Economic incentives in occupational safety and health refer to ways of rewarding enterprises for high levels of safety and health at work. While the government can reward an enterprise for improving its occupational safety and health performance by lowering its tax rates, social security institutions can use various means, including economic incentives, to reflect the safety and health performance of the enterprises they cover.
This part of the Guidelines describes prevention programmes which can be conducted by social security institutions, provided that the legal and institutional frameworks are in place.
The institution identifies the target groups to whom the prevention services are offered and their specific needs in prevention.
This enables the institution to produce well-focused prevention products for its target groups.
The institution has an adequate and reliable reporting system for occupational accidents and suspected cases of occupational disease.
This is an indispensable tool for data collection and data analysis. It enables the institution to conduct targeted prevention activities based on identified occupational risks and contributes to the evaluation of prevention activities by comparing longitudinal data from interventions.
To support its targeted prevention programme, the institution has a functional infrastructure and financial resources for consumables.
Relevant consumables include office equipment, transport for field staff, laboratory equipment and other, related expenses.
The institution has an appropriate human resources policy to support its prevention programme.
A sound human resources policy will define the technical, legal and social competences required to conduct a successful prevention programme, address the need for qualification of existing staff (through training), identify knowledge gaps within the institution that may be compensated for through recruitment of external experts, and allocate adequate staff to the prevention department.
The institution provides a sustainable financial basis for setting up a successful and effective prevention programme. The board and management take the necessary decisions to provide the required financial resources.
The board defines a prevention strategy to provide both internal and external guidance.
The social security institution must have the necessary internal structures and resources to conduct prevention programmes. This includes appropriate staff qualifications and competences, clear understanding of important prevention principles, sufficient financial resources to ensure the necessary human resources, the necessary infrastructure to deliver prevention services, a reliable database and the means to identify all possible target groups.
In establishing a framework for prevention, the institution ensures the full participation of social partners and competent state authorities from the outset.
Positive communication at this level is essential in order to gain acceptance and support. These stakeholders must be kept informed and involved from the very beginning and throughout the process.
