Newswise — Chicago, IL – April 12, 2016) Citing the company’s success in nurturing an innovative culture of health and safety for its workers, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) has awarded Erickson Living of Maryland its Corporate Health Achievement Award (CHAA). ACOEM made the announcement as a part of its observation of national Workplace Wellness Week and as it celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the CHAA.
The CHAA recognizes quality occupational and environmental health programs, identifies model programs and outstanding practices with measurable results, and encourages organizational self-assessment and continuous improvement. Recipients of the annual award are judged on the strength of their health and safety programs for individual employees, their comprehensive programs to protect the environment, their strong leadership and management, and for their sustainable efforts to create an overall work culture that emphasizes healthy lifestyles and safety consciousness. Only organizations with the most exemplary health and safety practices are considered for the award.
Erickson Living’s programs include reiteration of the key strategy to encourage and maintain an organizational culture that embraces safety, health, and wellness.
“When we speak of “a culture of health and safety” we mean “health and safety” in the true sense of the words – a condition in which employees’ physical well-being and safety is optimized by the environment and philosophy of the company they work for,” said ACOEM President Mark Roberts, MD. “Erickson Living exemplifies this approach through its outstanding health, safety, and environmental programs that seek to maintain and optimize a productive, motivated, and creative workforce. This level of achievement makes the country’s third-largest independent living provider a logical choice to be recognized through the CHAA.”
Erickson Living is a leading national developer of senior living communities, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland and managing 18 large-scale campus-style retirement communities in 10 states: Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.
Its biggest community, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, is the largest Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in the United States. Erickson Living communities are home to more than 24,000 senior adult residents nationwide and provide meaningful work to more than 8,000 full-time dedicated workers who share a commitment to exceptional service. In addition to its progressive approach to employee health and safety, ACOEM chose Erickson Living for a CHAA award because it has targeted for response specific health issues impacting its employees. This puts it at the forefront of companies that are recognizing that addressing specific health issues within an employee population can improve organizational performance.
The Corporate Health Achievement Award was established in 1997 as way of encouraging healthier and safer work environments. The ACOEM award program is considered the most rigorous and comprehensive of its kind, requiring extensive documentation from companies of their programs and practices and an onsite visit by a team of ACOEM evaluators.
Applicants receive detailed feedback from ACOEM on their programs regardless of whether they receive an award, which is helping raise awareness of best practices and, in the long run, improve standards for employee health and safety, according to Dr. Roberts. “Safer, healthier workplaces mean increased productivity, more job satisfaction, less harmful environmental impact and enhanced community relationships,” he said.
To learn more about the Corporate Health Achievement Award, call ACOEM at 847-818-1800, or visit www.CHAA.org.
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About ACOEMThe American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) represents nearly 5,000 physicians specializing in occupational and environmental medicine. Founded in 1916, ACOEM is the nation’s largest medical society dedicated to promoting the health of workers through preventive medicine, clinical care, disability management, research, and education. For more information, visit www.acoem.org.
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