The inauguration included the participation of the Superintendent of Social Security, Mr Claudio Reyes; the Head of the Political and Information Section of the European Union Delegation, Ms Ruth Bajada; the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Social Development, Mr Juan Eduardo Faúndez; and the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ms Ximena Rincón.

The seminar, which was attended by 300 persons, was developed through three panels. The first was on experiences in prevention and occupational inclusion of older and disabled workers in Chile, with the participation of Chilean experts and companies.

The second panel addressed international occupational health and safety strategies for these two groups and included the following speakers: the Director of the Basque Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (OSALAN); the Director of the Ibero-American Personal Autonomy and Technical Assistance Centre (CIAPAT) of the Ibero-American Social Security Organization (OISS); Ms Tiina Saarelma, an expert from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health; and Mr Eric Goret from the French Ministry of Labour. 

Lastly, there was a colloquium on past and future public policies through a discussion and exchange regarding diverse issues raised by the speakers, with the participation of the Director of the National Disability Service (SENADIS) and the Superintendent of Social Security.

This seminar is part of a project promoted by SUSESO with the support of European Union's EUROsociAL Programme. The objective of this project is to prepare recommendations to the Administrative Bodies of Law No. 16,744 in relation to technical assistance to be given to member companies to encourage safe and healthy working conditions for persons with disabilities and older adults. Likewise, work is being done to promote public policy proposals in the area of occupational health and safety in Chile in relation to these groups of workers.

To prepare these recommendations, the international seminar was organised with the aim of obtaining inputs drawn from the reality of Chile and from the significant experiences of Europe and Latin America on inclusion policies in the area of occupational health and safety for older adults and disabled persons.

Another result of EUROsociAL's support is that, thanks to this project, an inter-agency working group was formed with the participation of SUSESO, SENADIS, SENAMA, the Ministries of Social Security and Social Development, and representatives of civil society. This group met in September in order to prepare proposals on occupational integration of persons with disabilities and the elderly under safe and healthy conditions. The group was advised by the international experts who attended the seminar thanks to the support of EUROsociAL.

The resulting proposals were related to issues of awareness, training, advising, occupational risk assessment, and promotion of health, among others, and they will serve as the basis for SUSESO to issue recommendations to the Administrative Bodies through the corresponding bulletins.