Prevention section

International Section of the ISSA for Research on Prevention

Prevention section

International Section of the ISSA for Research on Prevention

The aim of the International Section of the ISSA for Research on Prevention is to develop a propitious environment for exchanges between prevention practitioners and researchers working in the field of occupational risks prevention.

Improving the transfer of knowledge: "from research to practice and from practice to research"

It is a truism to say that what applies to other scientific areas also applies to the prevention of occupational risks: research thrives on contacts with and between specialists working in the same field, and benefits from the complementary nature of different scientific approaches.

Moreover, contacts with prevention practitioners play a significant role by enabling novel research areas to be identified and the practicability of research results to be identified.

Interface between the dynamics of research laboratories and the expectations of prevention practitioners

The Section for Research on Prevention strives to provide a forum for the various players implicated in health and safety at work:

  • researchers;
  • prevention practitioners;
  • decision-makers in the field of health and safety at work.

Founded in 1970 by the Permanent Committee for the Prevention of Occupational Risks of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), the Section for Research on Prevention is one of the eleven international sections on prevention of occupational risks.

For more information please consult the standing orders of the Section for Research on Prevention of Occupational Risks.

Objectives

The aim of the Section for Research on Prevention is to develop a propitious environment for exchanges between prevention practitioners and researchers working in the field of occupational risks prevention.

The Section aims at:

  • promoting the international cooperation and exchanges between researchers in the field of occupational risk prevention and improvement of working conditions;
  • ensuring a better transfer of knowledge resulting from research towards prevention practitioners and decision-makers in occupational health and safety;
  • validating the practicability of research results; enabling novel research areas resulting from the practitioners' concerns to emerge.

Work Programme

To achieve its aims, the Section for Research on Prevention organizes conferences and seminars in connection with general or methodological themes, sets up working groups, runs a database and publishes the proceedings of symposia proceedings and reports.

Conferences and seminars

With a view to promoting international exchange of information, the Section organizes conferences and seminars on methodological or general themes which provide specialists in a particular field and/or practitioners with an opportunity to meet and exchange information and views. Papers presented at these conferences and seminars are regularly published after each meeting.

Working groups

The Working Groups deepen the themes arrested within the framework of the general orientations. The outcome of their activities is meant to provide the research community and/or the practical user with ready-to-use information on burning topics.

Structure

The Section is organized around a Bureau and Working Groups.

Members of the Bureau

The Bureau administers the Section, provides links with ISSA in Geneva, sets the general orientations of the activities of the Section. It comprises one Chairperson , three Vice-Chairpersons, one Secretary General, as well as the Secretary General of the ISSA in Geneva.

President

Dietmar Reinert
Institutsdirektor
Institut für Arbeitsschutz IFA
of the German Social Accident Insurance DGUV
Germany

Vice-Presidents

Tommi Alanko
Director of Occupational Safety Unit
Finnisch Institue of Occupational Health (FIOH)
Finland

Louis Laurent
Senior Researcher
National Research and Safety Institute (Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité – INRS)
France

Members

Georg Effenberger
Leiter der Abteilung Prävention
General Institute for Insurance against Employment Accidents and Occupational Diseases (Allgemeine Unfallversicherungsanstalt – AUVA)
Austria

Abdeljalil El Kholti
Professeur de l'enseignement supérieur
Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie de Casablanca
Morocco

Diana Gagliardi
Senior Researcher
National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (Istituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL)
Italy

Peter Smith
President & Senior Scientist
Institute for Work and Health
Canada

Secretary General

Marc Wittlich
Abteilungsleiter Unfallprävention: Digitalisierung - Technologien
Institut für Arbeitsschutz IFA
of the German Social Accident Insurance DGUV
Germany

Working Groups

With the intention to pursue the study of the subjects of particular importance for the field of OHS research, the Section for Research on Prevention has set up and runs a certain number of working groups. These groups are made up of experts appointed by the Bureau and gather and discuss a maximum of up-to-date information using a great variety of methods:

  • literature research,
  • questionnaires
  • interviews
  • expert workshops
  • conferences, etc.

The outcome of their activities is meant to provide the research community and/or the practical user with ready-to-use information on burning topics.