Are you looking to improve the health of your workforce? This program aims to do that one step at a time.

We have all heard about the statistics about how many Australians are either obese or overweight and the results are not pretty. However, if a high percentage of our overall population are overweight or obese what does this mean for our workplaces? Chances are your workplace has a similar percentage of people whom would be classified as overweight or obese. Is this issue part of your company’s work, health & safety plan? If not, it probably should be. If it is, I have found a resource which may be useful to utilise within your business as a way to improve workplace health & reduce weight “as an organisation”.

The Global Corporate Challenge is touted as the “world’s largest and most exciting workplace health & wellness program”. It is a 12 month program which aims to build sustainable change amongst employees within large corporations (if you manage work, health & safety within a small organisation the concept of the program could still be replicated within such a workplace) using a team based approach.

The program is a mix of motivational information, education on eating well and changing habits through to provision of pedometers to encourage employees to get out and move, ultimately with the aim of losing weight and all the other benefits which go with that.

There is a Contact Form on the company’s website if you want more information as well as some of the success stories and companies which have actually signed up and are involved in the program. I know there are many ideas and programs out there aimed at improving employee health & well-being but this one looks quite comprehensive and fun to participate in as an organisation.

Check it out here.

Mental Health Resources - New Website

We have all heard the statistics many times before. 1 in 5 people will typically have a mental health episode of some form during their lifetime. This "episode" just doesn't happen at home but obviously can have a large impact at the workplace. As such, all workplaces need to work on their employee's mental health and implement policies and procedures to help workers manage their mental health effectively and maintain active and productive employment.

A new website has been created as a joint initiative between the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance and Beyond Blue in Australia. This website (called Heads Up) provides workplaces with a variety of tools and resources to help businesses create mentally healthy workplaces. Even if you think all is good at your workplace the below website might surprise you. Check it out!!

Heads Up website

Manual Handling Literature Review

In most countries and industries across the world, injuries from manual handling related hazards and risks is typically the most common cause of workplace injury. Below is a Literature Review report produced by the Health & Safety Executive in England. The two key objectives of the report were:

• To carry out a literature review of issues related to load and frequency in manual handling, including updating the previous HSL review on the load-frequency trade-off
• In the light of the findings of the review, to develop a method of risk assessment that could be applied to jobs, such as order picking in warehousing, where either the load or frequency of handling are very variable

If you are working in an industry where manual handling risk is an issue for your worker's safety, this report may be a useful resource to use to lessen that risk.

HSE Manual Handling Report

Health & Safety Representatives/Health & Safety Committee Compendium

In many workplaces, the Health & Safety Committee or Health & Safety Representatives are workers whom have a passion to improve safety within their workplace. They are often coaxed to undertake the role due to their previous history/background with the company or their proactive approach to showing safety leadership within the business. However, for many people entering this role it can be daunting how much they need to learn about the running of an effective committee or representative role and being organised is key.

As such, I have developed a sample compendium Table of Contents pack for new Health & Safety Representatives or Health & Safety Committee members. Please feel free to use this as a template and tailor this for your workplace. Many workplaces offer a "pack" to their new Health & Safety Representatives and/or Health & Safety Committees and this sample table of contents may be useful as a starting point for establishing such for your workplace. The full details of each heading are not included in the sample but I can assist your company to establish the working document if this is required.

Health & Safety Representative/Health & Safety Committee Compendium Table of Contents

Ergonomics & Musculo-Skeletal Disorders

In most industrialised countries, one of the highest risk factors to worker safety relates to poor workplace ergonomics. This then leads to a high prevalence of musculo-skeletal disorders. Over the past 15 years working in the area of workplace rehabilitation and return to work a large percentage of the injured workers I have assisted to return to work have experienced such injuries and finding resources to support the need to improve workplace ergonomics has often been difficult. However, while surfing the web for useful resources I came across the below link to the "Centers for Disease Control & Prevention".

The site has a lot of great resources including:

• A searchable bibliographic database of various OHS publications
• Links to long term epidemiological studies of workplace musculoskeletal disorders
• Ergonomic resources based on industry (e.g.: Construction, Agriculture, Healthcare, etc)

Thus, if you have some time I would recommend looking at this site and although every country has different legislative requirements for OHS/WHS, reviewing these resources may help to implement new strategies to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in your workplace.

Ergonomic Resources - Centers for Disease Control & Prevention