AIM: In Turkey which is one of the top 20 automotive producers of the world, 1250000 people work in this sector or its subsectors. Our study was designed for the purpose of evaluating the activities of the health unit of an automotive factory in terms of first-grade health services and sharing the conclusions.
METHODS: Records of health and security of the automotive factory in subject for the year 2008 were analyzed and face-to-face interviews were made with the workers in our study which is a cross-sectional-descriptive one.
RESULS: There are 2055 workers in the factory. Two full time physicians, three health staff and one secretary work in the unit. This unit conducted work entry, back-to-work examinations, periodic examinations and porter examinations in 2008. Another finding of our analysis was that health unit of the factory provided the workers with trainings on work health and safety, first aid, emergency management, fire safety, working with chemicals, risk evaluation, welding safety, resource safety, a life without cigarette. 5920 examinations, including 4435 treated in the unit, 34 were given sick leave and 1485 were referred to second grade health institution for diagnosis and treatment.
CONCLUSION: This proved that health unit of an enterprise fills the place of a first grade health institution with the protective medicine practices. We believe that presence of health units should be a legal requirement in all enterprises so that all workers can benefit from this right.
Key words: Occupational health and safety, workplace health unit, workplace physician, automative Article Language: Turkish English
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