After a legislative change, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) took over from 1 July 2021 a government programme for families in Poland called Dobry start (Good start) 300plus, aimed at parents of children attending school.

The project, “Care plan management for psychological illnesses following accidents” (Steuerung des Heilverfahrens bei psychischen Erkrankungen nach Unfällen), involves three components: the extension of case management to cover psychological disorders, the development of an e-learning seminar to train case workers, and the development and evaluation of a diagnostic algorithm. This comprehensive approach aims to bring about an overall improvement in the quality of care for patients who develop psychological disorders following a work accident.

The solution implemented by the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) in the form of digitisation of files is a key element in the era of universal access to documentation in electronic form. This ensures an efficient and comprehensive support for ZUS customers as well as priority task performance by employees. In view of the experience gained so far and based on the high results of digitisation, ZUS plans to extend the process further to other areas of activity.

Those who do not have a workplace registration at the Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu – SSI) and want to benefit from state aid, incentives or supports, will be able to get an “e-Government Application for Workplace Registration and Social Security Debt Status” document from the e-Government Application through the use of internal and external web services.

Spain’s General Treasury of Social Security (Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social – TGSS), part of the Federation of Administrative Bodies of Spanish Social Security (Federación de Entidades Gestoras de la Administración de la Seguridad Social Española – FEGASSE), has always identified itself by its commitment to innovation, using technology as a basis for expanding and strengthening its digital channels and new management models.

This methodological corpus for regulating health cover is a tool produced for use by social security institutions that are working to extend health insurance coverage in their country.

Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu – SSI) of Turkey makes monthly payments to 13 million pensioners through a centralized payment system. In this payment system, the bank account information that the pensioners request to receive the pension is obtained at the time of application. Some deductions are made legally from the pensions of pensioners. Examples of these deductions are enforcement of debt payments, alimony payment, healthcare co-payments for treatments and medications, tax and premium debt deductions, excessive or undue payment made for any reason.

German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund – DRV) is using the potential of digitalization and is simplifying procedures for customers. The development of a customer web portal for preventive health care enables the DRV to provide customers with easy access to the relevant services. This is a first step towards achieving our strategic goal of creating a digital, personalized customer portal for the DRV.

The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) of Ireland provides an income support payment to people who had to remove themselves from work due to restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19. The scheme was designed over a weekend and available within days to support a large portion of the Irish labour force. Within weeks some 600,000 people representing around 25 per cent of the workforce were in receipt of the payment.

The Working Family Payment (WFP) scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) of Ireland provides an income support payment to families in work. The scheme supports low-income families, some in part-time employment, to remain in work through the provision of supplementary income, based on family size (the number of dependants).

How can seasonal workers protect their safety and health at work, identify potential health or accident risks and be aware of the first aid measures that must be adopted should the need arise? Seasonal workers can find specific information on these issues, relevant to the needs arising at their place of work, using the new health and safety web app from the Social Insurance for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (Sozialversicherung für Landwirtschaft, Forsten und Gartenbau – SVLFG).

An “Electronic Employment Record Book” (EERB) is one of the main projects of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation (PFR) that has been successfully implemented for almost two years now. This is a new format for recording information on citizens’ employment.

An EERB provides to employees and companies constant and convenient access to information about professional activities and eliminates outdated forms of personnel records, and the additional costs for employers associated with this process.

Over the years, the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL) has expanded the protection of workers, guaranteeing economic and health benefits and social-health and supplementary services as forms of support aimed at recovery, psycho-physical rehabilitation and reintegration into social and working life.

The introduction of a digital document workflow – and with it the end of hard copy records – requires a major adjustment on the part of the workforce. In autumn 2020, the German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund – DRV Bund) decided to involve case workers actively in this change. Through a procedure known as “pulse checks”, colleagues were invited to report back on their experiences and to identify any fears, concerns or opportunities arising.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), a long-standing member of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), co-developed a Vision Zero training programme to teach the principles and benefits of Vision Zero as a preventative strategy and to empower learners with the tools they need to implement it. This newly created programme consisted of a Train the Trainer course, to assure the standards of trainer delivery, and a newly developed Vision Zero training course based on the principles of Vision Zero and the seven golden rules.

One-off assistance grant, between 27 and 17 euros (EUR) per place and per day, paid to nurseries which had to close during lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social – INSS) is an administrative body of Spanish social security which is responsible for processing certain financial benefits of the social security system, including retirement pensions.

In recent years, the body has lost significant numbers of staff while being unable to replace them to a sufficient degree. Therefore, automation of procedures is currently a priority in a bid to partially make up for these staff shortages.

The pace of development of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on social and economic life took everyone by surprise. Lockdown of entire sectors of the economy and restrictions in everyday functions caused serious disruptions of economic processes and had a significant impact on the condition of many enterprises and the labour market situation. To minimise the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy, the government introduced the aid programme known as the Anti-Crisis Shield (ACS).

Immediately after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent lockdown and the closure of nurseries in March 2020, the National Family Allowances Fund (Caisse nationale des allocations familiales – CNAF) decided to create an exceptional support benefit for the nursery sector, in the face of the sudden lack of attendance, and thus, of income. The objective was to ensure the sustainability of the settings and prevent the lasting closure of childcare capacity as a result of the fall in activity during the pandemic.

The labour market has been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis. In 2020, Belgium’s National Employment Office (Office national de l’emploi – ONEM) compensated some 2.3 million people, that is, one in every three workers. It also provided support to two in every three employers, some 70 per cent more than usual. Many workers found themselves temporarily unemployed for the first time and needing to make recourse to unemployment benefits.

In response to the major socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis and France’s lockdown of 17 March 2020, the General Assembly of the Council for the Social Protection of Self-Employed Workers (Conseil de la protection sociale des travailleurs indépendants – CPSTI) decided, on 2 April 2020, to put the financial reserves of the Compulsory Supplementary Old-Age Pension for the Self-Employed (Retraite complémentaire vieillesse obligatoire des indépendants – RCI) to unprecedented use in establishing its special RCI CPSTI COVID-19 aid.

In 2020 the coronavirus pandemic presented stakeholders in the field of safety and health at work with new challenges that required close coordination. In order to implement the SARS-CoV-2-occupational safety and health standard published on 16 April 2020, the official accident insurance institutions quickly backed up the general occupational safety and health measures with sectoral specifications. These specify the requirements for operational infection protection for each industry or activity within organizations and institutions in Germany.

In 2020, the State Social Protection Fund under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population of Azerbaijan, hereafter referred to the Fund, launched a centralization policy to increase the quality and flexibility of business processes in social security, facilitate access to services rendered to the population and ensure transparency, and increase citizen satisfaction.

The coronavirus crisis has opened the floodgates to a tsunami of requests for the services of Belgium’s National Employment Office (Office national de l’emploi – ONEM). Following the closure of the ONEM offices to the public in March 2020, the organization’s contact centre was quite literally bombarded with requests from employers and jobseekers.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the Food and Hospitality Trades Cooperative (Berufsgenossenschaft Nahrungsmittel und Gastgewerbe – BGN) has been working with the International Section of the ISSA on Machine and System Safety to develop a comprehensive prevention-, research- and communication-based approach to support its members in the hospitality, bakery, butchery and food industries to provide healthy and safe workplaces.

German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund – DRV Bund) is in the midst of a digital transformation. The challenge arising is to adapt to the changing needs and demands of both members and staff. This requires effective overall management of the associated digitalization measures. To this end, the DRV Bund has appointed a Chief Digital Officer, created a separate Unit for Digital Strategy and Digital Transformation, published its first digital strategy and established priorities for implementation.

In 2020, the Polish government introduced a new form of support for Polish families and the tourism industry due to the difficult economic situation caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. This was the Polish Tourist Voucher, a benefit of 500 złoty (PLN) for each child and an additional PLN 500 for a disabled child. The electronic voucher is intended to finance hotel services or tourist events in Poland.

Thanks to a concerted effort of the main actors in the Belgian health system, and with input from their partners, the Unit Audit Hospitals was able to answer important questions from responsible government actors about the impact of the subsequent waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the dispersion of patient load throughout the Belgian landscape, as well as the adherence to prioritisation guidelines, and the backlog caused by the additional care required for COVID-19 patients, were thoroughly analysed using integrated data coming from these different actors.

In October 2020, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) of Poland provided its customers with the possibility of “e-visit in ZUS”, a consultation with a ZUS expert through a video call.

e-visit is a safe and convenient form of contact with a ZUS employee. Without leaving home, customers can talk to an expert to help them with their case. During an e-visit, the customer can obtain general information on the legislation, submit applications and obtain personal data recorded in his or her individual ZUS account.

The condition for efficient performance of tasks, especially important from the point of view of a public trust institution like the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS), is constant development of knowledge and skills of each employee and continuous improvement of professional qualifications. Supporting the employee development process by the Employer is also a sine qua non condition.

The National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social – INSS) is an administrative body of Spanish social security which is responsible for managing and administering certain financial benefits of the social security system.

In recent years, the INSS has set itself the priority of increasing the automation of processes in all areas, and in this context, a project which involved sending automated information to companies on the benefits received by their employees in order to facilitate their HR actions came about.

During the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, in Italy as in other countries, the government has promoted work from home. The National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL) Technical Consultancy for risk assessment and prevention (CONTARP) wrote an information document on the risks workers could be exposed in different working scenarios (open air working, working on public transport or in closed public or private places) that provided recommendations and prevention measures.

Law No. 1493 of 8 July 2020 establishes the payment of family and prenatal benefits by the Principality of Monaco’s Social Security Fund for the Self-Employed (Caisse d’assurance maladie, accident et maternité des travailleurs indépendants – CAMTI). The benefits paid out are of equal value to those in the scheme for employed workers, the Social Services Compensation Fund (Caisse de compensation des services sociaux – CCSS).

With effect from 1 January 2020, the Czech legal order stipulated the obligation to issue sickness certificates in electronic form only. The arrangement became effective in 2019, so the implementation of the project was without any transition period.

France has set up a public service for the financial intermediation of maintenance allowances managed by the Agency for the Recovery of Unpaid Alimonies (Agence de recouvrement et d’intermédiation des pensions alimentaires – ARIPA), also referred to as the “Public Service for maintenance allowances” (Service public des pensions alimentaires), which includes Family benefits funds (Caisses d’allocations familiales – CAF) and Agricultural social mutual funds (Caisses de mutualité sociale agricole – MSA).

This action consisted, during the period of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in setting up, remotely, a communication strategy via digital technologies aimed at the IT specialists of the National Family Allowances Fund (Caisse nationale des allocations familiales – CNAF).

Belgium’s National Employment Office (Office national de l’emploi – ONEM) has been facing an unprecedented situation during the coronavirus crisis. On 16 March 2020, some 92 per cent of its workforce found themselves teleworking full time. As the ONEM continued to fulfil its social mission, maintaining the well-being of its staff became a priority.

For this reason, a number of initiatives were launched in March 2020:

In 2019, the National Occupational Union for Employment in Industry and Commerce (Union nationale interprofessionnelle pour l’emploi dans l’industrie et le commerce – Unédic) chose the path of socially responsible investment (SRI) in a bid to better guarantee funding for targeted projects and provisions, and to measure their social and environmental impacts.

In order to help the employees of the National Family Allowances Fund (Caisse nationale des allocations familiales – CNAF) cope with the various problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, measures were quickly put in place at the start of the health crisis and have been continually updated.

They were designed to assist employees in dealing with the various problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including lockdown. They included counselling, support in the form of webinars and upbeat articles, and surveys to regularly assess employees’ psychological state.

Malta has not been spared the health, economic and social effects and challenges posed by COVID-19 over most of 2020 and 2021.

The well-being of the population was understandably given top priority through restrictive and containment measures to control the spread of the virus. The programme was strongly supported by the population largely resulting in a relatively low number of infections and deaths.

Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Belgium’s federal crisis centre needed real-time information on its social and economic consequences for the population, particularly for vulnerable groups.

To this end, the Federal Public Service for Social Security (Service public fédéral Sécurité sociale – FPS), the FPS Employment, and the Public Planning Service (PPS) Social Integration, were requested to take an initiative to meet this monitoring need as soon as possible.

Responding to rapid changes in the socio-economic environment, the legal framework for social security is constantly changing. This raises the need for quick and high-quality amendments to the software that provides services to insurers and insured. Three types of knowledge are required to ensure the quality of software: Business and legal knowledge, information technology (IT) knowledge and practical experience in working with the information system. It is desirable that all these competencies in the right proportions are possessed by every employee involved in software modification.

In order to provide support and help to parents to occupy the days of their children during lockdown, the National Family Allowances Fund (Caisse nationale des allocations familiales – CNAF) created in April 2020 a new free online offer called “My leisure centre at home” (Mon accueil de loisirs à la maison).

Osseointegration for lower limb amputees represents an innovative approach that allows a direct bone-prosthesis connection, avoiding the use of traditional sockets. Thanks to its demonstrated improvement effects on patient prosthesis embodiment and quality of life, osseointegrated implants are a reliable alternative to the traditional solutions.

The “Birth Pathway: support for future and new parents” was introduced to help parents deal with the administrative procedures linked to a child’s arrival and health, and find out about family benefits and various types of assistance to which they may be entitled.

Families can use a single website (https://www.mesdroitssociaux.gouv.fr) to access information on their benefits as new parents that are provided by the various social protection bodies.

In early 2020 with the arrival of Covid pandemic and Ireland in lockdown, the DSP Dublin Regional Team had to consider how to innovate and develop new ways of providing services so as to ensure the Department remained relevant and could continue to deliver services for employers and jobseekers. This resulted in a rapid move to providing new digital services online.

The Family Benefit Funds (Caisses dallocations familiales – CAF) offer the possibility to carry out most of their procedures in digital format. Aware that the access to online administrative procedures is uneven depending on the audience, the CAF has implemented various actions to promote the digital inclusion of people.

The coronavirus crisis has had a major impact on Belgium’s National Employment Office (Office national de l’emploi – ONEM). On the one hand, the measures taken at a government level have triggered a high volume of work relating to unemployment benefits, among others. On the other, ONEM’s staff were forced, virtually overnight, to rethink how they work in order to be able to continue to fulfil the institution’s remit and provide insured people with the same quality of service.

When the SARS-CoV-2-occupational safety and health standard came into force in April 2020, it appeared that film productions in Germany would no longer be able to film without complying with rules on social distancing, hygiene measures and masks. Since the needs of the film industry differ significantly from other sectors in this area, an urgent need for action was recognized, for example, to avoid jeopardizing cost-intensive film projects and the associated jobs.

In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic broke out in Israel.

What began as a health crisis soon turned into an economic crisis, which led many workers to go on forced unpaid leave and went to the National Insurance Institute (NII) for assistance. There was a need to find creative solutions within the limits of the law and the data available to the NII, and to find workable and quick solutions that would allow the payment of unemployment benefits to unpaid workers.

Lower-limb amputee (LLA) patients are required to prove their ability to use the artificial limb through functional evaluations. The results guide the prosthesis-rehabilitation treatment. Patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) allow getting information on the patient’s ability based on the patient’s perspective. The approach may have a huge impact on decision-making processes because it may help clinicians to develop patient-specific treatments.

Organizations with a positive safety culture have internal communication based on mutual trust, shared perceptions on the importance of safety and trust in prevention measures. As a consequence, organizations with a high level of safety culture are able to significantly reduce the occurrence of accidents and occupational diseases.

The arrival of COVID-19 disrupted our lives and organizations. It also showed the full capabilities of the French social security system to adapt in order to continue its mission of public service, in particular to the most vulnerable.

In 2019, Arbetsförmedlingen, the Swedish Public Employment Service (PES), undertook a substantial change in the way the control of jobseekers is carried out. Until then, the employment officers on the local level were responsible for both the service delivery, and for controlling that jobseekers meet the conditions in the unemployment insurance regulations. With the implemented changes, the control is now carried out by specialized staff in a centralized unit.

Dynamic and inclusive social security systems rely on prompt and informed decision making, based on reliable current and historical data. The online open data platform developed by the Belgian National Employment Office − NEO (Office national de l’emploi – ONEM) was crucial in achieving this goal.

The platform resulted from a series of strategic decisions.

One of the main goals for the Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST), which started to function since 9 May 2019 was an effective management of day-to-day increasing information flow. One of the core tasks of the Agency was to implement effective IT solutions in order to register more than 2,000 citizen daily appeals, set up relevant databases, coordinate with e-databases of other institutions and provide data processing, analysis and reporting.

“No power in the world can destroy thirst for human dignity”, Nelson Mandela.

The Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST Agency) Model of Azerbaijan enabled the effective and rapid transition from the old management system. All processes were comprehensively reformed within the three years.

According to Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, “Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art”.

The Law on Social Services establishes that the Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST), hereafter referred to as the Agency, provides home-based social services to elderly people living alone without close relatives and legal representatives. Through home-based social services, social caretakers help elderlies with household routines, cleaning, grocery and medicine shopping, payments etc.

The aim of the e-assistant is to create equal access to state and municipal services for all social groups, enabling everyone to receive services electronically. An e-assistant is an employee of the Local Government Unified Customer Service Centre (Service Centre), to whom the client entrusts to apply for the Latvian State Social Insurance Agency (SSIA) service in his/her own name.

It helps those who do not have enough skills and do not have access to electronic identification and therefore cannot use e-services. 122 Service Centres have been established in 35 municipalities.

The Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) has made available to customers of its IT system – the ZUS Electronic Services Platform (Platforma Usług Elektronicznych − PUE) – the possibility to self-create electronic documents based on select data from their ZUS accounts. Confirmations that bear a qualified electronic seal of ZUS have the same force as ZUS paper certificates, and can be used in the processes of other institutions.

To help refugee families integrate and facilitate their access to services while breaking down cultural barriers, a series of videos, including testimonials, have been produced on pre-school childcare facilities, out-of-school facilities for schoolchildren, socio-cultural centres and parental support.

The self-governance system that operates at the German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund – DRV) gives insured persons, pensioners and employers a voice in how their contributions are used. Honorary representatives, elected in social security elections, get to decide on key social security policies. They adopt budgets and decide on rehabilitation services. They also decide on staffing issues, land purchases, modernization measures and IT procurement to increase the digitalization of pension insurance.

The refugee crisis triggered by the Syrian conflict has turned into being one of the top priority agenda items of international communities in the last years. Initially seen as a humanitarian emergency case, the mass migration of Syrians into neighbouring countries has brought new questions on their integration, development and burden-sharing.

The adverse health effects of occupational exposure to crystalline silica have long been known. Silicosis can be considered a generalised systemic disease that originates in the lung and often affects other systems and organs.

Choosing an appropriate legal and social security status when founding a company can be challenging for entrepreneurs who are immersed in their project.

Temporary incapacity for work allowance is the cash benefit paid due to work accidents, occupational diseases, sickness and maternity, and for the periods when the insured is not working under the conditions of Law No. 5510.

In addition, breastfeeding grant is paid as a one-off payment for each live birth to the insured or pensioner (uninsured wife of insured or of pensioner).

In Turkey, the Individual Pension Savings and Investment System Law No. 4632 stipulates that all employees under the age of 45 must be covered by the individual pension system at least once in their career. Prior to the automatization of the system, the amounts that were deducted from the salaries had to be manually transferred to the system and manually monitored every month.

To make handling international situations easier for employers, the Finnish Centre for Pensions (Eläketurvakeskus – FCP) has designed a service that allows employers to find out what contributions they must pay to Finland for an employee who comes to work in Finland or goes abroad to work. By answering certain questions employers get guidelines for their situation.

Social Navigator presents a new way of interaction with the social services recipients within the mobile application; a simple and convenient way for citizens to increase awareness about the activities of organizations and agencies providing services in the social sphere.

Workplace atmosphere is one of the key factors influencing our well-being, efficiency and quality of performed duties. It is much more pleasant to spend time in a place where there is mutual understanding, respect and trust, where we can count on help from co-workers and superiors, where we do not experience unhealthy rivalry, hostility or unequal treatment. In a friendly environment, we willingly take on new challenges, thus increasing efficiency and improving the quality of performed tasks.

The INST-CARE Project is mainly about supporting women employment by facilitating access to institutional childcare services. The objective is to support registered women employment with a cash transfer that partially covers institutional early childhood education and care (ECEC) costs (including basic fee, school service, food and stationery fee).

Supporting Registered Employment of Women through Promoting Educated Childcare Givers Operation (EDU-CARE) is about supporting certified caregivers and promoting registered employment of women. Financial support is provided to working mothers at risk of withdrawing from the labour market and who employ educated nannies. It is designed to promote the childcare giver profession and qualified women employment.

Human Resources (HR) departments are tasked with keeping up with business, being a partner that responds to needs, meets expectations and provides a sense of security through professional, efficient service and management.

The transformation of the Department for Employee Affairs (DEA) into the Human Resources Management Department (HRD), apart from its traditional HR and payroll functions, appointed HR Business Partners dedicated to a specific area and created the HR Controlling area together with the remuneration policy and the care of the employees’ professional development.

Integration of the materials for information and training on occupational prevention and safety, already owned by the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL), with specific products coming from the territory and companies of South Tyrol.

The Withdrawal Planner (Uttagsplaneraren) is a digital tool to help plan and withdraw one’s pensions. A typical user is aged 55 to 65, with an average of eight pension pots from five different sources. They can create and compare plans with different withdrawal periods and options, to decide about the future withdrawal of their entire pension, not just the state pension.

“Studiare il Lavoro” is a specific e-learning training project realized by the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL) for students between 15 and 18 years old. It has been designed and implemented using an innovative teaching method using animated graphics and advanced techniques of communication to keep the right level of attention.

AERMeS is a software toolkit created for professionals working in the field of occupational safety and health to equip them with a tool that guides them in selecting the most appropriate method for measuring the risks for the musculoskeletal apparatus and obtaining highly reliable assessments, also using observational assessment methods. In fact, by improving the quality of the assessments it is possible to identify the risk factors with greater accuracy and to identify the most appropriate measures to protect workers’ health.

In 2008, the French authorities created the legal status of “auto-entrepreneur” (small-scale sole trader) with a view to simplifying and promoting free enterprise within an ultra-streamlined fiscal and social security framework.

Based on their action plan, jobseekers must each month submit an activity report on measures they have taken to get a job, for example, if they have completed the mandatory activities and what jobs they have applied for. Most jobseekers comply with the stipulated demands, leaving no reason for the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen – OSS) to take any further action. Reviewing all these reports manually would therefore not be cost effective.

Support Incentives to Enterprises bids (Incentivi di Sostegno alle Imprese, ISI), annually published by the National Employment Accident Insurance Institute (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL), allow collecting large amounts of information on companies that access contributions for preventive purposes. Every year about 4,000 companies in the Italian territory start a bureaucratic path that allows them to get INAIL financial incentives.

The German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung – DRV) provides medical rehabilitation services based on the “rehabilitation before pension” principle. However, studies show that only every second recipient of a reduced earning capacity pension has made use of a rehabilitation benefit in advance.

The new rules for payment and settlement of contributions collected by the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) have come into force since 1 January 2018. Payers pay all contributions due for all types of insurance and to all funds by means of one payment, using a regular payment document.

Payments are marked with the payer’s Individual Number of Contribution Account (NRS) and then posted and settled to cover proportionally the contributions due, as indicated by:

The Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) strives to maintain the highest standards in public fund management and fund security. The challenge in this area is fraud which is among the types of risks affecting the ZUS. We analyse actions in this risk category which, through intentional concealment of truth, may result in obtaining a benefit or in avoiding the payment of contributions. These activities are often carried out in apparent compliance with the law but are in fact in contradiction of the law.

The introduction of the recent EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR), designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe and to remodel the way organizations manage data of European citizens, shows expected characteristics for personal data (Articles 5 and 32). However, it does not identify any rules regarding the data model and the metrics to adopt to ensure compliance with these characteristics (accuracy, current affairs, integrity, confidentiality, availability, resilience, etc.).

On the subject of insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases, Italian legislation (Law 144/1999; Legislative Decree 38/2000) provides suitable coverage for biological damage and impairments of psycho-physical integrity between 6 per cent to 15 per cent. A one-off lump sum indemnity is provided, independent of the salary of the injured person, increasing with the severity of impairment and variable according to age and gender of the injured person.

In 2010, the National Employment Accident Insurance Institute (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL) adopted a system of incentives for companies that invest in safety at work. Through the Support Incentives to Enterprises (Incentivi di Sostegno alle Imprese – ISI), companies that invest in projects to improve health and safety in the workplace are supported with non-repayable loans provided by INAIL on a regional basis.

Towards the end of 2018, the Auxiliary Unemployment Benefits Fund (Caisse auxiliaire de paiement des allocations de chômage – CAPAC) introduced a number of IT modules using deep learning aimed first at improving its quality control on unemployment file compilation activities and the payment of unemployment benefits; and second, at increasing the productivity of staff engaged in this work. The results are only recent but are excellent, with very low levels of investment and very short development cycles.

Actuaries from the British Institute and the Department of Actuaries developed a simulation model for the State Social Insurance Fund (SSIF) of Kazakhstan to enable the institution to assess the financial sustainability of the mandatory social insurance system and to analyse alternative financial paths using various programme parameters.

Despite specific legislation and efforts of institutions and trade unions to improve health and safety conditions, construction is still one of the sectors where the frequency of injuries is the highest.

The State Social Insurance Fund (SSIF) of Kazakhstan is modernizing its services along the implementing principle of “The citizenry should not apply for State services. It is the State that should initiate the provision of state services.”

The proactive services of the SSIF in providing social benefits are taking root step by step, depending on the integration of the information systems on the next types of social risks:

In order to continue to provide quality services in a changing and more demanding environment, the National Employment Office (Office national de l’emploi – ONEM), which manages unemployment insurance and career breaks, invests in innovation, change management and risk management. These three elements must be managed in a rigorous and integrated manner. It is therefore crucial to have the right people with the right skills in the right place. It is necessary to invest in the development of employee skills in order to make them agile and resilient so they can cope with change.

In September 2018, the State Social Insurance Agency (SSIA) in cooperation with the State Revenue Service (SRS) sent personalized letters to a group of people aged 18–42 using the SRS electronic declaration system (EDS). The letters contained information on each person's salary from which were made contributions in the previous year, as well as information on the length of social insurance and the retirement capital. The letters were followed with an information campaign. Based on its success, the SSIA plans to repeat the initiative.  

The National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social – INSS) is a social security management body responsible for managing and administering certain financial benefits in the Spanish social security system, including medical checks related to temporary incapacity (TI) benefit.

From 2012 to 2018 there was a considerable increase in all TI indicators (incidence, prevalence and average duration).

Around 5 million Austrians are insured with the General Institute for Insurance against Employment Accidents and Occupational Diseases (Allgemeine Unfallversicherungsanstalt – AUVA). According to the occupational disease (BK) list Section 177 of the Austrian General Social Security Act (ASVG) Annex 1, BK No. 19 – skin diseases (BK 19) – have been the second most commonly recognized occupational disease in Austria for decades.

The good practice Remediation of asbestos cement roofing (ACR) aims to provide a tool for the right management and disposal of ACR to those who operate in this sector.

The good practice Remediation of friable asbestos containing material (ACM-F) aims to provide a tool for the right management and disposal of ACM-F to those who operate in this sector.

The consultancy CONTARP (Consulenza Tecnica Accertamenti Rischi e Prevenzione) of the National National Employment Accident Insurance Institute (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL), the Regional Directorate for Campania in collaboration with the Department of Industrial Engineering of the Federico II University of Naples has set up a research group that developed and implemented a good practice in the field of Safety 4.0, called A&IOH (Augmented & Interactive Aid for Occupational Hazards).

The growth of domestic work in private homes, a sector responsible for the creation of many jobs, is a significant economic development that meets some of life’s most basic needs child care, elder care or more vulnerable group (particularly those in situations of dependency, disability or illness), helping people to grow old in their own homes, and even reconciling one’s family life and professional life.

Various contracts have been signed between the Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu – SSI) of Turkey and public/private institutions and organizations regarding the supply of external prosthesis-orthoses, hearing assistive medical equipment, vision assistive medical equipment and medical consumables, which are among the medical equipment used by our universal health insureds during their outpatient treatment.

The German Social Accident Insurance Institution for trade and distribution of goods (Berufsgenossenschaft Handel und Warenlogistik – BGHW), a member of the German Social Accident Insurance (Deutschen Gesetzlichen Unfallvericherung – DGUV), implemented a holistic strategy and quality management model that, with the two main components of strategy and quality management in the rehabilitation and services division (SQMS RuL), effectively supports BGHW employees in their duties.