The Combined Employee Health Risk: Occupational Hazard Appraisal: The New York City Experience

Abstract

This study was undertaken to demonstrate the feasibility of a combined ap- proach to health promotion for employees of the New York City Health Department. This included a review of health habits based on the C.D.C.-developed Health Risk Appraisal System, and a self-survey of occupational exposures among a selected group of staff members. The project involved 280 laboratory workers. Employee support was assured by active involvement of management and workers in joint decisions in which laboratory unions shared; and an agreement that a worksite review would be guaranteed by management if there was general acceptance of the health habit appraisal by employees. Results indicated an 84% return of health habit questionnaires by employees, and 82% participation of laboratory staff in workplace interviews. A workplace walk-through was also included. Failure to buckle up was most common among health habits studied, and ventilation problems were most prominent among reports of interviewers and those conducting workplace reviews. A prominent finding was an immediate response by laboratory management to workplace problems by prompt remedial action or a commitment to planning for major renovations. Management is now considering extension of this combined process to other segments of the Department's 6,000-member staff.