A work accident in a hotel: the first hours, the SGK notice and the records
A work accident in a hotel triggers immediate safety duties and legal notices. This guide explains the first-hour actions, the SGK notification process, and how to document incidents correctly.
Contents
Key takeaways
- Article 13 of Law No. 5510 defines a work accident through five situations, one of which is travel to and from work in a vehicle the employer provides, not only the moment of injury on site.
- The employer reports the accident to the local competent law-enforcement authority immediately and to SGK within three working days at the latest; SGK's own example puts a Monday accident's notice due by Thursday (SGK, work accident page, 27 February 2025).
- Article 14 of Law No. 6331 adds a second duty: record and report events that injured nobody but damaged the workplace or equipment, or could have harmed someone.
- The sources do not settle how the three working days are counted in every case, so quote the text and confirm your own case with an accountant or legal adviser.
- A hotel's internal accident report answers what happened, when, where and who saw it; the question of fault belongs to the investigation, not to the first page.
In Türkiye, a work accident is an event that immediately or later disables the insured person physically or mentally, and that happens at the workplace, because of the work, on an employer-assigned duty, during breastfeeding time, or in employer-provided transport to and from work. In general terms, the employer tells law enforcement immediately and SGK within three working days (Law No. 5510, Article 13); confirm the exact counting method, the penalties and your own case with a legal adviser.
The pan slips at 21:40 on a Saturday. A hand is burned, the kitchen is two people short, and nobody in the building is thinking about paperwork. The paperwork has a clock on it anyway. This guide walks the night manager, the HR lead and the general manager through the first hour, the work accident notification Türkiye requires, the SGK form itself, the internal report, and the investigation that follows. By the end you will have an order of operations you can pin in the back office before the next weekend shift.
What counts as a work accident under Law No. 5510?
Article 13 of Law No. 5510 defines a work accident as an event that immediately or later disables the insured person physically or mentally, and that happens in one of five listed situations (mevzuat.gov.tr, consolidated text of Law No. 5510, Article 13). The definition has two halves: an event, and a disablement that may appear at once or later. A burn that looks minor on Saturday and needs surgery on Tuesday still starts from Saturday.
The five situations are: while the insured is at the workplace; because of work the employer carries out; during time spent without doing the main job when an insured employee is sent elsewhere on duty; during breastfeeding time taken by an insured woman under Article 4(1)(a); and while traveling to and from work in a vehicle provided by the employer.
| Situation named in Article 13 | Illustrative hotel case (invented, for example only) |
|---|---|
| At the workplace | A room attendant slips on an unmarked wet stair |
| Because of the work the employer carries out | A maintenance technician is burned by a boiler valve |
| Sent elsewhere on duty | A staff member is injured while collecting supplies at a warehouse |
| Breastfeeding time | An insured woman is injured in the room set aside for feeding her child |
| Employer-provided transport | A staff member is hurt in the hotel's own shuttle on the way to work |
The transport limb is narrow. It names a vehicle the employer provides. Whether a staff shuttle, a shared van or a paid taxi counts is a question for your adviser, not for the shift supervisor. The same goes for accommodation and break questions: an injury in staff housing, or during a cigarette break in the car park, is not answered by the text of Article 13 alone. Take these to the adviser before an incident, so the answer exists on the night it is needed.
Two further points from the same article. SGK inspectors or labor inspectors may investigate whether the event is a work accident at all, so the file has to stand on its own facts. And payments made because of untrue statements are recovered from the people who made them. That is the reason the internal report describes what was seen, not what would look best.
A guest's accident is not a work accident. It follows a different path, covered in our guide to hotel incident reports after an accident, a theft or a dispute.
The first hour: what do staff do before any form is filled?
Help the person first, then protect the scene, then write down times. Everything the notice and the report will later need is created in that first hour.
Trained first aiders act within their training and nothing beyond it. Anything that is not clearly minor goes to 112; the call is not an overreaction, it is the record that medical help was requested at a known time. Do not move an injured person unless there is immediate danger. Moving someone to a sofa in the lobby changes both the injury and the scene.
Secure the scene before cleaning it. A wet stair gets closed, signed and photographed as found; the mop comes after the photographs. Keep the equipment involved as it was: the pan, the valve, the ladder, the cart. Put it aside with a note of who moved it and when.
Name one person who owns the timeline, usually the night manager or the shift supervisor, and have them write the time of each step as it happens: when the person fell, when first aid started, when 112 was called, when the area was closed. Tell the general manager and the safety expert the same night. A notice filed on Monday from memory is weaker than one filed from a note written on Saturday.
ChecklistFirst-hour checklist, in order
- First aid given within the first aider's training
- 112 called if there is any doubt about severity
- Injured person not moved unless in immediate danger
- Area closed and signed
- Scene photographed before cleaning
- Equipment involved set aside, with a note of who moved it and when
- Time of every step written down as it happens
- General manager and safety expert called
- Witness names and contact details taken before the shift ends
Who must be told, and how fast?
Two external notices run in parallel: the local competent law-enforcement authority immediately, and SGK within three working days after the accident at the latest, using the work accident and occupational disease notice. Both duties come from the same sentence of Article 13, so one is not a substitute for the other. Telling the police does not stop the clock on the SGK notice.
If the accident happens somewhere outside the employer's control, the three-day period starts from the date the employer learns of it. That is the text; how it applies to a hotel group with a central HR office is a question for your adviser. Health providers have their own duty: they notify SGK of work accidents that reach them within ten days at the latest (Law No. 6331, Article 14). That duty sits with the provider, not with the hotel, but it explains why the hospital may ask the hotel for details.
SGK's own page gives worked examples: an accident on a Monday means the notice is due by Thursday at the latest, and an accident on a Wednesday means the following Monday (SGK, work accident page, 27 February 2025). The counting of the three working days is described differently across secondary sources. Quote the text, use SGK's examples, and do not resolve the question from a blog.
Article 14 of Law No. 6331 repeats the three-working-day notice for work accidents and sets the same period for occupational diseases reported to the employer by a health provider or the workplace physician, counted from the moment the employer learns of them (mevzuat.gov.tr, consolidated text of Law No. 6331, Article 14).
Watch outDo not count the three working days from a blog
The text says three working days after the accident at the latest. SGK's examples show how it reads a Monday and a Wednesday accident. Where the accident happened outside the employer's control, the period starts when the employer learns of it. Confirm your own case, and any consequence of a late notice, with an accountant or legal adviser.
How is the SGK work accident notice actually filed?
Either through SGK's e-sigorta application, or on the İş Kazası ve Meslek Hastalığı Bildirgesi form (form SGK-032) delivered directly or by registered post to the provincial social security directorate or the social security centre (SGK, work accident page, 27 February 2025).
The employer files, not the injured person. In practice that means the HR lead or whoever holds the e-sigorta authority for the hotel, which is why the name of a backup must be written down before a weekend. The notice describes the event: who was injured, when, where, and what happened. The internal report written in the first hour is what makes those fields accurate rather than reconstructed.
If the notice goes by registered post, keep the receipt. If it goes through the e-sigorta application, keep the reference. A notice that cannot be shown to have been sent is a notice that will be argued about. The form SGK-032 is downloadable from SGK's forms page, so the hotel can keep a copy offline for the night the system is unreachable.
Filing the notice is not an admission of fault. It is a report of an event, and the investigation into cause comes afterwards. If the injury turns out to be more serious than first thought, the file is updated through your adviser rather than left as first written.
TipOne folder per accident
Keep one folder per accident, physical or electronic, holding the internal report, the SGK notice reference or postal receipt, the 112 call time, the photographs, and the witness names. One folder means the general manager, the adviser and an inspector all read the same facts.
What goes in the internal accident report?
What happened, in order, with times, places, names and what was damaged. It does not answer who was at fault.
Article 14 of Law No. 6331 requires the employer to keep a record of all work accidents and occupational diseases, carry out the necessary examinations and prepare reports on them. The internal report is where that duty becomes a document. It is also where the first hour pays off.
Describe the scene as found: the wet floor, the missing warning sign, the lighting, the state of the ladder. Facts that will be gone by morning are the ones worth writing down. Record the injured person's own account in their words, marked as their account, and keep it apart from what witnesses said.
List the equipment involved and pull its maintenance and inspection record the same week, while the paper still exists. Keep the fault question out of the first page. A report that opens with a conclusion invites everyone else to defend themselves instead of describing what they saw.
The internal report does not replace the SGK notice, and the SGK notice does not replace the internal report. They answer different questions and are read by different people. For the wider format, see our guide to what a hotel incident report should record.
Key pointWhat the report answers
The report answers what, when, where, who saw it, what was damaged and what was done in the first hour. It does not answer whose fault it was; that belongs to the investigation and, if it comes to it, to others.
Contractor and intern accidents: who notifies?
The notice duty sits with the employer of the insured person, so the first question after any accident is who employs the person who was hurt.
For a contractor's employee injured in the hotel, the employer is normally the contractor, and the contractor files. The hotel's own record of the event, and its coordination with the contractor, still have to exist. Write the protocol before the contract starts: who calls whom within the hour, who files the notice, who keeps the folder, and who speaks to the family. A shared workplace with two silent parties is the worst outcome.
For an intern, the answer depends on the arrangement between the hotel, the school or program and the intern's status. Confirm it with an adviser at the start of the placement, not on the night of the injury. Where several employers work in the same building, two sets of records will exist. They must agree on times and facts, or the disagreement becomes the story.
Article 14 places the recording and examination duty on the employer. Whether the hotel carries a separate duty for another employer's worker injured on its premises is a question for your adviser. The safety expert's required involvement is worth settling with an adviser long before an accident; see our guide to safety expert and workplace doctor requirements for hotels.
What changes after the report? Root cause and the fix
The investigation asks why the surface was wet and unmarked, not who mopped last, and it ends with a named action, a date and a check on the next shift.
Article 14 also requires the employer to examine, and prepare reports on, events that caused no injury or death but damaged the workplace or work equipment, or had the potential to harm employees, the workplace or equipment. Near misses are the cheapest evidence a hotel will ever get. Run the investigation with the safety expert and the department head together: one knows the procedure, the other knows how the shift actually runs at 21:40.
Separate the immediate cause (the floor was wet) from the underlying one (the sign was stored in a locked cupboard on the third floor). Fixing the second is what prevents the repeat. Give every corrective action an owner and a date, and check it on the next shift rather than at the next audit. A sign that is back in the cupboard by Friday was never fixed.
Feed the finding into the department checklist and into the next round of staff training, so the lesson survives the people who were on shift that night. Keep the near-miss log where staff can add to it without asking permission. A log that only managers can write stays empty. Our occupational health and safety checklist by hotel department gives a place to start.
Before the next weekend shift
Write a one-page routine and pin it in the back office: who gives first aid, who calls 112, who calls law enforcement, who files the SGK notice and who is the backup, where the folder lives, and who calls the safety expert. Then walk the night manager through it once, out loud. The parts fit together in that order: help, secure, notify, record, investigate, fix. Confirm the dates, the counting of the three working days and the consequences of a late notice in your own case with an accountant or legal adviser.
Frequently asked questions
Is an accident on the way to work a work accident?
Article 13 of Law No. 5510 includes travel to and from the place of work only when it happens in a vehicle provided by the employer. That is narrower than "the commute". Whether a particular shuttle, service van or arranged taxi qualifies depends on who provides and controls the vehicle, so confirm the arrangement with an adviser rather than assume either way.
What happens if the SGK notice is sent late?
The law sets the duty and the period; it does not settle every consequence in a line a hotelier can read alone. The consequences depend on the file, and payments made because of untrue statements are recovered from the people who made them. Confirm the specific outcome in your case with an accountant or legal adviser.
Does a near miss have to be reported to SGK?
No. The SGK notice covers work accidents and occupational diseases. Law No. 6331 Article 14 separately requires the employer to examine and report on events that injured nobody but damaged the workplace or equipment, or had the potential to harm employees, the workplace or equipment. That record is internal, and it is the hotel's best prevention material.
Who files the notice when a contractor's employee is injured in the hotel?
The duty sits with the employer of the insured person, which is normally the contractor. The contractor files. The hotel keeps its own record of the event, and the two records should agree; confirm with your adviser what the hotel itself must record. The practical answer is a written protocol signed before the contract starts, naming who calls whom and who files.
Is a guest's accident in the hotel a work accident?
Not unless an employee was also injured. A guest incident follows a different path: care for the guest, the incident report, insurance and, where required, the authorities. Keep the two files separate from the first hour, because they are read by different people for different reasons.