Worksite health promotion

Opatz, J.P. (ed.) (1994). Economic Impact of Worksite Health Promotion. Illinois Human Kinetics Publishers, Illinois. 

The intersection of the employer-employee relationship is the key point at which meaningful ehanges to our healthcare system can occur. Employers have an excellent opportunity to circumvent costly after-the-fact healthcare by instituting worksite health promotion and wellness programs that improve and sustain employees health. 

CEOs on the business case for worksite health promotion. Washington, DC 2005. 

To meet their goal of lowering health care costs, worksite health promotion programs must be well implemented and have strong management support, reports the December Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). 

The relationship between these factors and the reduction in health care costs achieved by the worksite health promotion program was assessed. 

Periodic Medical Examinations and Medical Surveillance Worksite Health Promotion Programs... 

This service involves social marketing and targeted media public communication the provision of accessible health information resources at the community level active collaboration with personal health care providers to reinforce health promotion messages and programs and joint health education programs with schools, churches, and worksites. 

In June 2011, NIOSH introduced Total Worker Health M (see http //www.cdc.gov/niosh/twh/). According to NIOSH, Total Worker Health M is a comprehensive organizational strategy that integrates traditional occupational safety and health protection efforts with health promotion and other workplace activities to prevent illness and injury, regardless of cause, so that all workers have opportunities to achieve optimal levels of health and well-being. Will NIOSH s strategic shift impact your worksite Stay tuned for updates. 

Rather than present here a rationale which justifies the inclusion of workplace health promotion in all worksites, it is more appropriate and useful to develop your own personal rationale and philosophy based on your own reading, experiences and associated attitudes and beliefs. This statement is also more relevant if you can relate it to a specific worksite in which you are working (either past, present or fumre). 

If either element is missing, health care costs may actually increase, according to an in-depth evaluation of health promotion programs and practices at PPG Industries. Researchers analyzed survey data from 37 PPG worksites, including specific evaluations of program implementation and management support. 

At worksites with higher scores for either implementation or management support — but not both — health care costs actually went up after the health promotion program was introduced. Average inaeases were about 950 and 1,400 per employee per year, respectively. 

Modes of indirect communication may involve safety and health suggestion boxes and electronic mail systems. Unrestricted and functional communication systems can therefore significantly contribnte to the promotion of greater anployee input, feedback, and education about worksite mechanisms, policies and procedures, and employee safety and health protection by incorporating a flow of information aimed at correcting hazards and identifying the concerns of everyone. 

All employees should be empowered to and are responsible for maintaining and promoting safety and health within their worksites. However, different, more specific, responsibilities can exist for different roles that individuals may have within an employee safety and health program. Specific responsibilities for safety professionals, managers/supervisors, employees, and employee representatives include ... 

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