What are Poland’s plans for its presidency of the European Forum, and what are the main goals KRUS aims to achieve?

Poland is taking over the presidency of the European Forum for the first time, with a strong commitment to promoting the insurance against accident at work and occupational diseases and actively improving the situation of workers in Europe who have suffered an accident at work or occupational disease. This aligns with the European Union’s goal to guarantee and create conditions so that every EU worker enjoys minimum rights relating to, among other things, to health and safety at work.

To support this objective, the members of the European Forum meet annually to exchange experiences and discuss how the insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases, as well as the activities of EF member institutions, can adapt to the needs of today’s workforce.

In recent years, the field of occupational safety and health (OSH) has placed increasing emphasis on well‑being at work.

Well-being is defined as one of the three pillars of the Vision Zero strategy which aims to eliminate all work-related accidents and diseases.

Since well‑being at work is influenced by many factors and plays an important role in preventing occupational accidents and diseases, the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS) has chosen well‑being in the OSH field as the main theme for the European Forum Conference in 2026.

Because it is strongly related to health, the title of the European Forum Conference 2026 «Be Well: Keeping Up Physical and Mental Health» is themed around many aspects that impact well-being at work.

The aim of the conference is to present and discuss well-being at work in the context of accident insurance and occupational diseases from five different angles, such as:

• Aging Populations,
• Artificial Intelligence and Automation,
• Preventive Health and Managing Chronic Conditions,
• Mental Health and Well-being,
• Holistic Health Approaches.

More broadly, KRUS aims to put a particular focus on psychosocial risks that reduce well‑being at work and can even lead to suicides among workers. The issue of farmer suicides has been identified by social insurance institutions in several European countries—especially France—and successful prevention programmes have been introduced. ●