Mental health promotion in the workplace – a good practice report

Promotion of mental health at work is one of the Community OSH Strategy’s priorities13. In 2009, a case study collection on mental health at work was conducted for the EU-OSHA. The present report is based on this collection of good practice examples. The aim of the report was to review the collatedcase studies for equipping practitioners, policy makers and employers to draw conclusions from these studies and take these into account when implementing programmes that target mental health in the workplace. Organisations involved were situated in Europe and varied across occupational sectors. Specific aspects of each organisation’s MHP programme were examined to determine and identify commonly observed success factors and practical approaches and strategies to overcome challenges across the thirteen case studies. Additionally approaches and strategies used in the case studies that were particularly innovative or original were highlighted and discussed

Motivation for employers to carry out workplace health promotion: literature review

Workplace health promotion (WHP) is the combined efforts of employers, workers and society to improve the health and wellbeing of people at work. This can be achieved by: improving the work organisation and the work environment; promoting the active participation of all stakeholders in the process, and encouraging personal development. It is important to note that WHP aims to be a complementary support for, but not a replacement of, workplace risk management. Proper risk management is an essential foundation for a successful WHP programme. Developing and sustaining a healthy work environment and workforce has clear benefits for companies and employees, but can also lead to an improvement in social and economic development at local, regional, national and European level. This report presents the findings of a literature review that aims to identify the key reasons, arguments and motivation for employers to carry out workplace health promotion initiatives, and discusses some of the associated challenges and obstacles. This knowledge can be used to encourage and motivate employers to start WHP

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders : prevention report

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) can interfere with activities at work and can lead to reduced productivity, sickness absence and chronic occupational disability. The aim of this report is to systematic evaluate the effectiveness of interventions at the workplace since 2002 and to provide practical examples with respect to successful prevention of MSDs. Among the main findings of the literature review was that there is strong evidence that technical ergonomic measures can reduce the workload on the back and upper limbs without the loss of productivity and moderate evidence that these measures can also reduce the occurrence of MSDs. Fifteen case studies are presented from a range of occupations and sectors across Europe in order to share the good practice examples with respect to prevention of MSDs. Among others, the case studies cover the health care, pharmaceutical and construction sectors, and the sewing, waste and food industries. Most of the case studies emphasise that the cost/benefit ratio of an ergonomic intervention is a crucial factor for its approval and success. The case studies demonstrated that the principles that are important for successful implementation of workplace interventions include, among other things, sponsorship from the management so that appropriate resources are made available to improve the working environment

Expert System Assessment of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders for Video Display Terminal Users

Using computers for long durations and repetitively lead to costly health problems and reduced productivity among computer users. One of the best preventive actions is proved to be ergonomic interventions. However consulting ergonomics experts would be very expensive especially due to the fact that such interventions should be repeated periodically. Expert systems (ES) can be the solution for dealing with these problems. A rule-based expert system to analyze and evaluate the working conditions of computer users by ergonomics standards was designed. The knowledge base of this expert system was acquired from OSHA’s and Washington state ergonomic standards. Knowledge base is the source of information used to build an expert system. CLIPS was used to construct this ES. Risk factors which lead to formation of WRMSDs were identified; the computer user was aimed to be notified about the existence of WRMSDs hazards in the workplace, and was guided to avoid WRMSDs risk factors. After having this ES available to 100 computer users and analyzing the results, the effectiveness of the constructed ES was validated through comparing the ES outcome with OSHA standards. The significance of this study is to help the organizations to overcome costly health damages and productivity-reduction and making expert instructions available to everyone.</p

A genetic algorithm for the design of job rotation schedules considering ergonomic and competence criteria

Job rotation is an organizational strategy increasingly used in manufacturing systems as it provides benefits to both workers and management in an organization. Job rotation prevents musculoskeletal disorders, eliminates boredom and increases job satisfaction and morale. As a result, the company gains a skilled and motivated workforce, which leads to increases in productivity, employee loyalty and decreases in employee turnover. A multi-criteria genetic algorithm is employed to generate job rotation schedules, with considering the most adequate employee-job assignments to prevent musculoskeletal disorders caused by accumulation of fatigue. The algorithm provides the best adequacy available between workers and the competences needed for performing the tasks. The design of the rotation schedules is based not only on ergonomic criteria but also on issues related to product quality and employee satisfaction. 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