Historically, safety coordinators have focused on protecting workers from tangible dangers such as machinery and hazardous substances. But the understanding of what constitutes an occupational health and safety hazard has changed. Safety coordinators—along with their HR counterparts—are now expected to also protect workers from the dangers posed by non-traditional hazards, such as obesity, smoking, stress and diabetes. This modern approach does make some sense. After all, studies show that workers’ overall health and wellness directly affect their safety on the job.
So-called “wellness” programs are designed to help workers improve their overall health. Such programs are hardly new. What is new is the involvement of safety coordinators in the development and operation of these programs. But if selling senior management on traditional safety programs is difficult, winning their support for wellness programs may be even harder—particularly in these troubled economic times. Luckily, a recent study from Nova Scotia can help you make a stronger business case for wellness programs.
We’ll explain why safety coordinators should care about their workers’ wellness. We’ll also tell you about the Nova Scotia study and how you can use it to persuade senior management to invest in a wellness program for your company.
Why You Should Care about Workers’ “Wellness”
Wellness programs typically include onsite fitness classes, health fairs, lunch-and-learn sessions with health and fitness professionals and discount gym memberships. The HR department has traditionally taken the lead in initiating these programs. After all, the HR director has a vested interest in keeping workers healthy to reduce the company’s health insurance and related costs. Until recently, safety coordinators’ involvement in wellness initiatives has been minimal to nonexistent. But failing to get involved in your company’s wellness program—or failing to advocate such a program if your company doesn’t have one—may be short-sighted.
It’s no longer acceptable to separate the safety of workers in the workplace from their overall health and wellness. By having such a narrow focus, you’re ignoring the fact that workers’ behaviour outside the workplace affects their likelihood of becoming ill or injured in the workplace. So if your only concern is what workers do when they’re at work, you’re not doing enough to make your OHS program successful.
Obesity is a perfect example of how wellness directly affects safety performance. A 2007 study found that overweight and obese workers have a significantly higher risk of traumatic injuries from single workplace incidents. The researchers calculated the body mass index (BMI) of over 7,000 workers at a large, multi-site aluminum manufacturing company in the U.S. They then collected information on all traumatic injuries that happened during a two-year period, including sprains, strains, burns, cuts and fractures. (There were no workplace fatalities during this period.)
Of the 2,221 workers who had suffered traumatic injuries during the period studied, only 28% had BMIs in the normal range. The remaining 72% had BMIs in either the overweight or obese ranges. The implication: Such workers are at greater risk of traumatic workplace injury than workers with BMIs in the normal range. And the odds of injury for overweight and obese workers increased substantially when the researchers considered only sprain and strain injuries, especially back, shoulder and knee injuries. By establishing a link between obesity and injury rates, this study suggests that offering programs to help workers lose and control their weight can reduce injuries at your workplace, thus reducing the related costs.
The Nova Scotia Study
There have been studies done in the U.S. and elsewhere making the business case for wellness programs. But until recently, there was limited data on the business impact of Canadian wellness programs. That’s why Creative Wellness Solutions Inc. (CWS), a leading provider of workplace wellness products and services, and other researchers in Nova Scotia decided to do a study on the business case for a Canadian wellness program, explains Dr. Lydia Makrides, the principle researcher and CWS President. They assessed about 430 workers in the Nova Scotia Department of Justice over a four-year period. The participating workers were employed in various offices within the Department in a wide range of jobs, from lawyer to prison guard. The researchers gathered information in three areas:
Personal health. To determine the workers’ personal health, each worker had a health risk assessment, including completion of a lifestyle questionnaire and collection of clinical data, such as blood sugar and cholesterol levels, height, weight, BMI and blood pressure, says Makrides.
Musculoskeletal health. To determine the extent of musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs)—the top reason for absenteeism in Canada, notes Makrides—workers were asked whether they’d experienced MSIs, such as soft-tissue injuries or lower back pain, or experienced pain that interfered with or caused them to stop working in the prior 12 months.
Organizational health. To determine the Department’s “organizational health,” the workers were asked to rate on a scale of one to five how strongly they agreed or disagreed with various statements, such as whether they liked their jobs, felt respected by their supervisors and so on, explains Makrides.
Based on the gathered information, the researchers determined the kinds of “interventions” or wellness programs to implement in the various Department workplaces, says Makrides. They decided to focus on healthy weight loss, fitness, stress reduction, smoking cessation and reducing coronary risk. The idea was to empower workers to take control of their own health and fitness, she explains. Workers got confidential reports assessing their health and lifestyle. She says they also each got a personalized letter designed to educate them on the issues most critical to them individually as well as health goals to reach. A nurse and other health professionals were available to coach workers and help them reach these goals and field any questions.
In addition, the researchers set up wellness challenges with easy-to-reach goals for workers. While trying to reach these goals, workers competed for incentives, such as movie passes, fruit baskets, healthy cookbooks and other health-related gifts. For example, one challenge was to “take off 10 in 10”—that is, lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks, a very “do-able” goal, says Makrides. Workers were taught to balance good eating with exercise and to eat smaller portions, she explains. In addition to these activities, educational information was posted throughout the workplaces, such as on the doors of bathroom stalls, in “Wellness Corners” and cafeterias, and by the fax machine and water cooler, adds Makrides. Handouts and other material were also available to encourage workers to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
A “train the trainer” program was also initiated to reduce MSIs. The idea was to train people in each workplace on ergonomics issues, such as how to identify ergonomics hazards, adjust desk chairs to the proper height and encourage workers to take “micro-breaks” to reduce stress and repetitive strain injuries.
Lastly, the researchers held summits for senior managers and workers to get them to work together to address health issues by making organizational changes to the workplace. The goal was to foster change in the Department’s occupational health culture. Some of the changes that came out of the summits: bans on working lunches and sending work-related email after 6:00 pm and before 6:00 am and implementation of reward and recognition programs.
The Study’s Results
After three years of interventions, the researchers evaluated the success of the wellness program on the same three key areas on which they initially gathered their baseline information:
Personal health. The researchers re-evaluated the workers’ overall health and found that program participants felt better and were healthier. Specifically:
Musculoskeletal health. Workers who had indicated that they’d suffered from musculoskeletal pain in the prior 12 months showed improvements in the 15 areas typically affected by such pain. There were statistically significant decreases in seven of the 15 areas, including back, neck, shoulder and wrist pain. Also, no one showed any additional musculoskeletal deterioration when compared to the baseline measures.
Organizational health. The Department’s organizational health improved over the course of the study, particularly as to workers’ morale. For example, statistically significant improvements were found as to workers’ rating of statements such as “I feel good about the opportunities I have to learn and grow” and “Everyone strives to deliver quality work.” In addition, various Department workplaces initiated a number of wellness initiatives, including:
Conclusion
The researchers are still gathering data on the financial impact of the wellness program on the Department as to absenteeism, short-term illness and workers’ compensation claims, says Makrides. She explains that it will take at least six months to gather and analyze that information and even longer before they’re ready to publish the findings in a peer-reviewed journal. But she expects to see reductions in the Department’s health-related costs.
Most of your efforts will still be concentrated on eliminating or controlling the hazards in your workplace on which safety coordinators have traditionally focused. But today’s safety coordinators must focus on not only what happens within the four walls of the plant or facility but also what happens to workers when the shift ends. The Nova Scotia study demonstrates that wellness programs do improve workers’ health. And healthier workers are better, happier and more productive employees, which ultimately benefits the company’s bottom line.
INSIDER SOURCES
Lydia Makrides, PhD: President and CEO Creative Wellness Solutions Inc., P.O. Box 3061, Tantallon, Nova Scotia, B3Z 4G9; (902) 820-3095; lmakrides@wellnesssolutions.ca; www.wellnesssolutions.ca.
“Association between Body Mass Index and Acute Traumatic Workplace Injury in Hourly Manufacturing Employees,” American Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 166, no. 2, http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/166/2/204.
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