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

Year 2025, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 174 - 183, 25.12.2025

Saliha Ünver , Selçuk Gümüş

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

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

Ethical Statement

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could influence the work reported in this study.

Thanks

We thank the experts who participated in the study for their evaluations and Mustafa IPEK for his assistance in conducting interviews with the experts.

References

• Aguarón, J., Escobar, M.T., Moreno-Jiménez, J.M. 2021. Reducing inconsistency measured by the geometric consistency index in the analytic hierarchy process. European Journal of Operational Research 288: 576–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.06.014
• Ahmed, S., Vedagiri, P., Krishna Rao, K.V. 2017. Prioritization of pavement maintenance sections using an object-based analytic hierarchy process. Int. J. Pavement Res. Technol. 10: 158-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijprt.2017.01.001
• Akadiri, P.O., Olomolaiye, P.O., Chinyio, E.A. 2013. Multi-criteria evaluation model for the selection of sustainable materials for building projects. Automat Constr. 30: 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2012.10.004
• Akyüz, K.C., Turgay, T., Perçin, S., Yıldırım İ. 2020. An application for the selection of the best supplier in the furniture industry sector with AHP. International Journal of Economic and Administrative Studies 29: 1-22. https://doi.org/ulikidince.459650
• Alrawad, M., Lutfi, A., Almaiah, M.A., Alsyouf, A., Al-Khasawneh, A.L., Arafa, H.M., Ahmed, N.A., AboAlkhair, A.M., Tork, M. 2023. Managers’ perception and attitude toward financial risks associated with smes: analytic hierarchy process approach. Journal of Risk and Financial Management 16, 86. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm16020086
• Barati, A.A., Azadi, H., Pour, M.D., Lebailly, P., Quafori, M. 2019. Determining key agricultural strategic factors using AHP-MICMAC. Sustainability 11: 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143947
• Chakraborty, S., Mukhopadhyay, S. 2019. Assessing flood risk using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and geographical information system (GIS): application in Coochbehar district of West Bengal, India. Nat Hazards 99: 247–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-019-03737-7
• Chen, H.L., Hu, Y.C., Lee, M.Y., Yen, G.F. 2020. Importance of employee care in corporate social responsibility: An AHP‑based study from the perspective of corporate commitment. Sustainability, 12(15): 5885. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12155885
• Çoban, V. 2023. Analysis of consistency indices of pairwise comparison methods. Erzincan University Journal of Science and Technology 16(2): 384-405. https://doi.org/10.18185/erzifbed.1241221
• Council Directive. 1989. Council directive 89/391/EEC. Official Journal of The European Communities 334/30.
• Du, S., Wang, J., Wang, M., Yang, J., Zhang, C., Zhao, Y., Song, H. 2023. A systematic data-driven approach for production forecasting of coalbed methane incorporating deep learning and ensemble learning adapted to complex production patterns. Energy 263, 126121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022. 126121
• European Commission. 2004. Health and safety at work directives 89/391 (Framework), 89/654 (Workplaces), 89/655 (Work Equipment), 89/656 (Personal Protective Equipment), 90/269 (Manual Handling of Loads) and 90/270 (Display Screen Equipment).
• Ghafourian, K., Kabirifar, K., Mahdiyar, A., Yazdani, M., Ismail, S., Tam, V.W.Y. 2021. A synthesis of express analytic hierarchy process (EAHP) and partial least squares-structural equations modelling (PLS-SEM) for sustainable construction and demolition waste management assessment: the case of Malaysia, Recycling 6, 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling6040073
• Gompf, K., Traverso, M., Hetterich, J. 2021. Using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to introduce weights to social life cycle assessment of mobility services. Sustainability 13, 1258. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031258
• Grzybowski, A.Z., Starczewski, T. 2020. New look at the inconsistency analysis in the pairwise-comparisons-based prioritization problems. Expert Systems with Applications 159, 113549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2020.113549
• Gümüş, S. 2017. An evaluation of stakeholder perception differences in forest road assessment factors using the analytic-hierarchy-process (AHP). Forests 8, 165. https://doi.org/10.3390/f805016
• Guo, X., Kapucu, N. 2020. Assessing social vulnerability to earthquake disaster using rough analytic hierarchy process method: a case study of Hanzhong City, China. Saf. Sci. 125, 104625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104625
• Guo, X., Zhang, X., Ren, D., Lin, K. 2023. Research on risk management and control strategy of uranium resource procurement in China. Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 45: 4178-4194. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2023.2203083
• Han, Y., Wang, Z., Lu, X., Hu, B. 2020. Application of AHP to road selection. Int. J. Geo-Inf. 9, 86. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9020086
• Haegdorens, F., Franck, E., Smith, P., Bruyneel, A., Monsieurs, K. G., Van Bogaert, P. 2022. Sufficient personal protective equipment training can reduce COVID‑19 related symptoms in healthcare workers: A prospective cohort study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 126: 104132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2021.104132
• Hong Yun, Z., Alshehri, Y., Alnazzawi, N., Ullah, I., Noor, S., Gohar, N. 2022. A decision-support system for assessing the function of machine learning and artificial intelligence in music education for network games. Soft Comput 26: 11063-11075. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-022-07401-4
• ILO, 1981. International Labour Organization. Occupational safety and health convention, No. 155.
• ILO, 1985. International Labour Organization. Occupational health services convention, No. 161.
• ILO, 2001. International Labour Organization. Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems, International Labour Office, Geneva.
• Kaakkurivaara, T., Borz, S.A., Kaakkurivaara, N. 2022. Risk factors and occupational safety failures in forest work in the Southeast Asian Region. Forests 13, 2034. https://doi.org/10.3390/f13122034
• Kil, S., Lee, D.K., Li, M.H., Newman, G. 2016. Utilizing the analytic hierarchy process to establish weighted values for evaluating the stability of slope revegetation based on hydro seeding applications in South Korea. Sustainability 8, 58, https://doi.org/10.3390/su8010058.
• Kurşunoğlu, N., Önder, S., Önder, M. 2022. Selection of an appropriate personal protective equipment using the analytic hierarchy process. J ESOGU Engin Arch Fac. 30(1): 141-151.
• Kut, P., Pietrucha-Urbanik, K. 2022. Most searched topics in the scientific literature on failures in photovoltaic installations. Energies 15, 8108. https:// doi.org/10.3390/en15218108
• Li, X., Zhan, J., Lv, T., Wang, S., Pan, F. 2023. Comprehensive evaluation model of the urban low-carbon passenger transportation structure based on DPSIR. Ecological Indicator 146, 109849. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109849
• Lima, K., Meira Castro, A.C., Baptista, J.S. 2023. Occupational risk assessment in native rainforest management (miarforest)-parameters definition and validation. Sustainability 15, 6794. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086794
• Lipuscek, I., Bohanec, M., Oblak, L., Stirn, L.Z. 2010. A multi-criteria decision-making model for classifying wood products concerning their impact on environment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 15: 359-367. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-010-0157-6
• Liu, R., Liu H.C., Shi, H., Gu, X. 2023. Occupational health and safety risk assessment: a systematic literature review of models, methods, and applications. Safety Science 160, 106050. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2022.106050
• Lohiniva, A.-L., Lehtinen, J. M., Arifulla, D., Ollgren, J., Nuorti, P., Lyytikäinen, O. 2025. Factors influencing healthcare workers' compliance with personal protective equipment guidelines in long‑term care during the COVID‑19 pandemic: A theory‑based mixed‑methods study. PLOS ONE, 20(4): e0321851. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0321851
• Nazim, M., Wali Mohammad, C., Sadiq, M. 2022. A comparison between fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS methods to software requirements selection. Alexandria Engineering Journal 61: 10851-10870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2022.04.005
• Nikkhah, A., Firouzi, S., Assad, M.E.H., Ghnimi, S. 2019. Application of analytic hierarchy process to develop a weighting scheme for life cycle assessment of agricultural production. Sci. Total Environ. 665: 538-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019. 02.170
• Nobanee, H. 2018. Efficiency of working capital management and profitability of UAE construction companies: size and crisis effects. Polish Journal of Management Studies 18: 209-215. https://doi.org/ 10.2139/ssrn.2971477
• OHS, 2012. Occupational Health and Safety, No. 6331, Official gazette of the republic of Türkiye, Issue No. 28339.
• Official Gazette. 2004. Regulation on workplace hazard classes regarding occupational health and safety. Issue No. 25432.
• Official Gazette. 2012. Regulation on risk assessment for occupational health and safety. Issue No. 28512.
• Official Gazette. 2013. Regulation on procedures and principles regarding occupational health and safety training of employees. Issue No. 28648.
• Ong, M.S., Chang, M.Y., Foong, M.J., Chiew, J.J., Teh, K.C., Tan, J., Lim, S.S., Foo, D.C.Y. 2020. An integrated approach for sustainability assessment with hybrid AHP-LCA-PI techniques for chitosan-based TIO2 nanotubes production. Sustainable Production and Consumption 21: 170-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2019.12.001
• Parvaneh, F., El-Sayegh, S.M. 2016. Project selection using the combined approach of AHP and LP. J. Financial Manage. Property Constr., 21: 39–53. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMPC-09-2015-0034
• Potocnik, I., Poje, A. 2017. Forestry ergonomics and occupational safety in high-ranking scientific journals from 2005–2016. Croat. J. For. Eng. 38: 291–310.
• Raslanas, S., Kliukas, R., Stasiukynas, A. 2016. Sustainability assessment for recreational buildings. Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems, 33: 286-312. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286608.2016. 1236086
• Razi, P., Ali, M., Ramli, N. 2019. AHP-based analysis of the risk assessment delay case study of public road construction project: an empirical study. Journal of Engineering Science & Technology 14: 875–891.
• Repetski, E., Sarkani, S., Mazzuchi, T. 2022. Applying the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to expert documents. International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process 14: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v14i1.919
• SIGHI 2006. Social Insurance and General Health Insurance. Turkish Law No. 551031/5/2006.
• Subramanian, N., Ramanathan, R. 2012. A review of applications of analytic hierarchy process in operations management. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 138: 215–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2012.03.036
• Saaty, T.L. 1990. How to make a decision: the analytic hierarchy process? Eur J. Oper. Res. 48, 9–26.
• Saaty, T.L. 2006. Rank from comparisons and from ratings in the analytic hierarchy/network processes. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 168: 557–570. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ejor.2004.04.032
• Ünver, S., Ergenc, İ. 2021. Safety risk identification and prioritize of forest logging activities using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Alexandria Engineering Journal 60: 1591-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.aej.2020.11.012
• TLL, 2003. National Labor Law of Türkiye. No. 4857. Retrieved from http://turkishlaborlaw.com/ turkishlabor-law-no-4857/19-4857-labor-law-english -by-article.
• Tolera, S.T., Gobena, T., Geremew, A., Toseva, E., Assefa, N. 2024. Compliance and associated factors of personal protective equipment among sanitary workers in selected public hospitals, Eastern Ethiopia: A cross‑sectional study. SAGE Open Medicine, 12, 20503121241308303.
• Ünver-Okan, S., Acar, H.H. 2015. Evaluation of potential risk factors in forest stores in terms of occupational health and safety. Suleyman Demirel University Journal of Engineering Sciences and Design 3: 165-172.
• Wang, Q., Zhang, F. 2021. The effects of trade openness on decoupling carbon emissions from economic growth evidence from 182 countries. J. Clean. Prod. 279, 123838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro. 2020.123838.
• Waris, M., Panigrahi, S., Mengal, A., Soomro, M.I., Mirjat, N.H., Ullah, M., Azlan, Z.S., Khan, A. 2019. An application of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for sustainable procurement of construction equipment: multicriteria-based decision framework for Malaysia, Math. Probl. Eng., 6391431. https://doi.org/10.1155/ 2019/6391431
• Yovi, E.Y., Yamada, Y. 2015. Strategy to disseminate occupational safety and health information to forestry workers: the felling safety game. J. Trop. For. Sci. 27: 213–221.
• Zavadskas, E.K., Podvezko, V. 2016. Integrated determination of objective criteria weights in MCDM. Int. J. Inform. Technol. Decis. Making 15: 267–283. https://doi.org/10.1142/ S02196220165 00036
• Zhang, J., Kou, G., Peng, Y., Zhang, Y. 2021. Estimating priorities from relative deviations in pairwise comparison matrices. Information Sciences 552: 310–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2020.12.008
• Zhu, X.G., Liu, J.L., Gao, H.L., Yang, C.C., Zhang, S.X. 2021. A method for determining the weight of combat capability evaluation index in synthetic battalion based on DEMATEL-TFNAHP. Fire Control & Command Control 46(6): 58–63.