Work health

Diane SchultzManager Healthy Workers Initiative

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland

Integrating workplace safety, health and wellbeing

Queensland WHS regulators approach

Healthy Workers Initiative - Qld

• Workplace Health and Safety Queensland funded by Department of

Health under Healthier.Happier.Workplaces program*, expires

December 2015.

• Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol, Physical Activity, Obesity + Mental Health

(SNAPOM)

• All industry

– targeted initiatives for priority industries in Construction, Transport,

Manufacturing, Mining, Agriculture, Public Service and Small Business

*Initially funded under National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health 2011-2015

What we think Queenslanders look like

What Queenslanders really look like……

1 in 2 adults reported a mental health disorder in

their lifetime. 1 in 5 in the last 12 months

Obesity65% of adults are overweight or obese.

22% in 4 years & is the highest in Australia

Type 2 Diabetes1 in 12 Queenslanders has type 2 diabetes

1 undiagnosed case for every 4 diagnosed.

Cancer1/3 of the total burden of cancer was due to preventable risk

factors - tobacco, physical activity, obesity & alcohol the

largest causes.

Mental Health

414,000

businesses

1,243,500

workers

Queensland Health. The health of

Queenslanders 2014. 5th report of the

Chief Health Officer Queensland.

Defining Health

Workplace

health and safety

Workplace

health and wellbeing

OCCUPATIONALHEALTH RISKS

IMPACTS OF WORK ON HEALTH

Physical Skin cancer, burns, slips,

contusions, amputations,

Chemical Cancer, respiratory disease,

asthma, allergies, dermatitis

Biological

Hepatitis, HIV, tetanus, Hendra

virus, pandemic influenza,

QFever, allergies

EnvironmentFatigue, sick building

syndrome, slips, trips and falls

Ergonomic Back injury, sprains and strains,

upper limb disorders

Mental

Work/home life imbalance,

bullying, fatigue,

over/under work, ‘stress’,

conflict, isolation

CHRONIC DISEASE RISKS

IMPACTS OF HEALTH ON WORK

Smoking

↓ physical capability, cardiac

conditions, compounding

exposures

Poor

Nutrition

↓stamina & immunity, risk of

diabetes, fatigue, cardiac

conditions

Alcohol↑errors, mistakes, accidents,

poor performance

Physical

inactivity

↓physical capability, stamina, flexibility, stress, poor muscle tone

Obesity↓ manual handling capability,

poor ergonomics, posture

Mental

health

Poor decision making,

relationships, ↓ performance,

concentration, poor health

choices

Chronic disease vs injury/absence

Workers who are overweight/ obese

workers miss more than twice as many

workdays for work-related injuries

compared to workers of a healthy weight.1

7.4 days vs 3.3 days

Workers with 2 or more chronic illnesses have 2 ½ times longer sickness absences than healthy workers (9.3 days vs 3.7days) 2

Injury risk is 13% higher for obese or overweight workers compared to

healthy weight workers. 3

1. Van Nuys, K., Globe, D., Ng-Mak, D., Cheung, H., Sullivan, J & Goldman, D. (2014)

2. Casimirri, E. et al (2014)

3. Dong, Z.S. Wantg, Z. & Largay, J.A. (2015)

4. Recognising the Health Benefits of Work

Workers who smoke have a 38% higher risk of work-related injury than those who never smoked. 3

Likelihood of return to work:

20 days – 70% of returning

45 days – 50% of returning

70 days – 35% of returning

Health

behaviours

(e.g.

smoking,

nutrition)

Health

outcomes

(e.g. obesity,

diabetes)

WHS

performance

(e.g.

incidents,

work comp)

Personal

factors

(e.g.

lifestyle

habits,

socioeco

nomic

status)

Work related factors

(e.g. work demands, working hours)

Business outcomes

(e.g. increased productivity, reduced

absenteeism, lower premiums)

The case for integration

A modern regulator approach

TERTIARY

INTERVENTION

-Injury

management

-Rehabilitation

-Return-to-Work

-Complaint work

SECONDARY

INTERVENTION

Responding to

early indicators

of absence,

injury and illness

PRIMARY

INTERVENTION

Prevention

Risk Management

Healthy Worker Initiative - Chronic Disease

People at Work - Psychosocial

PerFORM – Musculoskeletal

Barriers to overcome…..

Privacy

“Nice to have”

Silo Approach

Not Legislative

Evaluation

Cost

Targets Individuals

Adhoc

“Not our problem” mindset

Time

Building a program for sustainability

• Workplaces can enable

positive worker behaviours

• Increase awareness and

access to information

• Develop industry capability

• Case Studies

Two pronged approach:

– Integration within WHS regulator core business

– Workplace systems based approach involving environmental, policy and

individual strategies

Integrate Health,

Safety and Wellbeing

Internal systems integration

“…positively motivate work-related health and wellbeing through three inter-

related mechanisms:

• Increasing prevention activities in Queensland workplaces to drive down

the incidence work-related health disorders.

• Supporting workplaces to promote and integrate work health and

wellbeing.

• Improving return to work outcomes for those suffering from work-related

health disorders.”

Draft Office of Industrial Relations Priority Disorders Strategy 2015

Internal integration strategies

• Key deliverable in industry action plans

• HWB included in strategic reporting

• HWB represented on Industry Steering Groups

• Enforceable undertakings

• Collaborate with WorkCover (workers compensation

insurer) on injury management initiatives

• Compliance campaigns

• Safe work week awards category

• Internal WHS performance reporting

• Audit tools, checklists and resources

• WHSQ publications, newsletters, social media,

website

External stakeholders and partners

– High risk industries/blue collar • Construction, Transport, Agriculture, Qld Public Service,

Manufacturing, Small Business, Regional, rural and remote

mining and resource sector

– Peak industry bodies

– Academic partners

– Community partners (i.e.

(non-government organisations)

– Industry leaders

– Service providers

Underpinning framework

• Five step framework- Links to online tools and resources

• Easy checklist for small business

• Organisational Systems Benchmarking Tool

Support for implementation, awareness raising and capacity building – 2014/15

Organisational Systems Benchmarking Tool

Key Features: Re-released in June 2015 with 32+ used the tool of

which 50% all three systems

3118 Registered users

Online self assessment for Workplace Health & Safety, Work Health & Wellbeing, Rehabilitation & Return to Work

Benchmarks against other organisations of similar size & industry

Integrated systems based approach

Choice to complete 1, 2 or all 3

A comprehensive summary report

Comparison over time

Free & confidential.

Go to www.worksafe.qld.gov.au

Research

Construction• RMIT University & large construction company

• Griffith University with five construction sites

Transport• University of Queensland Shifting Gears

• Qld University of Technology

• ConNectica

• RHealth

Agriculture• Fit for Field- The Royal Flying Doctor Service.

• Live Well Farm Well- Diabetes Queensland and

Growcom.– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTjnExTJF48

8 projects

$1.7m invested

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Vitaly Korovin

“The Overhaul program has been a great way for people to de-stress and focus ontheir health. We have seen with the pilot program the long-term slight edge of theextra physical activity, which has helped a crew that was unhealthy lose over 100kgsover the last 2 years. ” Redlands City Council

Positive changes in workers

compensation costs, premium

and absenteeism rates

reported. Downer Mining

“ The key successes in this project was being able tostatistically and visually observe the improvements insome of the employee’s relating to the SNAPO targetsspecifically increasing physical activity, reducing weight/waist measurements. ” Mackay Area Industry Network

76% improved nutrition/diet,

7% improved alcohol behaviours,

72% increased physical activity,

14% improved smoking habits,

38% visited GP following

program recommendations. Transport High Risk Grant

• 95 organisations

• 80,000+ workersWorkplace grants

Innovation grants

Project

Train the Champion – sedentary project

Turf growers accreditation

Shift Work resource

Nutrition standards for FIFO

Live Well Farm Well

Blue Collar video resources

Mental health and wellbeing pilot

Electrical industry resource

development

Mental Health and Wellbeing pilot

+

Independent Schools Queensland

• 10 Independent Schools

• 997 workers (teachers, admin, maintenance, health professionals)

Psychological

Injury/Illness

Poor health

behaviours

Physical

Illness

Work-related Stress

HIGH JOB DEMANDS

1. Demand: role overload,

cognitive demand,

emotional demand

2. Role conflict and role

ambiguity

3. Relationships: group task

conflict, group relationship

conflict, bullying

LOW JOB RESOURCES

4. Control

5. Support: supervisor

and co-worker support

6. Change consultation

7. Recognition and reward

8. Procedural justice

Work-related stress framework

The process

Info dayProject aims

Resources

Communication

strategies

Baseline survey

Planning

dayRisk factors &

how to

control

ACTION

PLAN

Engage with staff Survey

conducted Staff complete online

Individual report

Except if less than 20 staff

Focus groups

Workplace consultation

Evaluation

Implementation

of strategies in

action plan

Debrief / 1 hr

feedback

consultation feedback if

required

Consultation offer

Key Learnings

• Commitment from all levels

• Systems based approach – “the way we do business”

• Sustainability requires a mix of strategies (environmental & individual)

• Focus on business outcomes and work related factors

• Communicate in consistent language

• Develop a committee, identify champions to share the load

• Evaluate, monitor effectiveness and how to improve

• Provide education, awareness and capacity building

• Start small and build up (smaller workplaces)

• Promote the successes, big and small

Key achievements – Local Government

– Toolkit for Managers

– Integrated within Zero Harm policy

– Smoking, on-site gyms, health and fitness

assessments, back school (reduce MSD)

– 59% participation – 4388 employees

– Stat claims 639 (08/09) to 508 (13/14)

– Lost time injuries reduced from 189 to 90 in two years

– HWB ranked in top 4 reasons please stay with

organisation

– Gold recognition – Healthier.Happier.Workplaces

Recognition Scheme

In practice

Where to from here…

• Musculoskeletal Health and Wellbeing

project

• Build on innovative grant partnerships

• Continue initiative to increase awareness

and build capacity of workplaces and

industry bodies

• Build research base to address the

effectiveness of combining health,

wellbeing, safety and injury management

• WHSQ Work Health website

www.worksafe.qld.gov.au

• Healthier.Happier. Workplaces

http://workplaces.healthier.qld.gov.au/

For more information