Promising and Best Practices in Total Worker Health Workshop Summary (2014) / Chapter Skim
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4 Total Worker Health in Large Businesses
4 Total Worker Health in Large Businesses
Pages 27-36
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From page 27... ...
Companies that do not operate under a mission supporting employee health may not be ready for an integrated health and wellness program. Generic wellness programs are unlikely to properly fit the culture and mission of a particular employer or the characteristics and challenges of a particular set of employees.
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From page 28... ...
Baptist Health is the largest private employer in South Florida, with some 15,000 employees, $2.3 billion in total oper ating revenue, and annual health insurance costs of more than $100 million. Its corporation-wide wellness program, Wellness Advantage, was formed in 2000.
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From page 29... ...
Various community agencies, including local health departments and clinics, can play a major role in promoting worker health and wellbeing (Baron et al., 2014) , a strategy Welch suggested NIOSH might support.
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From page 30... ...
In the future, or in some situations, occupational health services may not be necessarily employer based; they may be community based. A FOCUS ON SAFETY While a full-blown integrated worker safety, health protection, and health promotion initiative may take up to 20 years to develop, test, and refine -- and indeed, it will likely never stop evolving -- the fundamental task is ensuring worker safety.
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From page 31... ...
The resultant multifactorial assessment of repeat injuries now assesses both individual health factors and systemic workplace factors that may have an influence and offer previously unrecognized opportunities for injury prevention. At Baptist Health, a principal source of employee injuries has been patient transfers, with safe patient handling a prime example of the intersection of employee safety, health promotion, and quality of care, Rouseff said (see Box 4-1)
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From page 32... ...
Once they arrive in the confined work area, they must bend, lift, and twist, and remain in various awkward positions for extended periods. This particular work environment makes "ergonomic perfection" impossible, Scibelli said, but steps were needed in order to minimize the job's inherent risks and workers' frequent musculoskeletal strain and sprain injuries.
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From page 33... ...
Other new initiatives include efforts to create "active offices" that help employees avoid sitting all day (e.g., standing desks, standing offic 3 Scibelli defined microbreaks as 3- to 5-second smooth, controlled movements in the opposite direction of the work, supported by breathing, that help workers focus on reducing task-related muscle tension and fatigue.
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From page 34... ...
Baptist Health's Wellness Advantage program has incorporated various existing employee health initiatives, such as the nine free employee clinics that care for minor illnesses and injuries, and stimulated environmental changes, including transition to healthier cafeteria menus, in partnership with the organization's food service providers. Other components of the initiative are directed at individuals, such as employee fitness centers and several weight management, smoking cessation, and risk factor reduction programs, Rouseff said.
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From page 35... ...
Dow Chemical's leadership development efforts include a module giving every corporate leader an understanding of employee health and the importance of life balance for themselves and for workers. There, too, leadership support is deemed essential to creating the alignment across corporate programs and priorities that will lead to more effective strategies to improve employee health and performance, Carson said.
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From page 36... ...
Commonly, they work as cashiers, food service workers, personal and home care aides, housekeepers, farm workers, and child care workers. In construction, as well as other industries, a common practice is to hire independent contractors or have some third party between the lead company and the worker, Welch said.
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