Activity Report of the Executive Committee (2001)

January 1-December 31, 2001


“Working Environment” Periodical:

By the end of the year 2001, “Working Environment” has published its 59th issue so that it has maintained its title of dignity as the longest-lived periodical on “occupational safety and health” and “child labour”. By the contributions of Ministry of Culture – General Directorate of Libraries, our periodical has been reached to 300 public libraries as well. Besides, it has been distributed to the relevant authorities free of charge by giving a priority to the trade unions. Thus, it has become possible for a widespread reader mass to make it use of.


Think-Tank:



  • March 31, 2001: In the Think-Tank workshop where “Globalisation and Artists’ Attitude” were discussed, Prof. Dr. Alpaslan Isikli, Prof. Dr. Erendiz Atasu, Leyla Tecer, Ulku Gunay, Yilmaz Demiral participated. This pretty active and cheerful meeting was presented to whom it may concern in a CD format after recorded.

The Meetings We Organised:



  • The conversation on “Ayurveda (Healthy Life)” was presented by Dr. Muammer Karakas on February 8, 2001 and has attracted attention.


  • The conversation on “Non-Governmental Organisations and Social Movements” was held in February 15, 2001. It was presented by Onur Kovanci and brought out an enriched environment with the participation of the personnel of the foundation (in-service training) besides the extensive contributions of Seyhan Erdogdu .


  • With regard to our in-service training, Leyla Ustel has shared her knowledge on “An Overall Approach to European Union and NGO’s” on April 12, 2001.


  • Within the Thursday Conversations, “Non-verbal Communication Skills” was presented by Soner Selcuklu on April 26, 2001; and it was followed by our volunteers with a great interest.


  • The workshop that we organised in collaboration with SSK (Social Insurance Organisation) on “Rational Documentation of SSK Activities” took place in Prof. Dr. Nusret Fisek-Science and Art Medium, along with an extensive participation of the specialists, on June 2, 2001. The CD of the meeting which is expected to provide important contributions to SSK activities has been presented in the use of the audiences.

Artistic Activities We Organised:

  • The exhibition of Young Azerbaijani painters (Rovsen Seferov, Siyavus Memmedov, Ahmet Imami) was held between January 2-28, 2001.


  • The Mixed Painting Exhibition of Basak Soyluoglu was between January 29- February 28, 2001.


  • Once again within the Thursday Activities, famous tango master Sabahattin Ozbas informed us about the “Historical Development of Tango” by means of a video film, an accordion show and a conversation.


  • Within the commemoration activities arranged for Professor Nusret Fisek, the fourth “Exhibition of the Artist who are Health Professionals” was organised at the art medium bearing the name of Prof. Fisek. This time, it was held between November 5-December 1, 2001. We thank for all the painters who have participated in. (Alper CANGA, Arzu ODABASIOGLU, Ayper KACAR, Baran KUTLAY, Basak SOYLUOGLU, Bulent AYTAS, Gulsen GOKALPAY, Mehmet ALTINOK, Halis DOKGOZ, Omer Faruk TANER, Omur DEMIREZER, Sevim URGEN, Rana GUVEN, Tulin ARAS, Zeynep ERDEM).


  • For the Thursday Conversation on November 15, 2001, the conversation was with Adnan Gerger, who is a an author. In the following Thursday activity, Erol Karaca was our guest with a slide show named “Cappadocia and a Voyage to the Minerals”. The show took us to the world of Cappadocia and the minerals that we have not known before.


  • Arzu Odabasi, both an artist and a health professional, has opened her personal exhibition in December.


  • On December 13, Thursday, we conversed with Ugur Caliskan on “Postmodernism and Art”. A Slide show including his own works of art was projected.

Our Contributions:



  • We participated in the preparation process of Occupational Safety and Health Week and Congress which has been prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security – General Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health.


  • Two articles introducing our foundation and explaining its projects on child labour was published at a periodical called “Working Child”, which has been published in English by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security – General Directorate of Labour – The Child Labour Unit.


  • An article that we wrote about “The Social Responsibilities of the Institutions” was published at a supplement of a newspaper (August 13, 2001), which has been co-ordinated by TESEV and prepared by the contributions of Financial Forum Newspaper. In this article, our foundation’s approach to the social responsibilities of firms and its activities in accordance with this were discussed.


  • During the “The Exhibition and Congress of The Workers Health-Occupational Safety and Health” dated between May 11-12, 2001, and organised by the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers in Adana, we presented a report.


  • For the “National Occupational Health and Work-place based Medicine Days” organised by the co-operation of the Chamber of Doctors in Bursa and Uludag University-The Department of Public Health, and dated between 27-29 April, 2001, we participated with a notice named “Child Workers and the Prevention of Child Labour”.


  • We participated in “Occupational Health and Work-place based Nursing Symposium – II” (June 28-30, 2001, Zonguldak), which was organised by Zonguldak Karaelmas University-Vocational Academy of Heath, with a conference named “Organisational Behaviour in the Occupational Health Services”.

Our Participations:



  • We took part in “MEKSA Route from 2001 to 2003 (March 1, 2001)”, which was organised by MEKSA (The Foundation for Supporting Vocational Training and Small Scale Industries). At this meeting, the deadlocks faced by the non-governmental organisations, which have been involved in “productive” activities and have realised their organisational aims in this way, have been discussed by focusing upon MEKSA in general.


  • We participated in a meeting called “International Child Care (ICC)/Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) and Children Rights” and its study groups organised by the International Child Care Association (ICC) on June 12 and 13, 2001.


  • A report named “Institutionalisation of the Concept of Urban Housing” was presented at the “Urbanisation in Ankara and Local Governments Symposium (June 22, 23, 2001)”, which was organised by the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, Ankara Office.


  • We participated in the “International Occupational Health and Safety Regional Conference” and were invited to the evaluation meetings following the conference, which was organised by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security – General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety. We contributed to the activity both by means of presenting a notice and of writing the report of the conference. For the serial meetings beginning just after the conference and being held in the context of preparatory works aimed at planning the activities for the year 2002, our foundation has had a representative as well.


  • Our foundation was invited to the “10th Quality Congress (November 13-15, 2001)” organised by KALDER and TUSIAD annually. We involved both in the workshops and the congress sessions. Previously, our foundation, as an invitee, also contributed to and participated in the studies on the “Adjustment of EFQSM to the NGO’s”.


  • Oya Fisek, participated in a panel that took place under the 1st National Volunteers Symposium, which was organised by KASAKOM (Volunteer Organisations-Women Health-care Commission) between November 6-7, 2001. As an invitee, she presented a paper on “UN-Human Habitat Conference (Habitat II)” and became a participant in the study groups.


  • Didem Kamoy, took part in various meetings organised by the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum. She obtained essential information especially on “establishing partnerships” and shared it with us.

Visits:


  • The Prince of Wales Business Leaders officials, who have shown interest to our activities, visited both our foundation and our Yenibosna project.


  • As it happened in every year, the fourth year students from Ankara University-The Faculty of Political Sciences-The Department of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, who are interested in “Child Labour” have visited our foundation and been informed about our activities.


  • Our two friends from Bilkent University-Working Children Office came to visit our foundation and searched for the alternatives to give some help to our activities; they are still in contact with us.

The Kermises We Organised:


Among the activities of our foundation, kermis organisations and active participation to them have a great importance. It not only provides a financial support to our foundation, but also helps to introduce ourselves to others and establish relations with the other NGO’s. Concerning both the organisations that aim to present themselves and the people visiting the kermises, these activities could also be an arena for “demonstrating power” with regard to its demonstrating the work discipline of our foundation and its potency in reaching many groups on a vast scale.


  • Our kermis held at the SSK Kavaklidere Training and Resting Center between January 15-26, 2001 attracted much interest and published in the Ankara page of the Hurriyet Newspaper, which gave us an opportunity to be known nation wide.


  • The Kermis held at the saloons of the National Library between March 15-26, 2001, was a setting for a great participation both for the artist wishing to exhibit the handwork they made and people who want to see and buy these.

The Kermises and Fairs We Participated:

The NGO’s that we invite to our kermises also invite us to theirs. Beside this, various organisations show interest in our foundation and its activities, and support us and give their help by inviting us to their kermises.


  • American Culture Association-New Year’s Kermis


  • The Kermis of Association for Supporting Contemporary Life


  • ANACEV Kermis


  • Rotary (GOP) Fair, etc.


  • Maltepe Rotary Club


  • Rehabilitation Centre for the Mentally Disabled


  • The Conference organised by TEMA Foundation and Women Confederation in co-operation.

Contributions:



  • TISK (Turkish Confederation of Employer Association) provided a financial support for our three projects, namely “Life Support for the Young Girls”, “Working Child and Human Rights” and “Holiday Facilities for the Working Children”. This action considering that we made a significant contribution to a TISK project in the previous year has become a good example for the organisational collaborations.


  • Long waited ILO/IPEC contribution finally was realised for the Working Children Office (Pendik) founded by TISK in the context ILO/IPEC project, together with our activities carried out in Pendik Small-scale Industrial Region. Since April 2001, the activities of our foundation in Pendik Region have been supported by means of this contribution.


  • Our project called “Holiday Facilities for the Working Children” has been supported by the “European Youth Foundation” and “Heilbornn and Environs Turkish Women Keep Culture Alive and Help Each Other Foundation”.

Project Studies:


  • One of the most prominent activity of our foundation in May was the health monitoring oriented towards the young apprentices. At the Apprenticeship Education Center-4th Skills Training Night School, 250 apprentices were examined with respect to lung diseases, and Lung Functioning Tests were performed. Additionally, the correlation between their complaints and their working/living environment was investigated. Under the leadership of the Executive Committee members of our foundation, Jale Sengul and Murside Mahmutoglu, a group study was realised on a vast scale. A general check-up for spinal cord complaints was performed by Dr. Didem Ergonenc and Dr. A. Gurhan Fisek. We are thankful to the senior students of Ankara University-The Faculty of Political Sciences, The Department of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations for applying three separate questionnairee so that they shed light on the social problems and perceptions of the apprentices.


  • Fisek Institute-Science and Action Foundation for Child Labour performed model studies on child labour and job-site common heath unit at the following centres: Ostim, Sincan Organised Industrial Region (Ankara) and Pendik Small-scale Industrial Region (Istanbul)… Our mobile clinics through which we have aimed at small industries first time in Turkey continue to visit the small-scale job-sites and to contact with the working children there. On behalf of our foundation, Dr. Tayyar Bakis performed a detailed health monitoring over 250 apprentices at Pendik Industrial Region and Apprenticeship Training Centres. During these health monitoring activities, it has been observed that the most important problems of the work environment were lumbago, hearing and respiratory problems.


  • We have terminated our activities on child labour and occupational safety and health at Yenibosna Eastern Industrial Region due to insufficient support from the employers. We express our gratitude to chairman of the Executive Committee, Bilal Hanci, the employers and our volunteers who supported us during the activities.


  • The activities that got started by TISK a year ago in Pendik Small-scale Industrial Region under the scope of the Working Children Office have continued in this year as well. The activities of the office have been carried out successfully by Ass. Prof. Nezih Varol. “safety and health center for a group of SME’s” activities which have started in April 22, 2001 and which will secure the continuity of the project are still going on.


  • “Social Organisations of GAP (The Project of Southeast Anatolia) from Batman to Gaziantep”: For this project which has been requested by GAP Administration and the application of which has been carried out by our foundation, Diyarbakir-Artists and Literaturers Association (DISED) undertook establishing the local relationships and the preparatory works. This project, through which we were able to demonstrate nearly forty years’ experiences of ours on social organisational behaviour and we searched for the ways in which the collaboration of these organisations would be achieved, was helpful both for us and for the non-governmental organisations in the region. The report of this successfully completed project is also published on our web site.


  • The questionnaire studies on “Life Support for the Young Working Girls”, “Holiday Facilities for the Apprentices” and “Which Child’s Human Rights?” are aimed to be taken in order to provide our foundation with some guidance for the future studies in this subject. The views and suggestions of the working children will be effective in reviewing our future plans.


  • The girls participated in our camping activities at a fairly comfortable motel in Izmir-Cesme, Mordogan between September 2-9, 2001; and the boys between September 9-16, 2001. Two working girls from Ankara and eight from Denizli, ten boys again from Ankara took part in the campaign called “Young Workers’ Joy”, which lasted quite satisfactorily. (Eight children -two girls and eight boys- partook in this activity by benefiting from the quota reserved for Ankara Vocational Education Centre by the Ministry of National Education). The children, with their own words, took a “dreamlike” vacation; and wished that their friends in similar conditions would be able to benefit from this opportunity. We thank Prof. Dr. Emin Ergen and Ass. Prof. Giyasettin Demirci with regard to their organisational assistance in this Vacation Plan. For their extensive contributions, thanks go to Yasin Gundogan, Secil Erciyas ve Arzu Uyar who were in charged with the orientation of the children in this activity. In addition to this, we owe a gratitude to Didem Kamoy for her intense and qualified work in the documentation of the “Young Workers’ Joy” as a video film and a video CD.


  • Our efforts for the campaign to take another group of working children to a vacation in 2002 are still going on.


  • Constitution of a “library site” which is in line with the objectives of our foundation has been decided by our Executive Committee Members. It would provide an opportunity for the people carrying out their academic studies and seeking out various publications in this subject-matter. For this aim, the subject was discussed in a meeting participated by Onur Kovanci (co-ordinator), Metin Ozugurlu, Fatih Gungor, Gulbiye Yenimahalleli, Senay Gokbayrak, Cetin Mericli, Nihat Ciddi, Vedat Kamer, Didem Kamoy and Doruk Fisek. In this meeting, the decisions guiding the future actions were taken. In accordance with the objectives under consideration, entering the book data has already started and this was achieved on the basis of a computer software program (The Bookworm) written by H. Doruk Fisek. The Child Labour Library has been completed successfully; and the data of the publications regarding the Occupational Health and Safety Library are still being entered carefully and swiftly by Sakir Celik. We are grateful to all people who worked at this project.

Collaborations with other Organisations:


  • “Co-operative Action with TISK on Child Labour”: The projects on shared occupational safety and health center and the Working Children Office, which aim at the working children in Pendik Industrial Region, have been still going on.


  • The meeting which was organised by a group of non-governmental organisations under Ankara Chamber of Commerce took place in June, in Ankara. Our foundation participated in the meeting both by having a representative ready there and by having a stand. Our foundation took part in one of the study groups formed just after the meeting, namely “Strengthening of the Local Governments”; and we followed the meetings of this group carefully. The group, the first meeting of which took place in our foundation, is now the guest of our web page (https://fisek.org.tr/birliktelikler ).

R&D Studies on Occupational Safety and Health:


  • The R&D group formed with the aim of improving our activities on Occupational Safety and Health keeps on working. The participants of this group are Prof. Dr. Ismail Topuzoglu, Prof. Dr. A. Gurhan Fisek, Chemical Engineer Mustafa Tasyurek, Mechanical Engineer Gurbuz Yilmaz, Didem Kamoy, H. Doruk Fisek and Ozan Bozbay. The efforts have been basically oriented towards building bridges among people who are interested in this subject and wide-spreading the knowledge and experience in hand. With these objectives, a Turkish web site has been under construction. One will be able to reach various articles and visual materials, which are updated regularly, from the addressee: www.isguvenligi.net

Training Activities:


  • The interest of the small-scale enterprises in training activities on occupational safety and health, which have been carried out by Fisek Institute, has declined due to the economic crisis. We have been still carrying on the activities on occupational safety and health in relation with the big business enterprises. The Training Seminar in Eskisehir that was realised in Tetrapak was satisfying and promising for the future. In so far as its being enriched with visual materials and presentation of the applied examples are concerned, it attracted attention. The training activities with a medium-scale enterprise, Yigit Aku, have been still continuing.


  • The “First-aid Rescue Course” and the seminars on “Prevention of Fire”, which have been mostly directed towards the small-scale job-sites, have always been very important. We thank Dr. Nezih Varol, Chemical Engineer Mustafa Tasyurek and Mechanical Engineer Gurbuz Yilmaz for their contributions.


  • The seminar called “Overcoming Stress” was prepared and lectured by Psychologist Nurhayat Kemerli, and it lasted three weeks with the participation of our volunteers.

Relations with Media:


  • Our speakers were the guests of three programs taken place on TRT- Radio Ankara, namely “Social Security (Fethiye Ozturk) “, “Towards the Noon (Adnan …)” and “Child Time (Nukhet Eyuboglu)”. This gave us an opportunity to explicate the activities of our foundation. Furthermore, Fethiye Ozturk made a conversation with Basak Soyluoglu on the “Exhibition of the Artist Health Professionals” and with Arzu Odabasioglu on account of her personal exhibition. We are thankful to them due to their interest.


  • In her column known as “Lobbying in Ankara”, Isik Kansu wrote an article including quotations and interpretations pertaining to an article published in the “Working Environment” periodical (Cumhuriyet Newspaper bearing the date of January 1, 2001).


  • The announcements and news about the activities which are organised by our foundation in our centre Prof. Dr. Nusret Fisek Science and Art Medium, have started to be published in the following publications: The news published in the sections of the newspapers reserved for the artistic facilities and urban life (Hurriyet, Cumhuriyet); monthly periodicals announcing the cultural activities in Ankara (TOMER- Ankara Culture and Art Guidebook, Arkadas, Ankara Culture and Art Map).


  • An old and well-known newspaper published in Siirt, Mucadele Newspaper, gave information on the project that we have carried out under the heading of “NGO’s in the GAP Region” (August 27, 2001-in its 19th year and 3366th issue).


Benefiting from the Internet:



  • In so far as the design of the new web pages are concerned, various subjects could be treated. In addition to that, publicising our activities in these pages allows us to be recognised by a broader circle.

www.isguvenligi.net: It is a web site in which news and articles on occupational safety and health are published and which is equipped with mailing and net-meeting opportunities.


www.fisek.com.tr: The site is composed of sections including informatics, health, safety, the foundation and “far country”. Owing to its regularly updated informatics news, it is one of the frequently visited web pages that attracts attention of the people who are engaged in informatics.


www.dagkecisi.com: In this web site that is the bearer of chamois’ name, which is one of the symbols of freedom and climbing to the climaxes, successful stories of the Turkish citizens who are living and working abroad will be published. The utilisation possibilities allowing us to benefit, as a “force”, from the working minds abroad will be searched. A questionnaire study that is prepared in line with these objectives and widespread dispersal of the notification have been started. We thank Gunay Tuzcu and Naci Yaman for their contributions.


  • The web sites have been regularly reviewed and updated. We thank Serdar Koylu, Vedat Kamer, Nihat Ciddi, Didem Kamoy and H. Doruk Fisek for their assistance during the informatics studies realised in this year.


  • Statistics on our web sites: The entrances to our web sites can be monitored by usage statistics. Since September, fisek.org had approximately 39-71 visitors daily. The exact number of the visitors in March is 860 for the first 22 days (The most frequently visited pages are the ones in which visual materials are given weight). Approximately one third of the visitors are from abroad, most of them from USA, then from Canada, England, India and Japan. There have been 120 visitors who arrived at our web pages using search engines. Among these, 76 of them used “child labour” as a key word, and 5, “Child labour in Asia”. 80 % of the people who visited our web page via search engines gave preference to our English web site. On the other hand, the number of visitors who made a direct entrance via www.fisek.com.tr is between 212-244 daily (There have been 4681 visitors for the first 22 days of March). Since the site has only a Turkish version, there is no entrance from abroad. Most of the visitors of this addressee prefers the pages about informatics. But then, the number of entrances to the pages on “occupational safety and health” constitutes only 2 % of the general.


  • Our foundation has been presented and its activities have been published in various foreign web sites, such as www.hse.uk.gov. We thank Ebru Erdem from Stanford University for her efforts in translating our introduction at this page into English. Both for her reaching us through the internet and her contribution to our efforts with translating…