Evaluation of the Importance Levels of Legal Responsibilities of Employers and Workers in Terms of Occupational Health and Safety with the AHP Approach

Saliha Ünver; Selçuk Gümüş

doi:10.33904/ejfe.1697789

Evaluation of the Importance Levels of Legal Responsibilities of Employers and Workers in Terms of Occupational Health and Safety with the AHP Approach

Abstract

In case of an occupational accident, the responsible party is identified by assessing fault rates in terms of occupational health and safety (OHS). This is based on the responsibilities defined for employers and employees in both international and national legal regulations regarding OHS. However, the legal regulations do not include an assessment of the fault rates associated with the scale of these responsibilities. This study aims to prioritize the legal responsibilities of employers and employees in OSH using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Eleven responsibility criteria were identified based on international and national OSH regulations: seven for employers and four for employees. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 52 experts, including OSH specialists and forest engineers. The results showed employers held a significantly larger share of OSH responsibilities (67.9%) compared to employees (32.1%). The most important employer responsibilities were providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to workers (14%), providing training to workers (13%), and conducting risk assessments (12%). For employees, the most critical responsibilities were avoiding risky situations (9%), refraining from behaviors that pose a risk to OSH (8%), and reporting hazards to employers (8%). The priority levels of employer and employee responsibilities determined in this study will help ensure a fair assessment of the fault percentages in occupational accidents. The results contribute to a more structured and quantitative approach to OSH responsibility allocation, emphasizing the need for a clear delineation of responsibilities and the implementation of robust training and risk management systems to ensure workplace safety. Effective collaboration between employers and employees, supported by adequate training, communication, and risk mitigation strategies, is essential to reduce workplace accidents and ensure long-term compliance with OSH regulations.

Keywords

Occupational safety and health , AHP , Responsibility levels , Work accidents , Fault percentages

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Forest Products Transport and Evaluation Information

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Saliha Ünver ^*
0000-0001-9882-446X
Türkiye

Selçuk Gümüş
0000-0002-6942-160X
Türkiye

Early Pub Date

October 17, 2025

Publication Date

December 25, 2025

Submission Date

May 12, 2025

Acceptance Date

June 17, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 1970 Volume: 11 Number: 2

DOI

https://doi.org/10.33904/ejfe.1697789

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA94ST67JZ

APA

Ünver, S., & Gümüş, S. (2025). Evaluation of the Importance Levels of Legal Responsibilities of Employers and Workers in Terms of Occupational Health and Safety with the AHP Approach. European Journal of Forest Engineering, 11(2), 174-183. https://doi.org/10.33904/ejfe.1697789

Creative Commons License

The works published in European Journal of Forest Engineering (EJFE) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Evaluation of the Importance Levels of Legal Responsibilities of Employers and Workers in Terms of Occupational Health and Safety with the AHP Approach

Abstract

Keywords

References

Details

Primary Language

Subjects

Journal Section

Authors

Early Pub Date

Publication Date

Submission Date

Acceptance Date

Published in Issue

DOI

IZ

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