Integrating Employee Health A Model Program for NASA (2005) / Chapter Skim
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2 Occupational and Preventative Health at NASA
2 Occupational and Preventative Health at NASA
Pages 34-52
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From page 34... ...
The chapter closes with a summary of committee member site visits to observe occupational health programs and activities at selected NASA centers. DEVELOPMENT OF PREVENTIVE HEALTH PROGRAMS NASA was one of the first federal agencies to recognize the importance of occupational and preventive health programs to the overall health and productivity of its employees.
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From page 35... ...
and topics such as flu vaccines, and it serves as a vehicle to facilitate employee participation in personal health care by offering health information, links to outside health sites, and notification to employees of health screening, physical exams, and other health programs offered by NASA (NASA, 2004)
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From page 36... ...
Every site offers some level of preventive health including fitness centers, stress management, diet/nutrition, and so on, as well as Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
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ORGANIZATION OF OCCUPATIONAL AND PREVENTIVE HEALTH PROGRAMS Occupational and preventive health programs at NASA are carried out by over 400 health professionals across the 14 centers (Probst, 2004)
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From page 38... ...
-- Industrial Hygiene (IH) -- Sanitation · Federal Workers' Compensation · Physical Fitness Occupational and Preventive Health Programs Occupational Medicine Figure 2-1 shows the organizational chart for Occupational Medicine at NASA Headquarters, and Table 2-2 depicts the office's developmental timeline.
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From page 39... ...
1977 Preventive health programs on nutrition education and counseling were developed and implemented. 19891999 NASA conducted a Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Program.
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From page 40... ...
NASA Occupational Medicine's policy is to minimize sick absences and reduced productivity resulting from partial physical disability, permanent disability, or premature death. NASA centers provide acute medical care for first-aid care and other services to maintain health, improve morale, control costs, and reduce lost time resulting from injuries and illness.
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From page 41... ...
Nutrition Services It is NASA Occupational Medicine policy to promote healthy behaviors by creating a work environment supportive of healthy choices, advanced by providing to the employees sound and safe nutrition services to assist with proper diet, meal planning, and weight and disease management. Physical Fitness Programs NASA provides employees with fitness facilities at all centers, staffed to offer counseling and individualized training and offering a variety of exercise classes and equipment.
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From page 42... ...
Occupational Health Website The Occupational Health Website, http://www.ohp.nasa.gov/, provides employees with information on occupational medicine and environmental health programs and provides a single point of access to all programs, and a large inventory of resources and tools. Environmental Health Programs Health Physics Licensed radiation protection programs are in place at every center where radiation hazards are present.
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The NASA Safety Training Center (NSTC) , near Johnson Space Center, Houston, offers course development and deployment through a catalog of safety and health courses which are updated annually and offered agency-wide.
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. Site Visits to Review Health Programs, Employee Attitudes and Awareness, and the NASA Work Environment A component of the charge to the study committee was to gather data to assess employees' awareness of and attitudes toward preventive health care programs and the support facilities offered in their worksite.
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From page 45... ...
These sites (Kennedy Space Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center, and Johnson Space Center) were visited by three to five committee members and project staff.
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From page 46... ...
Preventive Health Programs All NASA centers offer preventive health programs to employees; however, the range of options varies by site. The following observations describe the variability in range and depth of preventive health care across centers.
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From page 47... ...
Importantly, the response from upper-level management to stressful exposures did appear to frequently translate into reorganization or policy changes that then posed significant daily challenges to employees. In general, the committee observations of the NASA work environment, along with findings from the previously described reports, indicate that deficits in managerial training and the design of work/communication flow at NASA create acute stresses, which may affect both employee health and employee productivity.
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From page 48... ...
· For a variety of reasons, civil servants and contractors were not able to access all of the same health and wellness services (e.g., fitness center, health clinic, EAP) at all of the sites.
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From page 49... ...
Such stress remains important to longterm health and productivity despite the possibility that NASA does not have a unique or remarkably greater level of stress relative to other worksites. Employee Utilization and Awareness of Occupational Health Programs In general, the committee observed employee appreciation for the variety of programs offered.
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From page 50... ...
Employees were not generally aware of the rationale behind these changes and were not happy with the perceived reduction in services; and · Attitudes toward the fitness center and health units are very personality dependent and center specific. In general, there were high levels of employee awareness regarding the medical clinics and fitness centers.
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From page 51... ...
. Preventive Health at NASA: A Summary of Occupational Health Programs and Employee Utilization.
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From page 52... ...
1998. Stress at NASA: A Report to the NASA Occupational Health Program Summarizing Sources of Stress That Are of Major Concern to the NASA Work Force and Potential Steps That Can Be Taken to Address and Remedy These Problems.
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