The institution conducts on-site visits among its member enterprises, with clearly defined objectives and including consulting services focused on specific sectors of economic activity.

There are manifold reasons for a social security institution to carry out personal consulting activities among its member enterprises. Regular site visits are commonly based on defined frequency rates, which often depend on the specific risk category of the enterprise. Other important causes include the investigation of occupational accidents or a work history of exposures leading to occupational diseases.

The institution defines a clear policy for handling cases of occupational disease. It ensures that a process is set up to assess the degree of disability caused by the occupational disease.

In general, the same rehabilitation principles and measures are valid for occupational disease cases and occupational accidents as described in the ISSA Guidelines on Return to Work and Rehabilitation (e.g. Guideline 8, Combining medical treatment and vocational rehabilitation).

The institution has a system in place that facilitates an efficient and timely recognition of occupational diseases. It ensures that a process is set up to assess the causality between a professional activity and a disease.

The figure below provides an example of a systematic approach to occupational diseases, starting from individual suspicion of an occupational disease and notification to the final decision on whether or not the diseases will be recognized by the social security institution. The decision on such recognition depends on causality between the disease and the workplace in order for the disease to be classified as occupational.

The institution operates a mobile examination unit for on-site medical screening which conducts high-quality, cost-efficient examinations and provides comprehensive documentation of results.

The institution maintains a database on occupational health risk exposure to arrange for medical screening and long-term follow-up, to collect exposure and diagnostic data and to verify insurance claims based on suspected occupational diseases.

The institution undertakes measures to identify cases of occupational health issues and to intervene as early as possible. In order to facilitate the process of notification of occupational diseases, the institution cooperates with the medical profession, the social partners and inspection services.

The institution supports the timely diagnosis of occupational health issues on the appearance of physical or psychological symptoms, which allows for early workplace interventions.

Such interventions could include changes to work processes, improved protective devices or the removal of workers from exposure, effective medical treatment and improving the safety behaviour of exposed employees.

The institution – if it covers occupational diseases – participates in the development of a national strategy on occupational diseases and the regular updating of the national list of occupational diseases.