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Implementing an Integrated Workplace Safety & Health Program
Establishing internal contact between your company’s safety and health departments and your wellness program can help sustain gains in workplace health and occupational safety. Start by finding out the preferences, needs, and attitudes of your employees. Interviews or informal surveys are an excellent way to gauge employees’ buy-in and chances of success. After determining employee needs, develop an action plan that establishes realistic timelines and targets as well as ongoing ways to maintain interest in the safety and wellness.
OSHA offers employers a number of resources and tools for building safety and wellness programs. Some of the initiatives they suggest putting in place include:
• Biometric screenings
• Health risk assessments
• Focus on workplace safety
• Seminars on healthy lifestyles
To encourage employees to sustain positive changes in their behavior, companies can also offer skill building exercises and use communication tools such as e-mails, messages on bulletin boards, or even demonstration days.
There is no denying that safety and wellness programs demonstrate positive results for the companies that implement them, with research showing that occupational safety and wellness initiatives can reduce group health, turnover, disability, and workers’ compensation expenses.
