Dear Colleagues, First of all, I would like to thank all of you for having placed your trust in me. In addition
to being newly elected as the President of the Electricity Section, I was elected Chair of
the ISSA Special Commission for Prevention on 6 May 2022. I now follow in the
footsteps of Martina Hesse-Spötter who effectively chaired the Commission for more
than five years. All of us watch the ongoing events in Ukraine and their toll in human suffering with great
sadness. The ISSA Special Commission on Prevention stands with the international
community in calling for peace. Our thoughts are with all those who are and have been
affected by this. To our great sorrow, global challenges have a crucial impact on the
whole world of work. Supply chains have been and will be further disrupted. The
massive impact on World Hunger Aid activities cannot even be estimated. In this
context, we would like to underline that as an international community, we provide an
open and neutral platform for global collaboration. Our goal is to offer a consensus-
driven framework where people of all nationalities and backgrounds can collaborate. In our third issue of the ISSA Special Commission for Prevention eNewsletter, COVID-
19 is still a major factor in employer decision-making. Interestingly, occupational
accidents have declined. No doubt this is due, in part, to the extra efforts we have all
made to keep the occupational safety and health community connected while the
pandemic has restricted our in-person meetings and travel. We have additionally
learned much about communication during challenging times. And, despite the
pandemic, we have continued to contribute value through the exchange and building of
knowledge and experience. Consequently, we have delivered excellent support to social
security institutions. Of great importance is this year’s ISSA Good Practice Award. The honour recognizes the good practices of the ISSA member organizations’ social security administration.
The award competition provides a unique opportunity for institutions to present their
administrative initiatives and innovative solutions to a global audience. I am very proud
to announce that the BG ETEM for whom I work was given this award at the
Regional Social Security Forum for Europe on 2 and 3 May 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia.
The award recognizes BG ETEM’s leadership in developing pandemic best practices for
the German film industry. Following establishment of the SARS-COV-2 occupational health and safety standard in
April 2020, film productions in Germany were required to comply with strict hygiene
rules while shooting. These standards created issues for the unique production
environment of the film industry and stood to jeopardize costly film projects and their
associated jobs. The challenge was to develop coherent and effective safety and health
practices for film sets. Of particular concern was determining how to safely shoot tight
shots where actors and film crew are in close proximity. The goal was to enable the
functioning of this important industry despite the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that
all precautions were taken to eliminate the chance of infections. Ultimately, the aim was
to achieve a high level of acceptance, implementation and effectiveness of the action
guide. BG ETEM decided to develop practical guidelines that would reduce infection risk to an
acceptable level and, at the same time, take account of the general incidence of
infection. The result was the industry-specific guidance document "SARS-CoV-2
Occupational Health and Safety Standard - Recommendations for Film Productions."
Since its first publication, this important publication has been continuously reviewed and
adapted as conditions change. Industry feedback and reported infection incidences on
film productions show that the action aid is very successful in nationally containing the
incidence of infection. My special thanks to the experts of our prevention department who developed the
guidance. The award was a great honour, and I hope that together we will be able to
continue on our path towards Vision Zero, a world of work without any accidents or
occupational diseases.
Yours, Jens |
