Imagine a workplace that is not only hazard-free and safety-focused but one that is also committed to preserving and improving the health of its workers. NIOSH’s WorkLife efforts boldly support that goal and your company can as well.

The NIOSH WorkLife Initiative provides an outline of essential elements for a healthy workplace. It is a guide to making the workplace a better place (no pun intended – well, okay, it was intended!) through a comprehensive approach. The key principles for all worksites to strive to achieve are to:

• Develop a human centered culture based on trust. A worker-centered environment optimizes opportunities for the health of its workers. The reciprocal relationship between employer and employee offers a meaningful platform for health promotion and safety initiatives to succeed (or suffer).

• Demonstrate leadership by making health and safety core products and values. Workplace conditions, policies, management strategies, and organization of work intimately affect the health, engagement, and productivity of workers. Individuals can’t establish healthier lifestyles and safe work practices if the surrounding environment isn’t supportive or conducive.

• Engage mid-level management in embracing and promoting the value of safety and health, and the relationships and healthy interactions necessary to support and enhance employees’ work lives and home lives. This creates the life-work balance essential to productivity and well-being.

IT IS POSSIBLE TO MAKE THE WORKPLACE A BETTER PLACE SO THAT AT THE END OF THE WORKDAY, WE ALL GO HOME PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY.

Dimensions is a company dedicated to the notion that the best employers get the best efforts and results of their employees by providing a safe and healthy work environment, both physically and socially. Dimensions has developed a series of interventions that build and strengthen healthy and vibrant interpersonal relationships.

Contact Dimensions for more information about our HIGHER DIMENSIONS intervention.

On July 21, the House Committee on Education and Labor approved the Robert C. Byrd Miner Safety and Health Act of 2010 (H.R. 5663). In addition to mining safety, the Miner Safety and Health Act the proposed bill, approved by a House committee, also seeks to make changes to workplace safety regulations targeted toward all businesses covered by OSHA’s General Industry standards. The proposed changes are similar to those in the Protecting America’s Workers Act that we summarized in our last newsletter. The target is companies that currently ignore or do not take safe workplace requirements seriously. The goal is to increase penalties and improve abatement response in order to ensure that the workplace is safe. Ogletree Deakins notes the following changes proposed in the mine safety legislation:

• Increases in penalties. Fines for a willful or repeat violation would increase from a maximum of $70,000 to $120,000. The penalty for an employer with 25 or fewer employees would be capped at $25,000. For a serious violation the fine would rise to $12,000, with a maximum of $50,000 when the violation causes or contributes to the death of an employee.

• Criminal penalties. Employers who knowingly violate standards and cause a death would be subject to criminal penalties. The prison term for a fatality would be 10 years for a first offense and 20 years for a second offense.

• Immediate abatement of hazards. Employers would be required to abate all hazards, even those that have been contested. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission would have the power to limit the abatement requirement if the employer immediately filed a motion.

• Expanded whistleblower rights. The time limit for filing a whistleblower complaint would expand from 30 days to 180 days. Safety managers should note that the recently enacted Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act significantly broadens existing whistleblower protections for all workers, not just those in the financial services industry.

To view the complete Ogletree Deakins report, visit http://www.ogletreedeakins.com/publications

Adult obesity rates increased in 28 states in the past year, and declined only in the District of Columbia (D.C.), according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2010, a report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). More than two-thirds of states (38) have adult obesity rates above 25 percent. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. Among the findings is that North Carolina is among the 10 fattest states, with experts acknowledging that it’s our physical environments that have limited activity: too few convenient and safe places to be physically active, a constant barrage of cheap, high-calorie foods, and industry interests not to restrict certain foods in schools. For more information and state by state report refer to: http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2010. The solutions aren’t simple! Reducing health risks and encouraging healthier behaviors are complex issues and require complex solutions that include company policies, work organization, social support, organizational support and individual change initiatives.

Contact Karen Mastroianni, COHN-S to learn more about how Dimensions can partner with you and your organization to increase employee awareness and target comprehensive initiatives to reduce health risks and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

• NIOSH WorkLife Initiative
• Sweeping Changes Proposed
• F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2010