Healthy workers tend to be more productive and efficient, are absent less often and contribute to a more competitive business. A conference on workplace health promotion later this month in Dublin will explore how to implement sustainable workplace health promotion programmes.
Organised by the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) in association with the Health Promotion Unit of the Department of Health and Children, the conference on Wednesday, October 31st, is for employers, human resources personnel and people responsible for occupational health, health and safety, and health promotion.
It will be opened by the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Micheβl Martin TD. Keynote speaker Dr Gregor Breucker, head of European Information Centre (EIC), BKK Bundesverband (the Federal Association of Company Health Insurance Funds, Germany), will discuss the economic impact of workplace health promotion.
Themes to be explored in workshops include management support, needs assessment, promoting physical activity, stress management, healthy food choices, smoking control policies and support for smokers.
An independent evaluation of the Irish Heart Foundation's Happy Heart at Work (HHAW) programme, prepared by Ms Ann McMahon under the direction of Prof Cecily Kelleher of NUI, Galway, will be formally launched at the conference.
The HHAW programme was developed by the Irish Heart Foundation in the early 1990s as a health promotion programme for the Irish workforce. It offers practical steps that employers and employees can take to develop positive attitudes and behaviours for healthy eating, workplace smoking policies, job-related stress management and physical exercise.
The report on the HHAW, seen by The Irish Times, found that it is "a well-designed, flexible programme with materials and literature of the highest quality". It recommends the programme materials should be made widely available for workplace initiatives to promote cardiovascular health.
The report says that regular contact between the Irish Heart Foundation and workplace coordinators is needed and that this will require additional resources and staff, especially outside Dublin.
Coordinators in workplaces would benefit from training in how best to implement the programme in their own organisation.
Trainees would gain support and enjoy an increased sense of participation in and ownership of the programme, adding to its sustainability.
On the acceptability of HHAW to management within organisations, the report says the programme is seen as addressing a need and is "a very inexpensive, effective intervention". Managers are aware that implementing the programme will raise staff morale. However, it notes that "a key person has to be interested for it to succeed".
The report identifies some weaknesses of HHAW as perceived by staff at the IHF. One is that participating organisations can sometimes fail to understand sufficiently the "holistic and ongoing nature" of the programme, resulting in it not being implemented as intended. Another perceived weakness was that there were not enough IHF staff or resources "to allow them to interface with companies on a one-to-one basis, nor provide sufficient ongoing support services in some areas of the country".
For further information about the Employee Health Conference, How to Implement Effective Programmes, contact the Health Promotion Department, Irish Heart Foundation, 4 Clyde Road, Dublin 4. Telephone: 01-6685001. E-mail: mcrotty@irishheart.ie The registration fee is £30, inclusive of conference papers and lunch.
Irish Heart Week, November 5th - 11th, will focus on employee health.
Website of Irish Heart Foundation: www.irishheart.ie
jmarms@irish-times.ie
