The ISSA Guidelines on Prevention of Occupational Risks addresses occupational risks that are insured by social security institutions. It provides guidance on how social security institutions can develop and promote prevention activities that cover occupational accidents and occupational diseases.
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 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 communicates the results of research and development to the general public and to the operational level of member enterprises to facilitate up-to-date prevention activities.
These guidelines focus on individuals who have lost or are in danger of losing their jobs as a result of economic factors, the evolution of technological processes, the relocation of production units or any other cause except illness or injury. The latter is covered in the ISSA Guidelines on Return to Work and Reintegration. These guidelines are also directed at young jobseekers who do not find work immediately after the completion of their studies.
Workers at risk of losing their jobs should be identified and provided with adequate support in order to avoid or reduce these risks.
The competent institutions encourage the reintegration of jobseekers through the correct use of both the incentive and disincentive provisions of unemployment benefit programmes.
Promotion and support of an effective return-to-work programme involves a broad range of individual and institutional stakeholders.
This usually includes but is not limited to the injured, ill or disabled person and their family, employer and employee representatives (social partners), colleagues, health-care professionals, community services, interfacing agencies, government departments, and other individually and jurisdictionally specific stakeholders.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. An individualized approach to the return to work addresses psychosocial issues related to factors such as motivation, working conditions and personal circumstances.
Those responsible for providing return-to-work services – whether within the institution or in partner and stakeholder organizations – have the requisite knowledge and skills to conform to internationally recognized levels of competence.
These guidelines assist social security institutions to:
The social security institution develops its workplace health promotion activities based on a legal and financial mandate.
The social security institution ensures that the workplace health promotion programme focuses on the health needs of the target population and national health priorities.
The institution recognizes the importance of health promotion campaigns in adding value to workplace health promotion practice.
The valuation of a social security scheme includes the reconciliation of the value of the sustainability measures, financial indicators and other relevant results between the previous and current valuations. As part of the risk management of the social security scheme, the social security institution examines the main drivers of the changes in results between successive valuations.
The social security institution ensures that the scheme liabilities are taken into account in the investment process.
The actuary should comply with national regulatory requirements, national and international actuarial standards, and national and, where applicable, international relevant professional guidance. Social security institutions should ensure that there is support for the actuary in this respect. Other professionals involved in actuarial work should also ensure compliance with relevant professional standards and guidance.
The social security institution decides whether internal or external expertise is to be used to carry out the actuarial work related to social security schemes. The social security institution seeks to develop the internal actuarial expertise to perform actuarial work for a social security scheme.
The institution establishes an efficient organizational structure adapted to the needs and circumstances of difficult-to-cover groups.
The institution embraces electronic payment and online services and builds its success as an agency that adopts smart and cost-effective ways of delivering benefits and services and collecting contributions, giving due consideration to technical limitations and the characteristics of the target groups.
The communication unit allocates and spends its budget to achieve its goals in the most effective and cost-efficient manner.
Communication is a strategic tool in change management. Information is provided on what the change is, why it is necessary, what will be the benefits, and how and when it will be implemented. Good communications allow for issues to be quickly identified and addressed while maintaining momentum and building acceptance for the change.
To carry out its mandate and mission on contribution collection and compliance, the institution establishes a strategic plan covering at least a medium-term period.
The institution implements systematic and standardized data exchange to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the contribution collection and compliance system.
This data exchange must be controlled in order to protect people’s privacy, and balanced by a right to access and modification under the surveillance of an independent authority.
The board is the group of persons who, under the legislation or by-laws establishing the entity, is given the responsibility to govern the social security programme and to exercise oversight on its administration. The entity could be a government ministry or department, a statutory body or a private entity.
The 21 guidelines for the board support and promote the following five principles of good governance, as applied to social security institutions:
1. Accountability
2. Transparency
