OHS training records software keeps every employee's occupational health and safety training in one record: the topic, hours, date, certificate and next renewal date, with alerts before anything lapses. Done properly, the record is linked to HR data and to site access, so a worker whose training has expired cannot quietly keep working in a hazardous area.
Key takeaways
- Türkiye's regulation requires at least 8, 12 and 16 hours of OHS training per employee in low-hazard, hazardous and very hazardous workplaces.
- OHS training is repeated every year in very hazardous workplaces, every two years in hazardous and every three years in low-hazard ones.
- Extra training is mandatory after a work accident or an absence over six months; HR and attendance data should catch these triggers.
- A training certificate lists participant, role, topic, duration, trainer, signature and date, and is kept in the personnel file.
- When training records feed card access control, an employee with lapsed role-specific training cannot enter the hazardous zone.
This article is about your own employees' training records. Verifying contractors' paperwork at the gate is a separate problem, covered in our guide to contractor access and HSE compliance. All of our security and compliance guides sit on the Cyber Security & Compliance hub.
Why training records end up scattered
In most organisations OHS training is planned by the safety specialist or an external OHS service provider (in Türkiye, an OSGB). Attendance is signed on paper, the certificate is scanned into a folder and the renewal date lives in a spreadsheet. Hiring sits with HR, shift planning with production and door permissions with security, and nobody routinely checks whether those four records describe the same person.
The results are familiar. A new starter is put on the line before their induction is complete; someone returns from more than six months of sick leave without the refresher training the law requires; a unit's hazard class changes but its renewal interval does not. A training-tracking spreadsheet is one of the first records to hit the limits of spreadsheets, because every row has a date and every date has a consequence.
After an inspection or an accident the questions are blunt. When was this person trained, for how many hours, by whom, where is the certificate and was the renewal overdue? You want to answer them with one query, not an afternoon of searching through binders. To move the personnel file where these certificates are kept into a digital archive, see our guide to digital personnel files.
What are the OHS training hours and renewal intervals in Türkiye?
Türkiye regulates occupational health and safety (OHS) training in detail. The regulation on the procedures and principles of employees' OHS training, published in the Official Gazette in May 2013, requires at least 8 hours of training per employee in low-hazard workplaces, 12 hours in hazardous and 16 hours in very hazardous ones, both at hiring and at set intervals. Sessions may be split into four-hour blocks, so one person's training can run across several sessions that each need tracking.
The same regulation sets the repeat interval: at least once a year in very hazardous workplaces, every two years in hazardous and every three years in low-hazard workplaces. Employees who have had a work accident or an occupational disease need additional training before returning to work, and anyone away for more than six months, for whatever reason, needs refresher training before they restart. Those triggers show up in leave and attendance data, not in a list of dates.
| Hazard class | Minimum training | Repeat interval |
|---|---|---|
| Low hazard | At least 8 hours | At least every three years |
| Hazardous | At least 12 hours | At least every two years |
| Very hazardous | At least 16 hours | At least once a year |
Under Article 15, training must be documented and certificates kept in employees' personnel files, listing the participant and their role, the topic, the duration, the trainer's details and signature, and the date. (Official Gazette of Türkiye, 15 May 2013, No. 28648)
The cost of a missing training record can be high. According to the SGK Statistical Yearbook 2025, Türkiye's Social Security Institution recorded 766,039 work accidents among workers insured under Article 4-1/a in 2025, and 1,931 of those workers died. In any post-accident investigation, being unable to prove that training took place is where an employer is weakest.
How do you move OHS training records into software? Seven steps
To move OHS training records from paper and spreadsheets into a single digital record, follow these seven steps in order. Each step builds on the data from the previous one, so we recommend following the order.
- Define hazard classes and a training matrix. Record the hazard class of each site or unit, the minimum hours and the repeat interval that follow from it. Add role-specific training such as working at height, forklift operation, chemicals handling and fire team duties.
- Feed people from HR data. The training system should take its employee list from your HR and personnel management record, not from manual entry. Joiners, role and unit changes and leavers then flow from one source.
- Record each session separately. Every session gets its own record: topic, hours, date, trainer and attendees. The system adds up four-hour blocks and shows whether each person has reached the minimum.
- Attach the evidence. Link the signed attendance sheet and certificate to the session and to the employee's digital personnel file. Keeping them in a document management system with version history and role-based access lets an inspector's request be answered straight from the record.
- Let the system calculate renewals. The due date is calculated from the last session and the interval; reminders go to the line manager and safety specialist, for example at 60, 30 and 7 days.
- Connect event triggers. A recorded work accident or occupational disease, or an absence longer than six months, should raise an "additional / refresher training required" flag automatically. We explain where attendance data comes from in time and attendance payroll integration.
- Tie training to site access. When role-specific training lapses, access to the relevant zone is suspended. The zoning logic is covered in zone-based access in factories.
Paper, spreadsheet or integrated system?
| Checkpoint | Paper binder | Spreadsheet | Integrated digital record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum hours (8/12/16) check | Added up by hand | Formula, error-prone | Calculated from sessions |
| Renewal reminder | None | Only if someone filters | Notification before due date |
| Extra training after accident or 6-month absence | If someone remembers | Separate tracking needed | Triggered by HR/attendance data |
| Certificate and signature access | Search the binder | File path link | Attached to record, role-based access |
| Link to zone access | None | None | Access suspended if training invalid |
| Inspection report | Compiled from binders | Files merged by hand | Ready query from the record |
How should OHS training records be protected under data protection law?
An OHS training record is employee personal data. Health information such as medical reports is special category data under KVKK, Türkiye's Personal Data Protection Law, and an accident record falls into the same category when it contains health details. Decide at the outset who can see these records, how long they are kept and what happens after someone leaves. We cover the legal grounds in employee personal data under KVKK and how to set retention periods in our data retention and disposal policy guide.
When protecting training records, three rules make a sound start. Keep health data apart from the general training record, show line managers only a status of valid, due soon or expired, and log every change with who made it and when. For the wider sequence, see our KVKK compliance steps.
How does Digital Bridge set up OHS training tracking?
At Digital Bridge we do not sell an off-the-shelf package for OHS training tracking; we start with a needs analysis. With your safety specialist, HR and security team we map the training matrix, where current records actually live and which zones need role-specific training. You then receive a written proposal setting out scope, phases and cost.
- Pilot. We start with one site or unit, migrate historical records and list missing or overdue training. That list is often the project's first tangible result.
- Document archive. Attendance sheets and certificates can be kept in our own SmartFiles document management: a checklist applied to employee folders shows, for each person, which documents are complete and which are missing, and a retention period can be set on the folder so that expired documents are listed for the person responsible.
- Integration. If you already run an HR, payroll or OHS provider system, we build the link between training status and access rights as part of our system integrations work. If there is no such record, we design the training module together with the HR side.
- Site hardware. Readers at the training room and critical zones are connected to the same permission logic through our card access control systems. Software and hardware come from one team, so we can adapt to site conditions.
- Data protection. Access roles and retention periods are settled with our data protection compliance consultancy, and we review the security of the systems holding the records against our SME cyber security checklist.
How SmartPass puts training status to work on site
SmartPass, developed in-house by Digital Bridge, combines card access control, time and attendance (PDKS), visitor reception and canteen management in one panel. It is not the system that stores training records, but it is the layer that turns a training status into what happens at the door and on site.
A concrete scenario: a warehouse employee's forklift refresher lapses, and through the integration they are removed from the group that grants access to the forklift area. In SmartPass, access groups are linked to zones with an optional weekly time profile; removing someone from a group takes effect on the server at once, and the permission lists at the doors update within seconds. Next morning the employee badges in at the main gate and attendance is recorded, but the forklift area door stays shut and the refusal is logged.
Other points that help:
- Attendance in one read. A terminal at the training room can record when people arrived, as supporting evidence alongside the signed sheet rather than a replacement for it. Where a temporary training area has no fixed door, attendance can also be taken with the SmartPass mobile terminal.
- Who is inside. In an emergency the system lists who is in each zone; see how that supports evacuation in our emergency muster list guide.
- Data protection. Card numbers are not stored in plain text, records past their retention period are anonymised, changes go into an audit trail with old and new values, and the auditor role is read-only.
If you also want to check personal protective equipment (PPE) use on camera after training, our article on AI PPE detection covers that layer. And when you move training paperwork off paper, plan it alongside the wider paperless office approach.
Next step
A short conversation about your training matrix, current records and door layout is enough to decide where a pilot should start. Reach us through our contact page or on 0850 346 41 09. To buy SmartPass, simply fill in the SmartPass sales form.