Jobs Requiring A Maximum Of Seven And A Half Hours Or Less Of Daily Work For Health Reasons

The Regulation on Jobs Requiring a Maximum of 7.5 Hours or Less of Daily Work for Health Reasons was published in the Official Gazette dated 16.07.2013 and numbered 28709, and with this Regulation, the maximum working hours for employees engaged in the specified jobs have been established.

As it is known, Article 63 of the Labor Law No. 4857, titled "working hours," stipulates that the general working time is a maximum of 45 hours per week, and that, upon mutual agreement of the parties, the weekly normal working hours may be distributed differently across the working days of the week, provided that the daily working time does not exceed 11 (eleven) hours.

The mentioned Regulation lists the jobs that require a maximum of 7.5 hours or less of daily work as follows:

• ARTICLE 4: Jobs in Which a Maximum of Seven and a Half Hours of Daily Work Is Permitted
• Lead and arsenic work:

1) Mining operations involving the extraction of ores such as galena, cerussite, and anglesite, from which lead is produced.

2) Smelting operations carried out to produce lead from lead-containing ores or from materials such as ash containing lead, metallurgical slag, lead furnace dust, , white lead residues, and similar substances.

3) Work involving the production of lead alloys made with antimony, tin, bronze, and similar materials.

4) Work involving flame-cutting of lead sheets and solders, burning of lead-based paints with flame, and other tasks involving the use of lead or lead alloys, such as the production of sheets, wires, pipes, batteries (accumulators), bottle caps, and similar items.

5) Work involving the preparation of toxic and chemical lead or arsenic compounds such as white lead, sublimed white lead, and tetraethyl lead..

6) Work involving the use of materials containing lead and arsenic, such as paints and varnishes, including enamel, suede, leather, rubber, porcelain, glass, artificial gemstones, artificial flowers, and toy manufacturing; as well as building painting, textile and automobile painting, and painting, color printing, and letterpress (typography) work carried out in confined spaces, indoor environments, or other areas not adequately ventilated in accordance with health standards.

7) Work involving the welding of lead sheets to one another.

• Glass Industry Work:

1) Grinding, sifting, mixing, and drying of raw materials used in glass production (unless these tasks are performed in fully enclosed rooms equipped with automatic machinery or unless ventilation systems are present that reduce dust in the working environment to levels that do not endanger health).

2) Melting operations (unless carried out using automatic feed furnaces).

3) Furnace firing work.

4) Glass blowing work (unless performed entirely by fully automatic machines).

5) Pressed glass manufacturing (glass pressing operations).

6) Crucible glass casting in mirror glass production (unless the crucibles are transported to the molding table by mechanical means).

7) Removing molten glass from the furnace mouth.

8) Adjustment and leveling work in spreading furnaces.

9) Trimming operations.

10) Acid etching and polishing work.

11) Work performed with devices that spray sand using compressed air (unless ventilation systems are present that reduce dust in the environment to levels that do not endanger health).

12) Work performed in crucible and stone rooms.

• Mercury Industry Work:

1) Work involving the separation of gold and silver from mercury amalgams, zinc amalgamation in battery manufacturing, and soldering operations using mercury-containing lead mixtures in the production of mortar materials.

2) Work involving the manufacturing of instruments containing mercury.

3) Work involving the production of mercury-vapor electric lamps.

4) Work involving the preparation of mercury compounds such as sublimed mercury, calomel, and mercury fulminate, as well as laboratory work performed with mercury.

• Cement Industry Work:

1) Crushing, grinding, pulverizing, screening, and mixing of raw materials.

2) Firing operations in automatic kilns.

3) Grinding andscreening of clinker, and filling clinker into bags and barrels (unless automatic systems are in place to prevent the dispersion of dust into the environment).

• Work in Coke Plants and Thermal Power Plants:

1) Furnace firing, furnace cleaning, generator operation, loading, unloading, and cleaning tasks.

2) Chemical purification/processing operations.

3) Repairing and cleaning of devices and pipelines through which gas passes.

4) Coal and furnace work in coke plants.

5) Furnace firing in the boiler rooms of electric power generation plants and the transportation of ash and coal (when firing is carried out manually or when dust-control systems preventing the spread of ash and coal dust are not installed).

6) Furnace firing in boiler rooms of thermal power plants and all types of steam boilers, as well as transporting ash and coal (when firing is carried out manually or when systems preventing the spread of dust during the transportation of ash and coal are not installed).

• Zinc Industry Work:

1) Grinding zinc ore into powder, mixing, screening, and roasting

2) Operating distillation furnaces; removing ash and slag from the furnaces.

3) Alloying operations involving zinc.

4) Packaging of zinc powder.

5) Continuous soldering work involving galvanized iron.

6) Chemical and industrial operations in which zinc powder is used.

7) Work performed in facilities where electrolytic zinc is produced.

• Copper Industry Work:

1) Work carried out in mines where copper ore is extracted.

2) Enrichment and extraction of copper ore through dry or wet methods.

3) Washing, flotation, and smelting operations in copper plants.

4) Melting and casting of scrap copper.

• Aluminum Industry Work:

1) Production of aluminum oxide.

2) Preparation of aluminum bronze.

3) Production of aluminum metal.

• Iron and Steel Industry Work:

1) Converting ore into iron in iron smelting plants and work performed in the furnace and casting departments of pipe manufacturing plants.

2) Work performed in steelmaking furnaces in steelworks, as well as in secondary furnaces and converters that constitute the ancillary equipment of these furnaces.

3) Transporting liquid iron and steel using equipment, installations, or mechanical systems.

4) Transporting and processing hot or molten slag.

5) Work carried out in rolling mills (excluding cold-rolling mills), including tasks involving furnaces, rolling stands, equipment and vehicles feeding the rolling mill with hot or molten steel or iron, and the cutting and preparation of hot semi-finished products.

6) Work performed on iron and steel pressing machines, including feeding these machines with hot iron or steel and lifting or transporting the hot finished pieces.

7) Crushing, grinding, pulverizing slag; filling slag dust into bags; and loading such materials.

• Foundry Industry Work:

1) Preparation of molding sand.

2) Production of casting molds and cores, and preparing them for casting.

3) Preparation of casting charges and readiness of all types of metal-melting (smelting) furnaces for casting.

4) Metal smelting and casting operations.

5) Dismantling molds and cleaning castings.

6) Centrifugal and vertical casting operations.

• Plating Work:

1) Bright and matte plating operations (electroplating).

2) Polishing work.

3) Tin-plating work.

4) Galvanizing by immersion.

5) Acid-based surface cleaning.

• Carbide Industry Work:

Melting lime and coke in electric arc furnaces.

• Acid Industry Work:

1) Preparation of raw materials for acid production.

2) Operations during the acid manufacturing process.

3) Resting, loading, unloading, and transporting acid.

4) Production of acid from flue gases.

• Accumulator Industry Work:

1) Manufacturing and repairing accumulators.

2) Preparation of accumulator water and charging operations.

• Welding Work:

1) Welding under all types of protective gases.

2) Submerged arc welding.

3) Oxygen and electric welding operations.

• Water Treatment in Mines:

1) Water treatment operations (hardening).

2) Cementation operations

• Rubber Processing Work:

1) Mixing and baking of raw rubber..

2) Hot vulcanization operations carried out in inadequately ventilated areas without the use of automatic installations.

• Underground Work:

Work in mines (excluding mercury mines where elemental mercury is found), as well as underground works such as sewerage and tunnel construction.

• Work with Radioactive and Radioionizing Materials:

Work involving natural and artificial radioactive and radioionizing materials, or any other sources of corpuscular emissions, subject to the provisions of Article 1 of the Law No. 3153 dated 19/4/1937 on Radiology, Radium, Electrical Therapy, and Other Physiotherapy Institutions.

• Noisy Work:

Work where the noise level exceeds the maximum exposure action value (8h = 85 dB(A)).

• Work Requiring Breathing Compressed Air Underwater:

Work performed under compressed air underwater at depths up to 20 meters or at a pressure of 2 kg/cm² (including descent, ascent, and transit).

• Dusty Work Causing Pneumoconiosis:

Work carried out in workplaces where dusts that may cause pneumoconiosis are present.

• Agricultural Pesticides:

Work involving the use of agricultural pesticides.

• ARTICLE 5: Jobs in Which Less Than Seven and a Half Hours of Daily Work Is Permitted

• Work Requiring Breathing Compressed Air Underwater (including descent, ascent, and transit):

1) Depths of 20–25 m (excluding 20 m) or pressures of 2–2.5 kg/cm² (excluding 2 kg/cm²): 7 hours.

2) Depths of 25–30 m (excluding 25 m) or pressures of 2.5–3 kg/cm² (excluding 2.5 kg/cm²): 6 hours.

3) Depths of 30–35 m (excluding 30 m) or pressures of 3–3.5 kg/cm² (excluding 3 kg/cm²): 5 hours.

4) Depths of 35–40 m (excluding 40 m) or pressures of 3.5–4 kg/cm² (excluding 3.5 kg/cm²): 4 hours.

5) For divers, these durations are 3 hours for depths up to 18 meters and 1/2 hours for depths up to 40 meters.

• Mercury Work:

1) Work in mercury smelting furnaces: 6 hours.

2) Work in furnaces containing elemental mercury: 6 hours.

• Lead Work:

Removing dry dust accumulated in the condensation chambers of lead smelting furnaces: 4 hours.

• Carbon Sulfide Work:

Work with risk of exposure to carbon sulfide: 6 hours.

• Insecticides

Manufacturing, packaging, preparation in solution, and application of carbamate and organophosphate insecticides: 6 hours.

Notification to the Provincial Directorate of Labor and Employment Agency

Pursuant to Article 8 of the Regulation, employers of workplaces where any of the jobs listed above are performed continuously are obliged to submit the following information and documents in writing to the Provincial Directorate of Labor and Employment Agency to which the workplace is affiliated:

• The types and nature of these jobs, and the times when they are performed,
• The number of employees working in these jobs, separately indicating men and women.

Furthermore, Article 9 of the same Regulation provides that objections regarding whether the work carried out in workplaces falls under the jobs listed in Articles 4 and 5, as well as applications concerning activities not included in those articles, shall be resolved by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, taking into account the properties of the materials used, the technology applied, and the technical and administrative collective protection measures adopted, and upon obtaining the opinion of the Ministry of Health.

CONCLUSION:

In the event of a potential dispute, the first step is to determine the workplace conditions and materials used during the period in question, and to establish whether the work falls within the scope of the Regulation through an on-site inspection conducted by an expert committee composed of occupational safety specialists.¹

As can be seen, jobs requiring a maximum of 7.5 hours or less of daily work are explicitly regulated in the legislation, and for the listed jobs, it is not permissible to exceed the daily working hours specified in the Regulation or to assign employees to other work after these hours.

Even if the weekly working hours do not exceed 45 hours, any work exceeding the daily limits set forth in the Regulation shall be considered overtime, and the employee shall be entitled to overtime pay. The Court of Cassation, in a 2023 decision, stated that: "...As Article 4 of the Regulation on Jobs Requiring a Maximum of Seven and a Half Hours or Less of Daily Work for Health Reasons, which came into force in 2013, includes work with radioactive and radioionizing materials, if the plaintiff's daily work exceeds 7.5 hours, the overtime must be evaluated accordingly."².

In another decision, the Court of Cassation affirmed the first-instance court's ruling, which stated:³; ''...Based on the report obtained from an on-site inspection at the plaintiff's workplace, it was determined that the plaintiff's work falls within the scope of the Regulation on Jobs Requiring a Maximum of Seven and a Half Hours or Less of Daily Work for Health Reasons. It was concluded that the plaintiff could work no more than 7.5 hours per day under the said Regulation. Therefore, even if the weekly working hours did not exceed 45 hours, the work exceeding 7.5 hours per day constitutes overtime, and the claim was accepted on this basis."

Employers are required to notify the Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (ÇSGB) regarding jobs with a daily maximum of 7.5 hours or less. Any objections regarding whether these jobs fall under Articles 4 and 5 of the Regulation shall also be decided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, taking into account the opinion of the Ministry of Health.

Footnotes

1. Court of Cassation, 9th Civil Chamber, Case No. 2023/7053, Decision No. 2023/11661, Date: 11.09.2023

2. Court of Cassation, 9th Civil Chamber, Case No. 2022/18262, Decision No. 2023/5962, Date: 25.04.2023

3. Court of Cassation, 9th Civil Chamber, Case No. 2022/11383, Decision No. 2022/10549, Date: 27.09.2022

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.