Examination of General Hazard Liability Within the Scope of Employer's Legal Liability for Occupational Accidents
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65380/bhd.2026.1.4Keywords:
general hazard liability, operational activities posing significant level of danger, compensation adjustment, occupational accident, inevitabilityAbstract
General hazard liability based on the principle of strict liability has been enacted in Turkish Law for the first time with Article 71 of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098. As per this provision, the owner and the operator of an operation are held jointly liable for damages arising from operational activities that pose a significant level of danger. An operation is deemed to entail such significant danger where, by characteristics of its nature or the equipment or the forces employed in its operations, it is able to cause frequent or severe damages. Hazard liability constitutes the most stringent form of liability as it shall not entitle the liable party to exonerate themselves even when all due care and diligence expected of an expert have been exercised is proven. Notwithstanding this, the provision has been subject to criticism in legal doctrine on the ground that it allows damages caused by an operation to be subject to compensation adjustment solely because the activity is carried out under legal permit. The regulation of general hazard liability has also had significant outcomes for the legal characterization of an employer’s liability for occupational accidents. While for many years such liability had been considered to be based on strict liability, in recent years fault-based liability has become the dominant view both in doctrine and in judicial practice. However, it is observed that in cases where an occupational accident is deemed inevitable, judiciary continues to hold the employer liable consistently. Considering these explanations, in this study, first general hazard liability in terms of all its constituent elements will be examined. Then how the regulation of general hazard liability has influenced doctrinal debates concerning the legal nature of an employer’s liability for occupational accidents will be addressed. Subsequently, the limits of the employer’s liability under general hazard liability will be analyzed. Finally, employers’ liability for inevitable occupational accidents will be dwelled upon.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 BİLGİ Law Review
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Articles submitted to BILGI Law Review for publication must not have been previously published in any forum or submitted to any other outlet for consideration.
In the event that an article is accepted for publication, permission is granted to combine the work with other materials, build upon it, or create adaptations (including for commercial purposes) provided that the same license terms are applied.
It is the author's responsibility to obtain written and signed permission from the copyright holder to use and reproduce any previously published text, images, tables, etc., in print or electronic format. This signed permission letter must be submitted alongside the signed cover letter. Furthermore, authors are required to disclose any sponsorship or financial support received from any institution regarding their research.
All publication rights (both print and electronic) for works accepted for publication in BILGI Law Review belong to Istanbul Bilgi University ("the University"). These works may not be published elsewhere without the express permission of the University. Authors are deemed to have transferred their copyrights to the University, and no publication fee shall be paid to the authors.
