Assessing Workplace Health and Safety Strategies, Trends, and Barriers through a Statewide Worksite Survey.

Ami Sedani,Rajvi J Wani,Brian Coyle,Derry Stover

doi:10.3390/ijerph16142475

Abstract

Chronic diseases have added to the economic burden of the U.S. healthcare system. Most Americans spend most of their waking time at work, thereby, presenting employers with an opportunity to protect and promote health. The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of workplace health governance and safety strategies among worksites in the State of Nebraska, over time and by industry sector using a randomized survey. Weighted percentages were compared by year, industry sector, and worksite size. Over the three study periods, 4784 responses were collected from worksite representatives. Adoption of workplace health governance and planning strategies increased over time and significantly varied across industry sector groups. Organizational safety policies varied by industry sector and were more commonly reported than workplace health governance and planning strategies. Time constraints were the most common barrier among worksites of all sizes, and stress was reported as the leading employee health issue that negatively impacts business. Results suggest that opportunities exist to integrate workplace health and safety initiatives, especially in blue-collar industry sectors and small businesses.

Highlights

Chronic diseases remain the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, as well as the leading contributor to the nation’s healthcare cost [1,2,3]
Three point-in-time surveys were conducted among worksites in Nebraska to test our central hypothesis that the prevalence of reported health promotion and safety strategies did not vary across years or industry sectors
When compared across survey years, we found an increase in the implementation of all the six workplace health planning and governance strategies measured

Summary

Introduction

Chronic diseases remain the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, as well as the leading contributor to the nation’s healthcare cost [1,2,3]. Maintaining a healthier workforce can lower direct costs to the business Compensation claims) as well as indirect costs (e.g., absenteeism, return on investment, and worker productivity) [5,6,7,8,9]. With changes in the workforce population, chronic health conditions have become a growing concern for employees and businesses [10]. Worksite health and wellness programs offer an important population health strategy to address the increase in chronic diseases [11,12,13]. While adoption of workplace health programs have increased in the U.S in recent years, there is still variation in uptake by business size and industries [14,15,16]. Many workplaces lack a comprehensive, integrated approach that addresses multiple risk factors and health conditions

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Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion