Turkish and Dutch health and safety professionals visit
IOSH
01 February 2011
Health and safety experts from Turkey and
the Netherlands visited the world’s leading organisation for health
and safety professionals last week.
The delegates visited the Institution of Occupational Safety and
Health (IOSH) as part of a three-day study trip to learn about best
practice occupational safety and health in the UK.
Health and safety professionals on the trip included Kasmin
Ozer, General Director of the Directorate of Occupational Safety
and Health of the Turkish Ministry, along with representatives from
the Dutch Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, occupational
doctors, engineers and researchers in the field.
Gisela Derrick, IOSH International Officer
and co-ordinator of the study trip, said: “We were delighted to
have been approached and asked if IOSH would host the delegation’s
study trip here in the UK.
“It has given us the opportunity to share
IOSH knowledge on the occupational health and safety systems in the
UK and to start a dialogue with the Turkish and Dutch
colleagues.”
As a new European Union (EU) accession country, Turkey has a
number of gaps to fill between EU occupational health and safety
legislation and its own. Until it bridges these and other such
gaps, Turkey cannot become a full member of the EU.
Gisela continued: “IOSH has a structured
programme for working with new EU accession countries.
“We aim to share knowledge and best practice
with new EU acceding and candidate countries with view to improve
OSH standards, whilst creating mutually beneficial relationships
with other occupational health and safety organisations.”
During their visit to IOSH, the Turkish and Dutch guests
attended seminars on UK legislation, best practice and professional
training and qualifications. They were also given the opportunity
to see occupational health and safety in-situ, visiting Balfour Beatty’s A46 project and the Shard – the UK’s tallest building.
Reyhan Cephe, from the Netherland’s Ministry of Social Affairs
and project leader, said:”The most striking thing that we have
discovered in the past few days is IOSH.
“We don’t have an institution like IOSH in
the Netherlands or Turkey, and there was nothing like it when we
visited Madrid or Germany.
“In Turkey, Occupational health and
safety is often seen as a burden. Why? Because it costs money, and
people think of the immediate cost, rather than investing in the
future.”
Their whistle-stop tour around the UK marked the end of the
study trip during which they also visited Germany and Spain.
Reyhan added: “IOSH is a model for Turkey and
I hope in the future we can work together on some projects. The
visit has been very valuable for us and we are taking a lot of
information back with us.”
Professionals are greeted at IOSH by Rob Strange
and Gisela Derrick
Experts are taken to the Shard, London, for an
on-site learning experience