For Immediate Release
Occupational and environmental physicians urge employers and business owners to take active role annual Labor Day CheckList of Health and Safety
CHICAGO, August 2000 How many waking hours do you actually spend at home each day? The average American spends over 1,800 hours each year, or 1/3 of his or her life at work, and spends just as much time, if not more, with coworkers as with family. For many workers, their workplace has become their home away from home.
The workplace should be the starting place for all health and safety practices. To make your workplace a safe and healthy place to be requires a joint effort and commitment of both the employer and the employee. Last year, nearly 8.5 million Americans became ill or were injured on the job, and slightly more than 6,000 were killed. Many of these on-the-job illnesses and injuries can be prevented simply by taking the time to make a basic safety assessment of the workplace, and implementing simple corrections.
The annual Labor day holiday is the perfect time to examine your workplace and the tasks you do to determine just how safe is your workplace and the work you do there. Each year, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) promotes its Labor Day CheckList of Health and Safety to encourage workers and employees alike to examine their workplace for potential hazards. This year's CheckList, "Tips to a Safe and Healthy Workplace" is modeled after ACOEM's prestigious Corporate Health Achievement Award (CHAA), according to Dr. Charles M. Yarborough III, MD, MPH, FACOEM, author of this year's CheckList and the chair of the ACOEM CHAA Sub-committee.
The award formally recognizes the finest corporate health and safety programs in North America. Given annually to organizations employing at least 1,000 people, the award can only be earned by those organizations that have outstanding corporate health and safety programs in place. The award is intended to bring national and international attention to the importance of employee health, safety and environmental management; and to provide model companies with visibility and validation for their efforts.
One of the tools that organizations that are interested in competing for the award, or those smaller companies who wish to evaluate their programs, is the CHAA Self-Assessment CheckList. This checklist, designed by occupational and environmental medicine physicians who are trained to evaluate corporate health and safety programs, provides a corporate physician or occupational health nurse with the means to conduct an audit of the workplace and measure the results.
The 2000 ACOEM Labor Day CheckList is a practical extension of the CHAA Self-Assessment Checklist, developed for employees and the non-medical, non-technical manager to use in examining their workplace, and to identify common hazards or those areas that need improvement. The 2000 Labor Day CheckList was developed to allow smaller organizations and their employees to examine their workplaces for health and safety hazards, to learn if they are at risk. It applies equally to smaller organizations as to large ones. Something as obvious as regularly examining workplace environments and making minor corrections and improvements can reap larger results down the road.
"All that's required for an employer and employee to make a safety and health assessment is some common sense and an understanding of how you fit into the process of your workplace," said Melissa Bean, DO, MBA, associate medical director for National Healthcare Resources, Inc., Creve Coeur, MO.
The CheckList is divided into three of the four main categories found in the CHAA Self-assessment Checklist: healthy people, a healthy environment, and healthy company. "You don't have to be a trained safety and health expert to make an assessment of your workplace or home, said Jane Barlow, MD, MPH, FACOEM, chair of ACOEM Public Relations Committee and an occupational and environmental physician with IBM Corporation. "Workplace safety and health is the responsibility of both the employer and the employee. You can't have a successful program without cooperation among the two." Dr. Bean, agrees. "Workplace safety and health is an ongoing partnership that needs participation from both employers and employees to succeed.
"Small changes can result in significant improvements. Something as simple as repositioning your computer monitoring, or raising or lowering your chair or work station, can prevent ergonomic problems from developing and avoid painful and costly medical conditions," according to Dr. Bean. "The key to making safety improvements in your workplace, both as an employer and employee, is that it must be specific and doable."
Workplace hazards can be as complex as improperly store toxic chemicals or as simple as a tangle of wires sticking out from under a computer desk. The 2000 Labor Day CheckList provides employers and employees with simple, inexpensive initiatives that can improve workplace safety and health.
For employers, suggestions include something as basic as holding annual employee health fairs. Invite your local hospital, occupational and environmental medicine clinic, American Red Cross and American Cancer Society chapters, health club, and other groups to educate employees on healthy lifestyle choices. Sponsoring after-work exercise and diet/nutrition classes can help be an inexpensive method to improve overall employee health, and by extension, productivity.
Holding regular safety checks of the entire workplace, including office spaces, can prevent costly accidents before they happen. Hold in-service seminars for employees to educate them on safety procedures and potential workplace hazards.
For employees, attending provided safety classes offered through your workplace can help you be aware of and avoid potential accidents. If your job requires the use of personal protective equipment such as face shields or other items, make sure you have the proper training on its use. Check it and all equipment at your workstation, whether on the factory floor or in an office, to make sure it is positioned properly to reduce hazards and potential ergonomic problems.
Because personal lifestyle choices can significantly affect an employee's working life, the Labor Day CheckList also provides suggestions for simple, affordable things workers can do in their own lives that will have a positive effect on their health and safety at work. Poor lifestyle choices such as lack of sleep, overindulgence in alcohol or food, drug abuse, poor exercise habits--all can contribute to worker injuries, deaths and lost productivity at work.
ACOEM, an international medical society of 7,000 occupational and environmental medicine physicians, provides leadership to promote optimal health and safety of workers, workplaces and environments by educating health professionals and the public; stimulating research; enhancing quality of practice; guiding public policy; and advancing the field of occupational and environmental medicine.
For a free copy of the ACOEM 2000 Labor Day CheckList, or more information on the ACOEM Corporate Health Achievement Award, contact the ACOEM Public Relations Department at 847-818-1800, ext. 380; or visit the ACOEM website to view the CheckList at http://www.acoem.org/news/news90.htm; or use ACOEM's Fax-on-Demand service by calling 800-226-3626.
# # #
RSS