The world of work is changing and this is impacting on the nature of occupational diseases. Globally, “old” and “new” occupational diseases are increasingly challenging the operations of employment accident and occupational disease insurance systems.

The annual number of non-fatal work-related diseases has been estimated to be 160 million and 58 million of these cases cause at least four days absence from work. This has a significant impact on social security. So how do social security schemes cope with this phenomenon? Are they well equipped and prepared to confront the many problems they face? This session will focus on the main results of the cycle of seminars held throughout the triennium on the challenges of occupational diseases in three different regions. By doing so, it will draw attention to the pertinent questions and issues which resulted from the exchanges and debates during the seminars. This will concern, in particular, issues regarding the notification, registration and monitoring of occupational diseases. Moreover, the session will look into challenges related to the recognition of, and how to provide compensation for, the so-called “new” diseases.