Free «Managing Programs that Promote Health and Wellbeing» Essay Paper

Identify three common health issues that can impact workplace performance

There are three major health issues that can slow down the work rate in any organization. These are exposure to work-related injuries, occupation diseases and mental health problems. Work-related injuries are injuries that are incurred when an employee is in the course of carrying out his or her assigned duties. An occupational disease is any constant ailment resultant from an individual’s pre-assigned duties. Such diseases may be curable or incurable. A mental disorder is a psychiatric problem that occurs in the brain. This ultimately leads to termination of employment since it lends one incapable of carrying out his or her duties.

Research these issues to identify how significant a problem they are and what the impact is from the employer’s perspective.

Work-related injuries, diseases, and mental disorders are very expensive and have a great impact on the lives of workers as well as members of their family, who depend on them. Employees suffer setbacks in their occupations and are personally affected by injuries, illness, or mental disorders. In some instances, the affected individuals experience pain and anguish in addition to the loss of income. In other cases, the employee loses his or her job since such persons are rendered incapable of conducting their everyday chores. Normally, such cases lead to the accumulation of treatment and personal care expenses. The fact that some occupational hazards are not compensated by the employer or the insurer further burdens an employee. The cost to employers, even for one health policy issue, especially in the case of a traumatic accident, can be a huge financial blow. They have to pay various costs and claims. Such include payment of compensation fees and medical expenses, replacement or repair of damaged equipment and machinery, unrealized profits due to the decreased production levels especially if the accident affected a significant number of employees or departments, and higher training and administration costs since this may necessitate the hiring of new or part-time employees. In addition, some implicit costs, such as lower morale among employees and the general avoidance of some sectors, may surface.

 

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Identify approaches that can be taken to address your issues and choose one approach for each issue.

There are various important prevention strategies that can be employed in any workplace so as to curb the occurrence of injuries such as putting in place strategic engineering controls by building barriers, use of protective gloves which protect workers from hazardous equipment and chemicals and the use of ear muffs in a noisy environment. In addition, proper signs and labels should be strategically placed so as to warn workers of any possible danger. Occupation diseases necessitate the use of promotion programs that emphasize on physical activity such as performing regular exercises and emphasizing on proper eating habits. These measures have been effective in preventing diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, which are risk factors that can lead to illness and premature death. In the case of the mental health issues, some employees can be helped by going through counseling or even detailed psychotherapy, if need be. Others can be helped by use of cognitive behavioral therapy, whereby a professional enlightens an employee about his or her situation. By viewing their plight from a different perspective, such employees react to such situations positively and endeavor to improve.

 Give the reasons for your chosen issues and the chosen approaches

The main reason for choosing these three issues is that they are very common in any work place. In addition, these can be prevented by instituting proper preventive measures. Prevention is better than cure. Therefore, both employers and employees should not wait till when matters are out of hand before reacting to a particular situation.

Part B

a)Select one workplace health issue that can affect an organization

Time and again, employees ignore instructions and signs and enter rooms or areas clearly tagged as dangerous. In other cases, workers choose to handle chemicals and other dangerous or explosive substances without observing the laid down procedures and rules.

b)The cause and effect of this issue in your chosen workplace

When unauthorized persons choose to handle a dangerous chemical or enter restricted areas, there is a high possibility that accidents may occur either due to poor handling or utter negligence. In addition, trained personnel may chose to ignore the stipulated rules, thereby increasing risk. This results in a myriad of problems for both the employee and the employer. While the employee’s life may be in danger or his or health may be permanently affected, the employer faces a great risk of loss of both property and resources. In case such unfortunate incidences occur, the production process is halted, leading to widespread losses. On the other hand, resources, both structural and human, are laid idle.

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c)Identification of resources required for the program

Clear labeling and the placement of relevant signs is a cost-effective and easy procedure. First, the firm needs to sensitize its employees on signs and labels that it shall apply. Then, a team should be appointed that will label or chemicals and other flammable or dangerous substances in a clear, systematic and coherent manner. Thirdly, a common store, complete with safety equipments and compliant to the laid down safety standards, should be established.  These substances are then stored in an appropriate manner. Labels and signs should be placed in places that each and every person can easily see.

d)Structure for evaluating and monitoring the program

i. Replacing the existing process, material or equipment with a less hazardous process, material or equipment to check see if the workplace injuries will reduce.

 ii. Placing barriers or limits between employees and the hazard and ensure that it is being monitored for effective evaluation to check if it is successful. This could be physical barriers, time separation, or distance.

iii. Ventilating potential hazardous airborne substances by diluting or capture as a test in order to ensure that it is safe and effective.

iv. Use of personal protective equipment to ensure employee’s safety when dealing with harmful equipment or materials.

e.)Benefits to the organization of implementing your proposed program

A successful workplace health and safety program can be of great importance in saving lives of workers, by regulating hazards and their resultant losses to a minimum. These programs also have positive effects on both productivity and worker’s morale, which are significant in optimizing productivity. It is quite clear that effective programs enable employers to save a lot of money that could have been used to cater for employees medical and compensation cost.