Dr Francisco Santos O’Connor is senior specialist in occupational safety and health (OSH) at the International Labour Organization (ILO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In his role at the Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health Branch (LABADMIN/OSH), he provides high-level policy and technical expert advice on OSH to ILO member States and workers’ and employers’ organizations. He has held various positions in the ILO, including ILO medical adviser and chief of the ILO Medical Service from 2019 to 2023. During this time, he effectively managed the service and played a crucial role in ensuring business continuity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, advising ILO senior management and statutory bodies on the occupational health response. From 2017 to 2019, Dr Santos O’Connor served as a senior specialist in OSH at the ILO office in Bangkok. In this capacity, he successfully managed the ILO programme of work on OSH in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. His responsibilities involved supporting member States in developing their national OSH policies and programmes and representing the ILO in international policy debates and OSH fora. As an OSH specialist in Geneva from 2012, he provided technical advice on OSH to ILO constituents globally, contributing to the development of ILO strategy reports, publications, trainings, and promotional materials. Before joining the ILO in 2012, Dr Santos O’Connor worked as epidemiologist and expert in public health preparedness in the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden, where he was involved in the EU response to the influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic. Additionally, he served as a maritime occupational doctor at the Maritime Health Institute of the Spanish Ministry of Labour from 2004 to 2008, responsible for seafarers' occupational health in Pontevedra, Spain, but also on several occasions acting as head of the medical service on board a Spanish hospital ship in West Africa. Early in his career he worked and trained in hospitals in Spain and in the United Kingdom. Dr Santos O’Connor graduated as medical doctor in 1997 and pursued postgraduate training and qualifications in occupational health, medical microbiology, tropical medicine, and hygiene. He has contributed to many ILO, WHO, UN and European Union publications and tools, and authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and books. His expertise extends to organizing meetings and trainings for diverse audiences, including workers, employers, and government representatives, as well as serving as a senior lecturer in international conferences, workshops, and university courses.