Archives by: boverson

Employee Health and Fitness Day: Get Your Workforce Moving

If you, like us, are always looking for creative ideas to motivate employees, I might have just the solution for May. National Employee Health & Fitness Day is the third Wednesday in May each year. This year, it will be on May 18. Administered annually by the National Association for Health & Fitness, it is a national health observance, created to promote the benefits of physical activity for individuals through their work site health promotion activities. Founded in 1989, National Employee Health and Fitness Day has enlisted tens of thousands of participants from employers around the world.

There are many ways you can participate in NEHF with your company. Don’t be afraid to add other initiatives along with a walking or other exercise campaign. Here are some ideas to get you started with brainstorming:

• Declare a casual day and promote “wear your sneakers to work.” Organize a 30-minute walk during lunch, or ask management whether they would allow work time to be used for this occasion. If a casual day won’t work in your workplace, you can still encourage employees to bring their sneakers and get out walking during lunch.
• If your facility is not already smoke free, organize a smoke free day. Provide resources for smokers who are interested in quitting.
• Do you have an onsite cafeteria? Offer a healthy lunch, and provide nutrition information. If you don’t have a cafeteria, ask management whether they would be willing to purchase fruit to be left in the break room for the day.
• Invite a wellness company provide a lunch and learn lecture, onsite wellness challenge, blood pressure screening clinic, or wellness fair.
• There may be 5K walks or other local events in honor of NEHF.  Research what is going on near you, and see about getting your company involved.

Regardless of how you celebrate it,  Employee Health and Fitness Day is a great way to promote employee wellness in your organization.

OSHA & Your Business – The Federal Agency Marks 40th Anniversary While Under Scrutiny

On April 28^th, 1971 President Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law.  The Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, fondly known as OSHA.  Its mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and occupational fatality by issuing and enforcing standards for workplace safety and health.  OSHA has come a long way since its inception.

Prior to 1971, 14,000 Americans died on the job every year, and workers were not even afforded the right to know what kind of toxic chemicals or serious hazards they were working with on a daily basis.  Today, OSHA is backed by close to $560 million in government funding and has decreased work-related deaths by nearly 67 percent.  The evidence is clear: OSHA initiatives to emphasize workplace safety and health has made an impact, and workers’ rights are being protected.  But, how much is too much?  Is OSHA something the US can no longer afford?

In Washington, congressional Republicans are focused on riding the government of what they say are job-killing regulations.  As part of their drive to push the pendulum back, House Republicans have passed a 2012 budget that reduces federal spending by $61 billion.  OSHA is their primary target; they will seek to cut $99 million from its budget.  Some members believe this cut will benefit employers by eliminating the creation of expensive and burdensome rules and regulations implemented by OSHA, and allowing them to focus their budget on job creation.

At the liberal Center for American Progress, OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels said, “OSHA doesn’t kill jobs, it stops jobs from killing workers.”  Michaels continued, “But despite this evidence, and despite the progress we’ve made, we are today engaged in a great debate over worker protections, over the benefits and costs of regulations, over the taxpayer dollars that this society is willing to invest to ensure that our nation’s workers will be able to come home safely after a hard day’s work.”

Michaels recently spoke with NPR’s Brian Naylor about the long history of OSHA being on the front edge of divide between labor and management, Democrats and Republicans.  Michaels said, “The Republicans have proposed a 20 percent cut and given half the year’s over, that really means a 40 percent cut.  It would really have a devastating effect on all of our activities.”  Michaels closed his conversation with Naylor by saying, “When employers embrace safety, they actually save money.”

Would a diminished role for OSHA realistically free up cash so employers can focus on job creation? Or would it only make the problem worse and the frequency of injury rise?  Frequency of injury would increase workers’ compensation claims and employees requiring days away from work.

“A cut of that magnitude to OSHA’s budget would be devastating to workers,” Tom O’Conner, the Executive Director for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health remarked just days after House Republicans unveiled their package of budget cuts.

“What the Republican leadership doesn’t seem to get is that job safety and job creation must go hand in hand.  They can’t be separated,” O’Conner said.  “After all, what good is a job created to the family of the worker who was killed after taking it?  Good jobs are safe jobs, and right now, America needs to create good jobs.”

The National COSH is a federation of local and statewide “COSH” groups–Committees/Coalitions on Occupational Safety and Health. COSH groups are private, non-profit coalitions of labor unions, health and technical professionals, and others interested in promoting and advocating for worker health and safety.

Small Business Grants for Wellness Programs

The PPACA includes a grant program to assist small businesses in providing comprehensive workplace wellness programs. Grants will be awarded to eligible employers to provide their employees with access to new workplace wellness initiatives. The grants will be awarded beginning in 2011 with $200 million appropriated for a five year period.

An eligible employer is an employer that: Employs fewer than 100 employees who work 25 hours or more per week; and Did NOT have a workplace wellness program in place as of March 23, 2010.The PPACA requires the Secretary of HHS to develop program criteria that are based on research and best practices. A comprehensive workplace wellness program must be made available to all employees and include:

•Health awareness initiatives (including health education, preventive screenings and health risk assessments)
•Efforts to maximize employee engagement (including mechanisms to encourage employee participation)
•Initiatives to change unhealthy behaviors and lifestyle choices (including counseling, seminars, online programs and self-help materials)
•Supportive environment efforts (including workplace policies to encourage healthy lifestyles, healthy eating, increased physical activity and improved mental health)
Small businesses need to be prepared with a wellness program which meets the criteria and requirements as described in the PPACA and developed by the Secretary of HHS. There are still many unanswered questions regarding the implementation the program. However, adding provisions for wellness and prevention under PPACA is one small step for a healthier workforce.