must act in accordance with legal regulations and act in accordance with occupational health and safety. Consequently, in this study, an evaluation was made to determine whether the necessary steps were taken to ensure occupational health and safety in the mines by researching the developments in the world and in our country towards mining workers. For this reason, important developments in the field of occupational health and safety for mining workers, both in the world and in our country, were examined.
