Occupational health and safety (OHS) in banks carries significant ergonomic, psychosocial, and security-related threats despite a perception of low risk, and as of 2026 it has become a legal obligation for all branches. Obligations under Law No. 6331 (Turkey) — risk assessment, training, health surveillance, and emergency plans — must be fully implemented. An effective OHS system protects employee health while also strengthening productivity, engagement, and organizational sustainability.
Looking at workplace fatality statistics in Turkey, the banking, finance, and insurance sector holds a share incomparably lower than sectors like construction or mining. This feeds the perception that "there's no serious OHS risk" in the sector.
But fatal accidents are the only thing the numbers show. The real cost in banking shows up through work-incapacity reports, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), burnout-driven resignations, and productivity losses. These items often never show up in the Social Security Institution's (SGK) "workplace accident" statistics at all.
Current reports from the International Labour Organization (ILO) also identify the service sector as one of the areas where psychosocial risks are most concentrated. Roles in constant face-to-face or phone contact with customers force employees into "emotional labor" — that is, suppressing their real feelings and staying polite under all circumstances is expected of them. Over the long term, this becomes one of the strongest triggers of burnout.
In short: even if your branch or head office shows no "visible" accident statistics, your employees may be facing risks that build up silently. You need to see OHS not just as a legal obligation, but as part of sustainable productivity.
Visual suggestion: You could prepare an infographic titled "Workplace Accident Profile by Sector." Compare high-fatality sectors like construction and mining on the left with "low visible risk, high hidden risk" sectors like banking on the right. This visual could be the most shareable part of the article.
A workplace's hazard class is determined by the NACE/occupation code on your SGK registration number, and this code is matched against the list in the Communiqué on Workplace Hazard Classes. Office-heavy units such as head office, branches, and call centers are largely classified as low-hazard.
Source: analitikisguvenligi.com.tr/nace/64-19-01
But be careful: certain support units such as IT centers, data center operations, or cash logistics may fall into a different hazard class. Even though your job description is "bank," each of your units needs to be assessed separately.
This is the most critical and up-to-date part of this content. Articles 6 and 7 of Law No. 6331 came into force in stages for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees classified as low-hazard. As of January 1, 2025, all workplaces within this scope — including a small bank branch in a city center — are now obligated to have an occupational safety specialist and a workplace physician.
You can meet this requirement in three ways:
Administrative fines for businesses that don't comply with this obligation are updated every year and increase based on employee count and hazard class. So the assumption "we're a small branch, this doesn't apply to us" is no longer valid as of 2026.
As a bank or financial institution, the core obligations you must fulfill regardless of your scale are:
In banking, risk doesn't come under a single form. Below are five main risk groups broken down by role.
Tellers and customer representatives spend most of their day in a fixed position in front of a screen. Incorrect chair height, a monitor positioned below eye level, and repetitive keyboard/mouse movements lead to musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) complaints in the wrist, neck, and lower back.
This risk is often overlooked because it's not seen as a "serious" accident. Yet accumulated MSD complaints directly affect both employee health and absenteeism rates over the long term.
Simple but effective measures you can apply for teller and call center employees:
Banking is a sector woven together by sales targets, cross-selling pressure, and constant customer interaction. Add to this the possibility of encountering difficult or aggressive customers, and a serious psychological burden builds up on employees.
There's a scientific, Turkish-adapted tool you can use to measure this risk: COPSOQ (the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire). With this scale, you can:
Bank branches are, by their nature, exposed to physical security threats because they hold cash and valuables. This risk covers not only teller staff but also cash logistics (cash-in-transit) personnel and ATM maintenance teams.
An effective security protocol should include:
Vault rooms, server rooms, generators, and UPS (uninterruptible power supply) units are areas in banking that are less visible but carry serious fire and electric shock risk. Regular electrical installation checks, fire detection system maintenance, and periodic inspection of fire extinguishers are mandatory in these units.
Insufficient ventilation in closed, air-conditioned office environments can cause headaches, loss of concentration, and, over the long term, respiratory complaints. Inadequate lighting levels increase eye fatigue — particularly for staff working in front of screens.
A significant portion of staff working at head office and support units now work from home part of the week. This creates a new area of risk outside the employer's direct oversight: improper home office setup, insufficient lighting, non-ergonomic desk-chair combinations, and the psychological burden linked to the blurring of work-life boundaries. Legally, the employer must remember that remote employees also fall within the scope of OHS — and should at least track minimum ergonomic standards through a digital home office checklist.
Let's set theory aside and move to the practice. When you apply the following steps in order, you'll both meet your legal obligations and build a genuine protection system.
The examples below are generalized scenarios compiled from common practices in the sector. They include concrete steps you can adapt to your own business.
Scenario 1 — Teller Ergonomics Program: The HR team of a mid-sized private bank notices back and wrist complaints coming from branch employees. Investments are made in ergonomic chairs and adjustable monitor arms, and employees are advised to take a 2-minute micro-exercise break every 20 minutes. An internal survey conducted six months later shows a noticeable decrease in MSD-related complaints.
Scenario 3 — Preventing Burnout in a Call Center: A bank's call center management notices a high staff turnover rate. They apply a COPSOQ-like psychosocial risk survey, and based on the results, restructure shift scheduling and target pressure. Regular supervisor support meetings are added.
The sector is changing rapidly, and OHS approaches have to keep pace with this change. The main trends you should also be following are:
Hybrid work and home office ergonomics: A significant portion of head office staff now work from home. Forward-thinking banks have started using digital checklists and remote assessment surveys for home office ergonomics.
Digitalizing risk monitoring: IoT sensors and digital dashboard systems are helping detect fire risk early through temperature/humidity tracking in server rooms.
Institutionalization of psychosocial risk management: Current ILO reports are putting the emotional labor burden in the service sector and customer-driven violence risk high on the agenda. This points to stricter regulations in the near future.
Work arrangements tied to climate conditions: Rising temperatures in summer months are bringing new measures around working hours and breaks onto the agenda, particularly for ATM maintenance and cash logistics staff who work outdoors.
There are low-cost steps you can apply even with a limited budget:
As your scale grows, you need to move toward systematic and technology-supported approaches:
You don't need a large budget to get started with OHS management. All of the following resources are free:
8 people work at my bank branch — do I really need to have a workplace physician? If your branch falls under the "low-hazard" class, yes as of January 1, 2025 — this obligation applies to you even if your employee count is under 50. You can make this obligation more manageable in terms of cost by obtaining services from an OSGB.
Is psychosocial risk assessment a legal requirement, or a choice? The general risk assessment obligation under Law No. 6331 is interpreted to also cover psychosocial risks.
Do we need to carry out a risk assessment for our remote employees too? Yes. The employer has an obligation to protect the health and safety of employees regardless of where they are physically located. In practice, this translates into applying an ergonomics survey or checklist for remote employees.
What should we pay attention to when choosing an OSGB? Always ask whether they're authorized by the Ministry, whether they've previously served your sector (finance/banking), and how often they report. An OSGB working with generic templates may overlook risks specific to banking, such as cash security or the psychosocial burden in call centers.
Occupational health and safety in the banking sector holds real risks hidden behind the "low-hazard" class label. This picture — spanning from ergonomic complaints to psychosocial burden, from physical security threats to fire risk — isn't just a legal obligation; it's also critical for employee engagement and operational sustainability.
The changes that came into force in 2026 have placed even small branches squarely in the middle of this responsibility. Every step you take now — a risk assessment, a training calendar, a psychosocial risk survey — will both strengthen your legal compliance and give your team a genuinely healthier and safer working environment.
What should your first step be? We recommend starting from the eight-stage implementation plan above and building a hazard class check and a risk assessment calendar for your own business this week.
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