Occupational Health - Workplace Health Management
Workplace Health Management (WHM) There are four key components of workplace health management:
Occupational Health and Safety
Workplace Health Promotion
Social and lifestyle
determinants of health
Environmental Health Management
In the past policy was
frequently driven solely by compliance with legislation. In the new approach to
workplace health management, policy development is driven by both legislative
requirements and by health targets set on a voluntary basis by the working
community within each industry. In order to be effective Workplace Health
Management needs to be based on knowledge, experience and practice accumulated
in three disciplines: occupational health, workplace health promotion and
environmental health https://gazette.com.ua.
It is important to see WHM as a process not only for continuous improvement and
health gain within the company, but also as framework for involvement between
various agencies in the community. It offers a platform for co-operation
between the local authorities and business leaders on community development
through the improvement of public and environmental health.
The Healthy Workplace setting -
a cornerstone of the Community Action Plan.
The Luxembourg Declaration of
the European Union Network for Workplace Health Promotion defined WHP as the
combined effort of employers, employees and society to improve the health and
well-being of people at work
This can be achieved through a
combination of:
Improving the work organization
and the working environment
Promoting active participation
of employees in health activities
Encouraging personal
development
Workplace health promotion is
seen in the EU network Luxembourg Declaration as a modern corporate strategy
which aims at preventing ill-health at work and enhancing health promoting
potential and well-being in the workforce https://publish.com.ua.
Documented benefits for workplace programs include decreased absenteeism,
reduced cardiovascular risk, reduced health care claims, decreased staff
turnover, decreased musculoskeletal injuries, increased productivity, increased
organizational effectiveness and the potential of a return on investment.
However, many of these
improvements require the sustained involvement of employees, employers and
society in the activities required to make a difference. This is achieved
through the empowerment of employees enabling them to make decisions about
their own health. Occupational Health Advisors (OHA) are well placed to carry
out needs assessment for health promotion initiatives with the working
populations they serve, to prioritize these initiatives alongside other
occupational health and safety initiatives which may be underway, and to
coordinate the activities at the enterprise level to ensure that initiatives
which are planned are delivered. In the past occupational health services have
been involved in the assessment of fitness to work and in assessing levels of
disability for insurance purposes for many years.
The concept of maintaining working
ability, in the otherwise healthy working population, has been developed by
some innovative occupational health services https://government.com.ua.
In some cases these efforts have been developed in response to the growing
challenge caused by the aging workforce and the ever-increasing cost of social
security. OHA's have often been at the forefront of these developments.
There is a need to develop
further the focus of all occupational health services to include efforts to
maintain work ability and to prevent non-occupational workplace preventable
conditions by interventions at the workplace. This will require some
occupational health services to become more pro-actively involved in workplace
health promotion, without reducing the attention paid to preventing
occupational accidents and diseases https://dailyday.com.ua.
OHA's, with their close contact with employees, sometimes over many years, are
in a good position to plan, deliver and evaluate health promotion and
maintenance of work ability interventions at the workplace.
Health promotion at work has
grown in importance over the last decade as employers and employees recognize
the respective benefits. Working people spend about half of their non-sleeping
day at work and this provides an ideal opportunity for employees to share and
receive various health messages and for employers to create healthy working
environments. The scope of health promotion depends upon the needs of each
group.
Some of the most common health
promotion activities are smoking reducing activities, healthy nutrition or
physical exercise programs, prevention and abatement of drug and alcohol abuse.
However, health promotion may
also be directed towards other social, cultural and environmental health
determinants https://ukrnova.com,
if the people within the company consider that these factors are important for
the improvement of their health, well-being and quality of life. In this case
factors such as improving work organization, motivation, reducing stress and
burnout, introducing flexible working hours, personal development plans and
career enhancement may also help to contribute to overall health and well-being
of the working community.
The Healthy Community setting
In addition to occupational health and workplace health promotion there is also
another important aspect to Workplace Health Management. It is related to the
impact that each company may have on the surrounding ambient environment, and
through pollutants or products or services provided to others, its impact on
distant environments. Remember how far the effects of the Chernobyl Nuclear
accident in 1986 affected whole neighbouring countries.
Although the environmental
health impact of companies is controlled by different legislation to that which
applies to Health and Safety at work, there is a strong relationship between
safeguarding the working environment https://homepage.com.ua,
improving work organization and working culture within the company, and its
approach to environmental health management.
Many leading companies already
combine occupational health and safety with environmental health management to
optimally use the available human resources within the company and to avoid
duplication of effort. Occupational health nurses can make a contribution
towards environmental health management, particularly in those companies that
do not employ environmental health specialists.
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