Workforce Health, Safety & Wellness

Overview

A strong commitment to safety, health, and wellness programs shows that a company cares about and is investing in one of its most important assets – employees. In the context of sustainability, a culture focused on health, safety, and wellness reinforces a commitment to social sustainability.

Business risks

Where workplace health and safety is regulated, as it is in the United States, a failure to focus on these matters risks non-compliance with law and related legal action by government agencies. Understanding regulations and ensuring compliance should be a starting point for all businesses.

Beyond the legal standards, there are still many business activities and operations that can produce injuries and illnesses and result in increased costs and productivity losses for workers and employers. Identifying, understanding, and managing these risks creates better working conditions, more efficient operations, and cost savings.

Businesses that are seen as uncaring or inattentive to health and safety matters face additional risks to reputation and brand equity. This is particularly true when that inattention results in history of injuries or fatalities.

Employees today have greater expectations of workplace conditions. Anything short of a safe and healthy workplace is unacceptable to many. In fact, benefits that go beyond health and safety to promote employee wellness are becoming more common. So much so that a failure to provide these types of benefits may impact a company’s ability to attract and retain talent.

What can businesses do?

Many companies are ensuring and then moving beyond mere compliance to create a company culture that prioritizes health, safety, and wellness. For example, they:

• Conduct a comprehensive workplace risk assessment, taking inventory of all conditions, operations, and processes with a risk of injury, accident, or illness.
• Develop a multi-functional risk reduction team to participate in workplace risk elimination, reduction, and prevention activities.
• Regularly train employees and engage them in creating and maintaining a safe and healthy workplace.
• Understand that the overall well being of their workforce is a vital component of company viability and create programs to enhance wellness and promote a healthy lifestyle.

Health & safety management systems

For some companies, workforce health and safety is such a priority that they develop a dedicated business management system to handle all matters related to health and safety. The OHSAS Project Group developed the OHSAS 18001 standard to guide and inform companies on how to create a health and safety management system that an independent third party can certify. OHSAS 18001 is structured in alignment with two other common management system standards, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

This approach is a good one particularly if your company has significant safety issues because of the nature of your work. For example, companies that manufacture products, work with hazardous materials, or operate machinery and equipment (including automotive fleets) should consider implementing a workforce health and safety management system to better manage health and safety risks.

Like most management system standards, OHSAS 18001 follows a Plan-Do-Check-Act framework to ensure analysis and continual improvement.

US health & safety regulation

Overview of federal requirements

All employers in the United States are required by the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970 to provide a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. The scope of the law and its regulations is extensive. All businesses need to be aware of its requirements.

OSHA provides a wealth of online information and guidance to clarify and help businesses meet workplace health and safety requirements. The agency offers training programs and educational resources. OSHA also provides specialized information and compliance assistance for small businesses.

Employee rights

Employees have the right to report and file complaints with OSHA regarding workplace injuries, health and safety violations, and other safety concerns. They also have the right to request an OSHA inspection of the workplace. The law provides whistleblower anti-retaliation and anti-discrimination protections for anyone who brings a workplace health or safety condition or violation to OSHA’s attention.

State health and safety programs

States also have the right to regulate workplace health and safety. But by federal law, any state requirements must be at least as effective as the federal OSHA program. OSHA maintains online information to find out if your state has legal requirements greater than the federal ones.

Health & wellness

A healthy workforce is a more productive and cost-efficient workforce. Companies that understand this actively promote the health and overall well being of their workforce. Beyond baseline health benefits, they promote healthy lifestyles. They integrate work-life balance programs to help workers better cope with personal demands and reduce workplace stress. These initiatives result in a more satisfied, more productive workforce overall.

Workplace human impacts

Compliance with workplace health and safety legal mandates is a baseline. For workplace health and safety risks that cannot be eliminated, careful management is essential to avoiding human impacts. Implementing an EHS management system is an effective approach to identifying, assessing, reducing, and monitoring the impacts of unavoidable risks.

Resources

• CDC Workplace Health Resource Center
• OSHA Help for Employers: How to comply, go beyond compliance, and improve your bottom line

Warnings & training

Effective communication is required to make a workforce aware of workplace risks that cannot be entirely eliminated. Communication can be visual (warning signs), audible (alarms), or physical (guards and barriers). Where risks are inherent in a process, companies provide training in workers’ native language and conduct drills on how to prevent harm and what to do if an accident or injury occurs. These are the core components of managing workplace safety risks.

Workforce HSW basics

Workforce health, safety, and wellness is about creating safe and healthful working conditions. Businesses develop systematic ways of managing workforce health, safety, and wellness. This includes, for example, providing:

• physical safety
• regulation of hazards
• clean and optimal facilities
• work-life balance, employee assistance, fitness, and other wellness programs

In the United States, federal laws and regulations, as well as internal company policies and procedures, guide the development and enforcement of workforce health and safety programs. Companies reinforce these programs through training, personal and professional development offerings, performance standards, communication campaigns (to raise awareness), employee engagement, and organizational culture. Robust health, safety, and wellness programs have many benefits including:

• reduced health care costs
• reduced workforce turnover
• improved employee health, satisfaction, and morale
• increased worker productivity
• better recruitment and retention