Article 70 of the Turkish Labour Law No. 4857 mentions preparation, completion and cleaning works in Turkey and stipulates that the relevant conditions shall be regulated by a regulation.
The regulation mentioned in the article provision was published in the Official Gazette dated 28.04.2004 and numbered 25446 under the name of “Regulation on Preparation, Completion and Cleaning Works” and entered into force.
Article 4 of the Regulation stipulates the condition to have the aforementioned works done in Turkey. Accordingly, the preparation, completion and cleaning works can be carried out before and after the daily working hours related to the main work, provided that there is a technical responsibility or it is inconvenient in terms of health and safety to carry out these works during the execution of the main work.
Article 5 of the Regulation determines the daily duration of preparation, completion and cleaning works in Turkey. According to the provision of the article, in addition to the daily working hours determined for the main work, workers who will perform preparation, completion and cleaning works before the starting hours or after the ending hours of these periods may be employed for a maximum of two hours more per day.
The Regulations also limit the number of workers who may be employed in such work. According to Article 6, the number of workers to be employed in these jobs shall not exceed 3 workers in workplaces with 15 employees, 4 workers in workplaces with 16-30 employees, 6 workers in workplaces with 31-60 employees, 8 workers in workplaces with 61-80 employees, 10 workers in workplaces with 91-100 employees and 10% of the total number of employees in workplaces with more than 100 employees.
In the event that the work in question creates special risks and requires special knowledge, skills and experience, the workers to be employed in these jobs will be selected by taking into account the departments they work in and their vocational training.
In addition to these general provisions, there are also special regulations to be applied. According to Article 7 of the Regulation, a communiqué must be prepared by the employer for these works. According to the same article, the workers assigned to the team are obliged to comply with the instructions prepared and notified by the employer during these works in Turkey.
According to Article 7, during the execution of the preparation, completion and cleaning works in Turkey, a supervised worker to be selected among the workers to be employed by the employer must be assigned as a team leader.
According to Article 8, employers are obliged to take all necessary measures to ensure occupational health and safety during the execution of the aforementioned works, to keep the tools and equipment in full and to ensure that the workers receive the necessary occupational health and safety training.
Workers are also obliged to comply with all measures taken with regard to occupational health and safety.
As stipulated in Article 9 of the Regulation, these jobs may be performed by workers working in the workplace in shifts, but if the nature of the work requires that these jobs can only be performed by certain workers who are trained in this field and if the workplace does not have enough workers of this quality to work in shifts, these jobs can be performed by the same people.
According to the Regulation, employees working in these jobs must be given a break after the main work. According to Article 10, it is obligatory for the workers who will carry out preparation, completion and cleaning works after the completion of the main work carried out in the workplace to rest for not less than half an hour before starting these works in Turkey. However, the utilisation of this rest right by the workers is subject to the condition that leaving such a working interval after the end of the main work does not cause any technical inconvenience.
According to Article 11, if the work performed is a job that requires a maximum of seven and a half hours of work per day or less, the preparation, completion and cleaning works must be organised in such a way that they do not exceed the working hours specified for each of the jobs in the regulation issued in this regard.
The application of the provisions on overtime work in these works is regulated in Article 12 of the regulation. Including these works, the daily working time shall not exceed 11 hours, and the total of the overtime working hours performed with the aforementioned works in Turkey shall not exceed two hundred and seventy hours per year.
According to Article 13, if preparation, completion and cleaning work is to be carried out during night work, it may be carried out within the conditions specified in this regulation. However, Articles 71 and 73 of the Labour Law No. 4857 shall be taken into consideration in the employment of children and women in this way.
According to Article 14, it is forbidden for workers who have been allocated to preparation, completion and cleaning work in a workplace according to the provisions of this regulation to be employed in any other work during the hours allocated to these works.
