The environment in which we work can have a major influence our health. That’s why Healthy Ambitions Suffolk is offering you a practical step by step approach to helping your workforce to better health.
ENABLING AND SUPPORTING GOOD HEALTH
Work-based health promotion programmes can have a positive impact on employees, including reducing heart conditions, the number of smokers and sickness absence. For each of the following eight key areas we offer guidance that can make a real difference to your organisation and the people working in it:
The information offered below is only a guide. Each business is unique and your requirements will differ depending upon the type of work you do and the number of people you employ.
1. HEALTH AND SAFETY
- Be aware of your responsibilities as an employer under the Health and Safety at Work Act and associated legislation. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
- Ensure that there is real commitment to workplace health from top and senior management.
- Ask your employees for any concerns they have about their health and safety in the workplace and involve them as you develop initiatives which aim to improve their health and safety.
- Assess the possible risks to the health and safety of your employees – both physical and psychological – from their work. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
- Lead by example. Employees are more likely to take health and safety seriously if they can see that you, the employer, is serious about these issues.
- Consider how you could use internal or contracted-in occupational safety and health services to improve the health of your employees.
2. RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
- Be aware of your responsibilities as an employer under the Disability Discrimination Act. http://www.cipd.co.uk/
- Assess the costs of employee turnover and recruitment in your organisation.
- Develop a policy for managing sickness absence, including accurate data collection and reporting. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
- Maintain contact with employees during their sickness absence and carry out return to work interviews to plan how you can support them. http://www.eef.org.uk/ http://www.dwp.gov.uk/
- Provide flexible working arrangements to help with rehabilitation and early return to work.
3. MENTAL HEALTH AND STRESS
- Get involved with Suffolk Business Minded, which is a collaboration between Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, chambers of commerce and local businesses. It aims to help businesses deal with the impact of the economic downturn on local people, promoting mental wellbeing in the workplace and skilling up senior staff to manage more common mental health issues. http://www.ifyouknew.co.uk/Home/SuffolkBusinessMinded/tabid/2097/Default.aspx
- Join the national Mindful Employer scheme to help you to tackle mental health and stress in the workplace. http://www.mindfulemployer.net/
- Carry out a risk assessment for work-related stress using Health and Safety Executive guidance. www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/about.htm, www.eef.org.uk/UK/publications/guidance/
- Consult with your employees and their representatives to identify problem areas and make a commitment to take action in partnership.
- Make an action plan for tackling stress. An example plan and stress policy are available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/.
- Make sure that your organisation has in place a good equal opportunities policy, anti-discriminatory practices and clear routes for reporting and seeking redress. http://www.cipd.co.uk/
- Reduce the problems encountered by people with mental health difficulties by raising awareness and understanding of mental health issues among the rest of the workforce.
4. MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS
- Involve your employees in risk assessment, paying special attention to the HSE’s manual handling assessment charts and the risk assessment tool for upper limb disorders. Revisit the risk assessment when planning any changes to the organisation of tasks. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
- If work involves frequent repetitive tasks, consider appropriate rest breaks and rotation of workers between tasks to allow the muscles to recover.
- Implement procedures to ensure prompt reporting of possible musculoskeletal symptoms, early assessment and discussion and follow-up of assessments. Agree any changes aimed at preventing others from being affected with your employees.
- Help employees with musculoskeletal disorders to rehabilitate by offering flexibility over working hours, tasks and breaks, to enable them to remain at work or to return at an early stage and continue working as normally as possible. http://www.facoccmed.ac.uk/
- Be ready to accept people back to work even if they are not totally free from symptoms. In many cases recovery is assisted by activity, including a return to work.
5. TOBACCO AND SMOKING CESSATION
- All public premises should now be smoke-free but make sure that your in-house rules are fair and operate well.
- Find out what help or support is available from your local stop-smoking service and advertise it. http://www.suffolkstopsmokingservice.co.uk/
- Make sure that all of your employees know about the smoke-free policy and its implications. Include the policy in all recruitment and induction packs.
- If you have any designated smoking areas, make sure they are effectively screened so that smoke does not adversely affect other employees at work.
6. ALCOHOL AND OTHER SUBSTANCE MISUSE
- Establish a policy and code of conduct for alcohol and substance misuse in the workplace and involving your employee representatives. www.hse.gov.uk/alcoholdrugs/
- Ensure that the policy makes it clear whether or not employees are allowed to consume alcohol at work, drink during working hours or drink before attending work.
- Make sure that the policy includes information about the level of support – including counselling or professional help – which your employees will receive if alcohol or drug problems are recognised.
- Provide your employees with information on the effects of alcohol and drugs and sources of support. For alcohol see: http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/. For substance misuse see: http://www.talktofrank.com/
- Review access to alcohol within the organisation – for example, at social functions or in social facilities.
7. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
- Ipswich Borough Council’s ‘Fit for Work’ scheme is now going live across Suffolk, and is a comprehensive scheme covering all aspects of physical activity. If you’re thinking about going for a Healthy Ambitions Suffolk award, this scheme is a really helpful tool to get you started when it comes to improving physical activity in and out of the workplace. Simply download the pdf files for further information.
- Encourage your employees to walk or cycle to work. http://www.dft.gov.uk/. The cycle to work guarantee scheme gives a benchmark and guidance to employers on providing a cycle-friendly workplace. http://www.cycletoworkguarantee.org.uk/index.php
- Involve your employees in organising a workplace activity programme to encourage staff to be more active, both in and outside of working hours. www.bhf.org.uk/thinkfit
- Make the stairwells more attractive and use signs to encourage use of stairs rather than lifts.
- Provide information on the benefits of physical activity.
- Consider negotiating discounted membership of a local gym for employees, and supporting activity or sports programmes in and outside the workplace. http://www.sportengland.org/
- If you sit at a desk all day, try yoga to help relieve tight shoulders and stiff necks and boost your wellbeing. Click here for a handy step-by-step picture guide to neck, shoulder and spine stretches.
8. HEALTHY EATING
- Make sure that eating facilities are clean and attractive to encourage your employees to take a break away from their workstation and to eat in a hygienic area.
- Check that your vending machines contain low-sugar drinks, water and fruit rather than just high-sugar soft drinks, chocolate and crisps. Experiment with pricing – for example, subsidising the healthier ones and increasing the price of less healthy ones.
- Provide information on healthy eating and support ‘healthy eating weeks’ http://www.healthatwork.org.uk/ http://www.food.gov.uk/ , http://www.5aday.nhs.uk/ , http://www.nutrition.org.uk/
- If you have in-house catering facilities:
- Make sure that you provide a range of healthy foods and drinks, and that portions are not too large. Remove salt from tables and provide it on demand instead.
- Identify the healthier options on menus – for example with simple labels or a traffic lights or logo system. Provide information on food content.