Allergies and Asthma

Employees who suffer from allergies and asthma are often disadvantaged because their ability to concentrate and work efficiently can be easily disrupted by allergy or asthma symptoms. Allergies can range anywhere from a sensitivity to scented products to a severe food allergy. When paired with asthma, allergies can set off a number of different symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, sneezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath, to name a few.

One of the best ways to control asthma is to minimize exposure to allergens. It’s important that employers take this into consideration because if an employee’s allergy and asthma symptoms get out of hand they could end up hospitalized. When a company does not make an effort to accommodate employees with asthma and allergies, the employees often need to seek medication and treatment from medical facilities. In addition to higher health care costs, the company will also experience less productivity and efficiency because of constant discomfort created by their symptoms.

Here are some of the ways a company may go about accommodating employees with asthma and allergies:

• Learn what allergies employees have and which employees are asthmatic, then take the necessary steps to accommodate them.
• Send a reminder to other employees not to wear strong perfumes, for people may have allergies or sensitivities to scents.
• Make sure any food product that contains nuts be labeled, to ensure people with severe nut allergies don’t mistakenly eat it.
• Do not allow animals in the work area, for people may have pet allergies.
• Make sure work spaces are cleaned regularly; dust and mold are common allergens and can be detrimental to anybody’s health.

In Response to Obesity

I completely agree with Mah-E’s post regarding obesity; work can have a large impact on a person’s health. Stress can lead to overeating and mental exhaustion can prevent a person from engaging in physical exercise. With all the health risks associated with obesity (as Mah-E mentioned) it’s important that companies make an effort in encouraging employees to be active.

Mah-E had some excellent suggestions for promoting a healthier lifestyle at work but it’s not always easy to motivate employees to follow these suggestions. From personal experience I have encountered some creative ideas for motivating employees to participate in healthy activities. One of the ideas was to motivate people to take the stairs by making a chart to record how many flights of stairs each employee climbed a day. The employees were also grouped into teams so that people who may not be motivated by competition may be motivated by pleasing the team instead.

Another idea is signing the company up to participate in an event such as Edmonton’s corporate challenge. Corporate challenge is an event that is held every year where employee’s of a company form teams and compete with teams from other companies in a number of different sports. The events are usually a lot of fun and teams receive ribbons and medals for winning. The sports range from high endurance sports such as basket ball to low endurance sports such as horseshoes, so anybody can participate.

Not all ideas are successful in motivating employees to be healthy so it’s important that companies come up with many different ways to promote healthy living.Making healthy activities fun and competitive is a good way to encourage people to participate.

http://www.corporatechallenge.ab.ca/dnn4/

Mental Health in the Workplace

Promoting physical health does help a great deal in reducing stress, but mental health claims are still responsible for a large portion of disability costs in organizations. Because stress related disabilities are becoming such a growing concern, organizations have to focus on finding ways to prevent stress. Stressed employees can develop depression, anxiety disorders and suffer from mental burnout resulting in more mental health claims, stress-related sickness absences, and added payroll costs for companies.

One reason for rising stress levels is that technology has advanced a lot over the past decade, allowing us to accomplish more in a day’s work; unfortunately expectations to do more also increases and the pressure to accomplish so many tasks in one day becomes overwhelming. Some ways that companies can promote mental health is by adopting psychiatric health benefit programs and provide employees with a predictable work schedule and plenty of guaranteed personal time. Psychiatric health benefit programs can help to detect symptoms of stress early so that serious stress related problems can be prevented. A predictable work schedule is ideal for employees because it makes it easier for employees to balance their personal life with work. Employees that visit with family and friends on a regular and predictable basis are much happier, and less likely to experience stress related illness.

By assuring that employees are healthy mentally and physically, companies are successful in reducing absenteeism and increasing overall productivity and efficiency. Because stress-related mental disabilities are not well understood, they are often overlooked. More companies are acknowledging that these disabilities are serious and are taking action to prevent them.

http://www.mentalhealthworks.ca/facts/why_it_matters.asp

Stretching at Work

Coming in to work with sore achy muscles is never fun. Accomplishing a tedious task is even more difficult when distracted by muscle pain, and sitting all day in the same position can worsen sore muscles. Stretching is an easy way to prevent muscle aches, but people still underestimate its importance, often using the excuse that they don’t have enough time for stretching. The image above suggests otherwise, displaying stretching positions that can be performed easily while sitting at a desk. Stretching improves posture, reduces muscular tension, and increases blood and nutrient supply to muscles.

Healthy Workplace Month

Now that we all have learned a lot about a healthy work environment, it is now our turn to practice it. Healthy Workplace Month will take place from October 4th - October 31st 2010. This is what will be practiced in the four weeks (http://www.healthyworkplacemonth.ca/):

Week One - Feeling Great at Work

Kick off Healthy Workplace Month focusing on the workplace. Although we all have a job to do it's possible to incorporate healthy living and activities into our working hours.

Week Two - Feeling Great with Family & Friends

This week's focus is family and friends, and the importance of maintaining a healthy work/life balance

Week Three - Feeling Great at Play!

This week we focus on having fun! Participate in a group at your organization, or take part in individual activities on your own or with some colleagues. All activities focus on the three concepts of Healthy Mind; Healthy Body; and Healthy Work.

Week Four - Feeling Great Giving Back

Social responsibility is the focus for Week Four. Support corporate social responsibility; sponsor a day at Habitat for Humanity; promote the concept of volunteerism as a business learning opportunity (volunteer for a board of a community association, not for profit entity, food bank, etc.).

So now lets make every month a Healthy Workplace Month!!!

Workplace Influences Diet

A very important part of a healthy workplace is a healthy diet. I personally believe that the workplace has a very big influence on peoples diets. So I did some searching on Google to find out how exactly does the workplace influence the way we eat.

Does the workplace influence how people eat?

Yes. Always remember that the workplace environment influences the health of its employees. For example, if a healthy eating program is offered, remember to look at where the employees eat their lunch. A safe and clean eating area is a requirement under most occupational health and safety laws. Beyond this, it is important to look at what is offered at vending machines and staff cafeterias. If you don't look at the larger picture and see how the way the workplace itself influences the eating patterns of the employees, the program will often not work very well.

Be sure the workplace supports healthy eating programs by providing time for employees to go to information sessions, offering appropriate foods in the cafeteria and vending machines, or by having refrigerators and microwaves so that meals can be stored and prepared appropriately.

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/healthyeating.html

Excellent

Very well done people. I've learned a lot already by reading your blog, and it's set up very well.

Response to Government Support

I totally agree that the government must support a healthy work environment, a lot of Canadian companies already do. There are amny organizations out there who promote a physically heathy workplace for example the Toronto Halth Cnnection, there program is called Health Options at Work: Physical Activity. The Health Options at Work: Physical Activity program can help workplaces reach their business goals by creating a workplace that is supportive of regular physical activity. They also have a website http://www.toronto.ca/health/pdf/physical_activity.pdf check it out!

Obesity in the Workplace

We have discussed the importance of promoting a healthy and safe workplace, but this article I found on http://www.healthquotes.ca/blog/2009/03/10/Obesity+In+The+Workplace.aspx suggests that while obesity may be causing a problem in the workplace, the workplace may actually be the cause of some workers obesity problem. This study shows how some workers bad health may be becuase of their job.


"Statistics Canada has released a new study regarding obesity as it relates to job performance. The study shows that more Canadian workers are now obese, with the obesity rate climbing from 12.5% in the mid 1990's to 15.7% in 2005. Obesity is most prevalent among workers in the age range of 55 to 65; 21% of this workforce population was obese in 2005. Obesity is defined as any person whose body mass index (BMI) is over 30; 18.5 to 24.9 is defined as a normal weight range. Body mass index is calculated by a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters.

The study found that those who were obese found it harder to get their job done; some needed to cut back on their work activities as well as had a higher risk of being injured and/or requiring more days absent from work. Young men are almost 4 more times likely to be absent from work if they are obese. Obesity is also cited as the cause for women aged 35 to 54 to require either reduced work activities and/or disability days. Obese workers also have an increased probability of being hurt on the job; partially due to fatigue as well as physical limitations. As well, personal protective equipment may not be worn (or worn correctly), i.e. gloves and goggles. Certain medications may also increase the risk of being injured at work. Obese employees were found to have higher job strain (this is defined as high psychological demands combined with low job control.) These workers also felt that they received low social support from their colleagues and/or supervisors.

While obesity may be causing a problem in the workplace, the workplace may actually be the cause of some workers obesity problem. Canadians who work shift work and/or excessive hours tended to be at higher risk for being obese. A higher proportion of 'blue-collar' workers were found to be obese compared to those who work in the 'white-collar' professions. Irregular working hours associated with shift work can make it hard for employees to maintain a healthy eating schedule. Men who work more than 40 hours per week were more likely to obese than those who work a full-time schedule of 30 to 40 hours per week. Men between the ages of 35 to 54 with higher incomes tended to be more obese than those with lower incomes; one possible reason given was a tendency to dine out more often. However, women in the same age bracket tended to be more obese when their personal incomes were lower; this was attributed to possible cultural differences. Men and women with low education levels had a significantly higher chance of obesity with the exception of younger workers aged 18 to 34."


So now we know why it is important for employers to promote health in the workplace, here are a few suggestions from a Canadian Health and Travel article:
• Talk to your co-workers as well as your employer about implementing a healthier workplace. Your employer may be willing to offer such initiatives such as partially reimbursing employees for such items as gym memberships, etc. in order to have a healthier, more productive staff.
• You can also talk to your co-workers about healthier snacks and lunches; substituting fresh fruit instead of donuts and other high-fat snacks for example.
• Organize a staff walk during the lunch break; this can help not only burn off calories, but help re-energize for the afternoon hours.
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator if you can; walk instead of drive if possible.
• Packing a lunch gives you more control over the types and portions of food you eat instead of dining out. This also tends to be a less expensive alternative than eating out. You can pack snacks such as fresh fruit, vegetables, crackers, etc. for when you’re working that will satisfy the craving to eat, while not being high in fat and calories."