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.

The institution assigns responsibility for conducting a prevention programme to a dedicated prevention department.

The institution conducts a thorough analysis of the national legal framework, including safety and health regulations, in order to identify its role in prevention and develop prevention activities in line with current legislation. If no legal mandate to carry out prevention services exists, the institution initiates a process to provide an adequate legal prevention framework. The same is valid for the recognition of occupational diseases.

Any social security institution planning to set up or improve prevention services, as recommended, should first undertake a thorough analysis of the existing legal and institutional national framework for prevention activities.

This part of the Guidelines is concerned with establishing the national and institutional frameworks for the prevention programme to be conducted by a social security institution.

The following guidelines are organized in two parts:

Part A, Basic Conditions for Prevention Programmes, deals with the structural issues that need to be addressed if social security institutions are to be able to support and facilitate the development of preventive approaches with and for enterprises.

Part B, Prevention Activities and Services, deals with specific prevention activities and services that can be offered.

Insurance covering occupational diseases is an important pillar of social security. This is particularly true in latency diseases such as cancers, which may occur many years after the occupational exposure.

Appropriate insurance cover for workers should therefore be independent of the existence or economic performance of the employer. It is important for employees that the handling of their work-related health problems is not dependent on litigation or the solvency of their employer.

In order to structure and prioritize their occupational safety and health activities, social security institutions establish a prevention framework focusing on four key areas of action: workplace safety and health, safe technology, individual prevention capacities and behaviour, and clear instructions/guidance. If all these are addressed systematically, continuous improvement in safety and health can be expected.