The Effects of Daylight Saving Time (DST) Transition Cancelation on Work Accidents of Turkey

Abstract

Objectives. Turkey canceled the daylight saving time (DST) transition and started permanent clock application. Considering the effect of this new regulation on working hours, this study examines whether there is a relationship with the increase in the number of work accidents in shifts. Methods. Data on work accidents were obtained from the Republic of Turkey Social Security Institution (SSI), filed between 2011 and 2020. We estimate accident rates using Poisson regression and log-linear models as a function of a variety of date-based factors. Results. The results show that DST transition is effective (ineffective in terms of gender) on changes in the number of work accidents. With statistical analyses, the hourly distribution of work accidents was determined, indicating at which hour the most work accidents occurred, using the work accident frequency rate. The number of prevented work accidents was calculated as 286,793 for Turkey. Conclusion. The findings from these studies suggest that cancellation of the DST transition does not have a negative effect on the incidence of work accidents in Turkey; on the contrary, this practice also serves the purpose of preventing work accidents.