What is the AISS/ISSA?
The ISSA is an international association, not a United Nations agency or a regulatory body, whose members are government institutions and departments that administer social security systems: pension funds, health insurance, workers’ compensation and occupational disease insurance, employment services, and equivalent agencies. In Spanish, the acronym used is AISS, and in English, ISSA (International Social Security Association); both refer to the same entity.
Its origins date back to October 1927, when an international association of mutual societies and health insurance funds was established in Brussels, promoted by the International Labour Organization. Seventeen founding organizations then represented some twenty million insured individuals. In 1947, at its eighth General Assembly held in Geneva, the association adopted a new constitution that opened membership to social security schemes administered directly by the State, giving rise to the institutional structure it maintains today. Its headquarters are in Geneva.
It is important not to confuse it with other entities that also use the acronym ISSA in areas unrelated to social security, such as certain sectoral associations of technology or recreational services: they are not related to the association described here.
Purpose and scope of action
The ISSA defines its mission as promoting excellence in social security administration through professional guidelines, expert knowledge, services, and support for its member institutions. Its activities are organized around five key areas: a community of exchange among members, knowledge generation on social security systems, practical support services for administrations, promotion of innovation in management, and advocacy for comprehensive social security at a global level.
Its scope encompasses all the classic branches of social security: pensions, sickness, unemployment, family benefits, and, of particular importance to this encyclopedia, coverage for occupational contingencies, that is, workplace accidents and occupational diseases. Occupational risk prevention falls under the ISSA’s purview not as an independent technical discipline, but rather as part of the insurance institutions’ interest in reducing the claims they cover.
Functions and main lines of work
The ISSA carries out its activities through technical committees, thematic working groups, and a structure of specialized sections. Its main products and activities include:
- Technical guidelines. Reference documents prepared by its committees on different branches of social security, including occupational risk prevention, which include proven practices among member institutions.
- Center of Excellence. Program launched in 2013 aimed at supporting member institutions in improving their administrative performance through peer evaluation and technical assistance.
- Good practice awards. Periodic recognition of initiatives by member institutions in various areas of social security, including prevention.
- World Congress on Safety and Health at Work. Co-organized with the ILO every three years, it is the largest periodic event specific to the discipline at the international level.
The International Prevention Sections
The part of the ISSA’s activities of greatest direct interest to a prevention specialist is its International Prevention Sections, specialized structures organized by sector or cross-cutting theme, and integrated within the association’s Special Prevention Commission. Each section brings together specialists from member institutions working in that field to exchange experience, develop guidelines, and organize its own technical workshops and seminars.
The sections cover high-risk sectors and cross-cutting areas of prevention: mining, agriculture, chemical industry, construction, electricity, gas and water, health services, education and training, machine safety, information, research, small businesses, trade and transport, plus a section specifically dedicated to the culture of prevention.
The latter, the International Section for a Culture of Prevention, was created in June 2011 as the twelfth specialized section of the Prevention Commission and is based in Ulsan, South Korea, under the coordination of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA). Its framework is the Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work, adopted in 2008 during the XVIII ISSA World Congress, and it is precisely within this section that much of the material supporting the Vision Zero strategy has been developed.
For a prevention professional, the practical value of these sections lies in the fact that they produce reference documents and international comparisons on specific sectors, something rare in general forums: they do not replace national regulations, but offer a point of technical contrast developed by specialists from social security institutions in different countries.
Contribution to safety and health at work
The ISSA is not a regulatory body: it does not issue international conventions nor does it have the power to impose sanctions on companies or states. Its contribution to occupational safety and health (OSH) is indirect but significant, and it is important to clearly distinguish three elements that are often mentioned together but are distinct entities. The ISSA is the association that promotes and funds the strategy; Vision Zero is that prevention strategy, based on the premise that work-related accidents, injuries, and illnesses are preventable; and the 7 Golden Rules are the specific methodology, published by the ISSA as a practical guide, that translates that strategy into steps for implementation within companies.
Being made up of occupational accident and disease insurance institutions, the ISSA naturally connects the insurance aspect of social security with the preventive aspect of occupational safety and health: institutions equivalent to the Spanish mutual insurance companies participate in its committees and sections, providing data on accident rates and experience in the management of occupational contingencies that feed into the technical guidelines of the association.
The World Congress and other programs
The World Congress on Safety and Health at Work is the most high-profile public event co-organized by the ISSA and the International Labour Organization, held every three years. The 23rd edition took place in 2023 in Sydney, Australia, and the 24th is scheduled for 2027. These congresses present the latest guidelines from the International Prevention Sections, award prizes for good practice, and, at the 2023 edition, the association awarded the Vision Zero prize to organizations it considered outstanding in promoting safe and healthy working environments.
The Centre of Excellence, active since 2013, complements this activity with a technical assistance and peer evaluation program aimed at improving the administrative performance of member institutions, without this implying an external control or certification function.
Practical application
For a prevention technician, the most direct resource offered by the ISSA are the guidelines and publications of its International Prevention Sections, publicly available and organized by sector, as well as the material of the Vision Zero campaign and the 7 Golden Rules, useful as an internal awareness tool in the company, without replacing the national legal framework for occupational risk prevention.
For a social security institution or a mutual insurance company, the way to access the ISSA is through institutional affiliation: membership is for organizations and not for individual professionals, so direct participation in its committees and sections goes through the public entity or insurer on which each professional depends.
