NIOSH Calls for Comment on Health and Wellbeing Draft Document
A part of the agency's WorkLife Initiative, NIOSH is requesting public comment on a new resource document--titled Essential Elements of Effective Workplace Programs and Policies for Improving Worker Health and Wellbeing--that it says is intended to become a useful tool to facilitate the development of workplace programs, policies, and practices to sustain and improve workforce health.
Based on information received from experts and practitioners with experience in industry, academia, labor, government, and the non-profit sector, NIOSH has developed a list of twenty proposed essential elements as a resource to guide the adoption of programs and policies that support and encourage comprehensive approaches to worker safety and health.
NIOSH has established a public docket for this list and is requesting input from the public, including experts and interested individuals, both to comment on the elements and to supply resource information that will help provide further guidance and direction for those wishing to implement them.
In particular, NIOSH said it is requesting input into the docket of examples, illustrations, and information that support the individual elements, including: web links to resource materials; articles from the academic and business literature; and anecdotes and case studies that will help to make this list a practical, detailed, and user-friendly "how-to" resource for those ready to put the document into practice.
The premise of the NIOSH WorkLife Initiative, which is based on scientific research to date and practical experience in the field, is that comprehensive practices and policies that take into account the work environment--physical and organizational--and also address the personal health-related choices of individuals are more effective in preventing disease and injury and promoting health and safety than each approach independently.
Information about the NIOSH WorkLife Initiative and the recent symposium WorkLife 2007: Protecting and Promoting Worker Health is available at www.cdc.gov/niosh/worklife.
The draft document for review and comment is available as a