Workplace Health Management (WHM) There are four main elements in workplace management of health:
- Occupational Health and Safety
- Workplace Health Promotion
- Lifestyle and social factors affect health
- Environmental Health Management
Policy development in the past was usually driven by compliance with the law. With the modern approach to managing workplace health, the growth of policies is driven by legal requirements and health goals established on a non-binding basis by the workforce within every sector. To be effective, Workplace Health Management needs to be based on an understanding of experience, practice, and research in three areas that include occupational health, workplace health promotion, and environmental health. It is crucial to think of WHM as a system that works not just for continual improvement and improvement in health within the organization and its employees but also as a means to engage with various organizations in the Community. It provides a platform for cooperation between local officials and business leaders in community development by enhancing the quality of environmental and public health.
A Healthy Workplace setting – is an essential element of the Community Action Plan.
The Luxembourg Declaration of the European Union Network for Workplace Health Promotion defined WHP as the efforts of employees, employers, and society to improve the well-being and overall health of those working.
This is possible by using a combination of
- Improvement of the organizational structure and the work environment
- Active participation of employees in health-related activities
- Encouraging personal development
Workplace health promotion is described within the EU network Luxembourg Declaration as a modern corporate strategy aimed at preventing ill-health in the workplace and improving the workforce’s health-promoting potential and overall well-being. The benefits of workplace health programs include lower absenteeism rates and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, decreased health insurance claims, and staff turnover. Less musculoskeletal injuries, higher efficiency, greater effectiveness of the organization, and the potential for a return on investment.
But, most of these improvements require continuous participation of employers, employees, and the public in the efforts needed to effect change. This is achieved by an empowerment process for employees, allowing them to take control of their health. Occupational Health Advisors (OHA) are well-equipped to conduct needs assessments to promote health for the workers they serve and to, prioritize these efforts in conjunction with other occupational safety and health initiatives that are in progress and coordinate actions at the level of the enterprise to ensure that the industries that are being planned are implemented. In the past, occupational health services have been involved in evaluating the fitness for work and assessing the level of disability to determine the need for insurance for many years.
The idea of sustaining working capacity, even in a healthy population of the working world, was developed through a number of new occupational health services. In certain instances, these initiatives were developed to respond to the increasing challenges created by the aging workforce and the increasing costs that social security is causing. OHA’s have frequently been in leading these advancements.
It is necessary to expand the focus of occupational health and wellness services to include efforts to ensure that workers can work and prevent occupational-related workplace diseases that can be prevented by interventions at work. This will require certain occupational health professionals to become more active in promoting health in the workplace and health promotion, but without diminishing the importance given to preventing occupational injuries and illnesses. With their close interaction with their employees, OHAs often, for a long time, is in a solid position to design, implement and assess health promotion and maintain work-related health interventions at work.
The importance of health promotion in the workplace has become more critical in the past decade since both employees and employers have realized the advantages. Most workers spend half their day working, which is the ideal chance for employees to communicate and receive health-related messages and for employers to establish healthier workplaces. The extent of health promotion is determined by the individual group’s requirements.
The most popular health-promoting activities include reducing smoking, good eating or physical exercises, and preventing and reducing alcohol and drug addiction.
But, health promotion can also focus on other cultural, social, and environmental health indicators when employees within the organization believe these aspects are crucial to improving their well-being, health, and overall quality of life. In this instance, factors like improving the organization of work and motivation, decreasing stress and burnout, making flexible work hours available and personal development plans, and advancement in career may aid in improving the overall well-being and health of the employees.
Healthy Community setting Apart from occupational health and health promotion, Workplace Health Management has an important aspect. It’s the effect each business can have on its natural environment, and also, through the use of products or services offered to others, the impacts on the domain from which it is derived. Consider how the effects of the Chornobyl nuclear accident of 1986 impacted all of the neighboring countries.
The environmental health impact of companies is regulated by different legislation than those that govern Health and Safety at work. There is a strong connection between protecting the work surroundings, improving the work organization and the culture of work within the workplace, and the way it approaches managing environmental health.
Many top companies are already combining occupational health and security and environmental health management to maximize the use of employees within the business and avoid duplicate efforts. The occupational health nurse could be a valuable asset to environmental health management, specifically in companies that do not have environmental health experts.
Soon. Key steps in developing New Workplace Health Policies
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