The health work wellness is a cross-government initiative set up in Britain in 2005 to improve the health and wellbeing of working age people.
Recently the head of the strategy told the prime minister "We want to return and retain people in work, and improve the health and well-being of the working age population.” To see the full article click here
People are now realising the important role employers can play in nurturing health and wellbeing at the workplace. One of the key aims in the 'Health Work Wellbeing' strategy is helping people avoid work related health problems. They recognise the importance of physical, mental and emotional health at work and the possible problems that can affect all three aspects. Their belief is that by creating proper support networks you can improve employment levels, attendance levels and the economy! This I feel is a great step in the recognition of the theory ‘prevention is better than cure’.
However I fear that in Ireland the emphasis on health and safety is too much on the physical side only. While this of course is extremely important, we tend to forget the importance of the 'wellbeing' aspect. What of our mental and emotional health?
The European strategy is the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. They launch campaigns every year to raise awareness about different Health and Safety issues at the workplace. Their current campaign is risk assessment in the work place. Click Here for more information.
The Irish Health & Safety Authority has just released their Program Of Work 2011. In it they state their aims, goals and priorities in the upcoming year. One of their priorities is "Implement a national inspection programme of 14,500 inspections to assess the management of health & safety at individual places of work. The increased emphasis on occupational health issues & chemical use will continue."
This is a positive step in recognising the need for education in the workplace. It is essential that workers are made aware of the possible occupational risks that are involved at work. This can include proper manual handling, proper use of chemicals etc. However we often forget that things like RSI (reptitive strain injury) also fall under the bracket of 'occupational risks'. If you have someone in your workplace on a permanent or regular basis to educate, treat and advise staff on maintaining occupational health you could reduce the amount of absences due to work related injuries.
