This guide was written under the rules in force at the date of writing and is not legal advice. Check the current regulation text for hours and periods before you apply them. It describes Turkish law.
Occupational health and safety (OHS) training
Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety obliges the employer to give OHS training to employees. The duration and frequency depend on the hazard class of the workplace and are set in the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles of Occupational Health and Safety Training of Employees:
- Less hazardous workplace: at least 8 hours, renewed at least every 3 years.
- Hazardous workplace: at least 12 hours, renewed at least every 2 years.
- Very hazardous workplace: at least 16 hours, renewed at least once a year.
The training is given before work starts; it is repeated after a change of job, a change of equipment and a work accident. The regulation allows the training to be given by distance learning; topics that need practice are completed face to face. A test is taken at the end and an attendance certificate is issued.
KVKK awareness training
Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (KVKK) obliges the data controller to take the technical and administrative measures needed to prevent unlawful processing of and access to personal data. In the Board’s decisions and guidance, training employees and awareness work come first among these measures. The law gives no number of hours; but after a breach the question “was the staff trained?” is answered with a record. So KVKK training too should be kept dated, with attendance known and a test result.
Onboarding training
There is no separate legal number of hours for onboarding; but OHS rules require that every new employee is told the risks and rules specific to the workplace. Company culture, processes, disciplinary rules and communication channels are also given within this training. The same principle applies to documentation: who completed which content, and when.
What does an audit ask for?
An auditor or inspector usually wants to see these records:
- The content of the training (topics, duration, who prepared it)
- The attendance list: person, date, duration
- The test result: quiz score or pass status
- The attendance certificate: preferably verifiable
- The renewal calendar: when the next training will be given
A record kept in Excel and e-mail first fails at the question “did this person really watch it?”. A learning management system answers that question with a session log (see what is an LMS).
Conditions for delivering online
- The content must fit the organisation’s own risks and language; a generic video does not meet the “workplace-specific” requirement.
- The person’s identity and session time must be recorded.
- A test must be taken at the end and its result kept.
- A certificate must be produced; the date and content must be on it.
- The renewal date must be entered in the system and the reminder must be automatic.
Mandatory training at Seriftech
With the Training Studio you prepare OHS, KVKK and onboarding training specific to your organisation, in your own language and with your own examples. The Training Platform runs assignment, reminders, testing, the certificate verifiable by QR code and the yearly renewal on its own; the audit record is exported in one click. If you have your own LMS, the training is also uploaded there as a SCORM package.
