Health is often seen as the simple absence of disease in an individual, but being healthy goes beyond not having a disease. Being healthy implies complete physical, mental, and social well-being, which in turn is influenced by individual factors and human interaction.
Among the various human/social interaction factors that affect an individual’s state of health, the workplace is undoubtedly a determining factor, due to its physical and emotional impact.
During the exercise of different work activities, the worker can be exposed to various types of physical and emotional stress that act slowly on the individual, altering his well-being, potentially compromising his health.
In recent years, awareness of the impact of work activities on workers’ health has grown greatly and attracted more and more attention, not only from companies and workers but also from the government and regulatory bodies, to promote policies and mechanisms for supporting health management.
Health management in the workplace
Health management in the workplace is all about understanding risk and minimizing its impact. The understanding of risk starts with the recognition or mapping by the employer of the possible risk factors with the potential to cause damage to health. This factor mapping process is followed by quantification of the possible expected exposure level taking into account the duration of the activity. In turn, the minimization of impact is based on the implementation of measures designed to reduce the effect of different factors in the long term.
The main objectives of the concept of worker health management are to reduce as much as possible the chances of the workplace and the activities carried out there being responsible for the deterioration of the workers’ health.
Increasingly, companies have assumed an active role in the prevention of illnesses associated with the workplace. First, for human reasons, the preservation of quality of life is crucial, and second, healthy workers are much more productive and have a lower level of absenteeism.
It is also important to mention that with the constant changes that the World is facing, special attention must be given to programs that promote the management of workers’ mental health, in addition to physical health management, because mental health dictates the sense of well-being and quality of life.
Promoting workers’ health
Having a work environment that promotes worker health is crucial for any institution that wants to grow sustainably and also wants to keep its employees healthy and productive for long periods.
To be effective, health management must be done in a shared way, between the employee and the institution, so that both parties understand how to achieve the final objective, which is the preservation of the worker’s health.
- It is up to the institution to make workers aware of the risk factors inherent in their activity, and how to protect themselves against them. It is also the institution’s responsibility to promote a work environment where health risks are controlled to levels that have a minimal impact.
- In turn, the worker is responsible for faithfully complying with the implemented measures and reporting possible failures or opportunities for improvement in the implemented systems.
Depending on the activities carried out in a given institution, exposure to different risk factors can be eliminated or controlled at extremely low levels, making the risks harmless to health.
Therefore, investing in the implementation of personalized health management systems for each work sector is undoubtedly the way to promote the well-being and progress of individuals and their families.