Occupational Health and Safety

Hi, I'm Yasemin Demir. I am a 4th year student at the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Hamidiye Faculty of Health Sciences, at University of Health Sciences. I was a representative in my department for about 2 years. Occupational Health and Safety Department is a new department established in 2017 at our university. The purpose of occupational health and safety is to prevent occupational hazards and possible occupational accidents that may occur due to occupational exposure of workers in the workplace. Occupational Health and Safety is a department that aims to ensure the mental and physical integrity of the workers. In the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, there are courses in two groups as theoretical and laboratory courses. In addition to courses such as Personal Protective Equipment, Decision-Making Techniques in Occupational Health and Safety from our laboratory courses, as well as special risks such as Waste Management, Air Pollution and Control, Indoor Air Quality, Labor Law and all periodic controls in the working environment, groups, physical, biological and chemical risk factors, and psychological risk factors are also examined. We have a laboratory where there are models of many work equipment and equipment to protect workers that we may encounter while performing the profession of occupational health and safety specialist. In our lessons in this laboratory, we are able to see and recognize many work equipment and scaled-down models of work machines before working on the field. In our department, both internship and graduation projects take place separately. Our internships are done in the 3rd year of our program. Since Occupational Health and Safety has a very wide range of work, you can do your internship in many fields. Internships must be carried out at the times specified by our coordinator. Apart from that, when we come to the end of the 4th grade, we are expected to prepare a graduation project. In this project, we prepare a research or a thesis assignment. Within the scope of these internships and the graduation project we will do in the 4th grade, our grades are evaluated and, in this way, we graduate from our department. After graduating from our department, we can work in many workplaces. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331, the persons and workplaces outside the scope of this law are: Turkish Armed Forces, National Intelligence Organization, home services, emergency and disaster management response teams and convicted workers. Apart from these sectors and the people mentioned, occupational health and safety specialists can work in all workplaces. At this point, the job range of an occupational health and safety specialist is very wide. You can work in any field you can think of. The main purpose for me to choose the Occupational Health and Safety Department is to ensure the mental and physical integrity of the workers. So, for me, it is not only a job; but it also has a spiritual meaning. Therefore, I chose this department because its purpose is to protect people. The main reason why I chose the University of Health Sciences was that it is the first and only health-themed university in Turkey. After completing my undergraduate education, I want to pursue a graduate degree and take part in the academic staff of my school and then train future generations as an educator. My advice to candidates who will prefer our university and department is as follows: First of all, you should ask yourself, "How fast and accurately can I make a decision?", "How quickly can I produce a solution?" and “Can I think from all angles?”. Because Occupational Health and Safety is a department that requires you to think about people in every aspect. I wish good luck to students who will take the exam. I hope you prefer our university and I hope you get the chance to study here.