Welcome by the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion
ENWHP has been working towards its mission of "healthy employees in healthy organisations" since 1996. By carrying out joint initiatives and developing good practice criteria for WHP,
the network has become a frontrunner in European Workplace Health Promotion.
The ninth ENWHP initiative "PH Work – Promoting healthy work for people with chronic illness" was dedicated to promote healthy work for employees suffering the consequences of a chronic illness. On 22-23 October 2013, the PH Work initiative was concluded by a conference on "Workplace Health Practices for Employees with Chronic Illness". The results of this conference
are available via www.workadaptedforall.eu
Please contact us with any and all of your questions at: enwhp@prevent.be
The ENWHP Secretariat
News from ENWHP
Recent ENWHP activities
▪ The ENWHP Secretariat was invited to talk about an "Holistic approach to OSH in the workplace and Workplace Health Promotion", during the conference on "Safer and healthier work at any age" at the EU Parliament on 2 December. This conference was organised by the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA) in the larger context of the
European Parliament pilot project on health and safety of older workers. ▪ The results of the ENWHP conference on "Workplace Health Practices for Employees with Chronic Illness (22-23 October, Brussels)" are available on the conference website www.workadaptedforall.eu More info on the PH Work closing conference will follow in a Special Edition of the ENWHP Newsletter this month!
Changes at the European Network
▪ The European Network for Workplace Health Promotion would like to oficially welcome on board a new National Contact Office for Ireland, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). The Work Research Centre (WRC) will remain the Operational Unit for Ireland. ▪ The Lombardy Workplace Health Promotion Network has joined ENWHP as a partner in its mission towards "healthy employees in healthy organisations". ▪ We regret to inform you that Mrs. Anja Dijkman (TNO, Netherlands) who has been actively involved in our network for nearly 10 years will move on to other opportunities. The ENWHP wishes Anja the best of luck in her future endeavours! ▪ The ENWHP Secretariat would like to take this opportunity to wish our ENWHP members and partners - as well as our readers - Happy Holidays, a Merry Christmas and a sparkling 2014!
News related to WHP
New EU Council recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity
The Council recommendation states that physical activity is a prerequisite for a healthy lifestyle and a healthy workforce, in a rapidly ageing European society. It also links the benefits of physical activity with lowered risks for a number of chronic diseases (cardiovascular, some types of cancer). The EU Council recommends that "the Member States work towards effective HEPA (Health Enhancing Physical Activity) policies by developing a cross-sectoral approach involving policy areas including sport, health, education, environment and transport, as well as other relevant sectors." More...
"Santiago Declaration" on the state of the economy and health
The results of a high level conference, which took place in Santiago de Compostela in 2013, have been announced. The conference reviewed the evidence in relation to the impacts of economic change on health, and concluded that current responses to economic pressures ignore these impacts, at the cost of storing up short and long term health outcomes. The "Santiago Declaration" outlines the impacts and urges political leaders to act to prevent them, and to promote a more integrated and humane response to the problems of economic restructuring and unemployment.
Transnational conference in Weimar
"Healthy working conditions and workplaces"
On 26-27 September, the German Thüringer Netzwerk Demografie organised a small conference on European approaches to healthy working conditions & workplaces. The aim of the conference was to get people working on similar projects together to exchange and discuss their tools, methods and strategies. Following projects were presented: 1) SANUS - Implementation of holistic approaches of health promoting working conditions for employees in the social economy (Germany), 2) Testing of age management practices within private and public work organisations of the region Trento (Italy) by WWELL Research Centre, 3) PROGRESS Towards healthy ageing in Europe (UK), 4) PH Work - Promoting Healthy Work for Employees with Chronic Illness (ENWHP), 5) All Generations at Work (France).
13th EASOM summer course on WHP
On 28-31 August 2013, the 13th EASOM summer course took place in Romania, jointly organized by the University of Medicine Victor Babes, Romtens Foundation (NCO Romania) and the Romanian Society of Occupational Medicine. 40 attendants from 14 different countries participated. Maria Dolores Solé, chair of the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP), had the honour of representing the network at the summer course. EASOM is the European Association of Schools of Occupational Medicine. Programme... & More...
News from the National Contact Offices
Joint Action on Mental Health 2013-2015
As outlined in the previous ENWHP Newsletter, the Joint Action (JA) on Mental Health kicked off successfully. The initiative is being implemented in 27 countries and it focuses on the development of a framework for action in key settings and fields of action. One key setting is the workplace. “Promotion of mental health at the workplace”, working package 6, is led by BKK Bundesverband (NCO Germany). Other members of the ENWHP are involved in the JA as well. After the kick-off meeting, the workplace consortium decided on the project agenda for the next 3 years and developed a joint methodology for involving the key stakeholders at national level. The main common goal is to develop a common action framework to support enterprises in adopting policies and practices, which prevent mental ill-health and strengthen positive mental health, based on improved co-operation and co-ordination among the relevant stakeholders and between the relevant policy sectors, particularly the health policy and the labour policy sector. On 28-29 October, the members met in Ljubljana (Slovenia) to discuss the results of their national SWOT analyses (used to identify the commonly shared priorities). The results will be the basis for the agenda of the European exchange conference scheduled for 2014 in Berlin. More info via www.mentalhealthandwellbeing.eu or contact dr. Gregor Breucker gregor.breucker@bkk-dv.de
MHP-Hands finishes its work!
The MHP-Hands project - funded by DG-Sanco’s Public Health Programme and coordinated by the Work Research Centre (ENWHP Operational Unit for Ireland) - has finished. The project has produced 3 handbooks for mental health promotion – one each for the school, workplace and older people’s home settings. The handbooks are available in multiple languages – English, German, Finnish, Estonian and Polish. They are aimed at the non-specialist user – it is expected that teachers, health and safety officers and care staff in older people’s homes will be able to use them with minimal support. There is a set of training packages available for the handbooks and the content is also supported by an online training package – Mind Health. The books aim to be practical, including for example a set of exercises in each chapter. In addition, they contain links to the ProMenPol database of MHP tools, which contains more than 400 instruments that can be used to implement mental health promotion programmes and activities. More info via www.mentalhealthpromotion.net, or contact Richard Wynne r.wynne@wrc-research.ie
A cartoon on work and improvement of working conditions Click here... The idea behind this cartoon is to show two degraded work situations who have an impact on working conditions (a production line and a call center), and to show how these situations can be improved through actions on working conditions (equipment, working environment, management, organisation). The cartoon is a production of Aract Languedoc Rousillon, part of the network of ANACT (NCO France).
WHP and community development in Romanian rural areas
On 25 June 2013, in Bucharest, Romtens Foundation (NCO Romania), together with its partners organised the final conference of the “Human Resources Development in Rural Communities” strategic project. The 3-year project has been co-financed by the European Social Fund and has been applying a combination of approaches - on the one hand implementing workplace health promotion (WHP) activities, and on the other, activities based on the concept of community development. The workplace health promotion activities were implemented in around 100 enterprises from rural areas for 191 managers and 299 employees. The conference reunited more than 140 representatives of Romanian local and central public authorities, experts from the field of healthcare, managers of enterprises from the rural areas, employees from the rural areas, as well as employer’s associations and employees. More...
Publications of interest to our readers
▪ Workplace related mental health problems - risk and prevention by Prof. Dr. Karl Kuhn, co-chair of the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENHWP). This article was published in Die Psychiatrie 2013 10 2: 61-70. ▪ Promoting health, preventing disease: is there an economic case?, a policy summary by Sherry Merkur, Franco Sassi and David McDaid. It provides an overview of what is known about the economic case for investing in a number of different areas of health promotion and non-communicable disease prevention. ▪ Construction and implementation of business agreements and action plans related to the employment of older workers, French research study by ANACT (NCO France) and IRES. The study looks at the implementation at company level of the French regulation that imposes companies to draft an action plan related to the employment of older workers. ▪ Working longer - an EU perspective, by the International Longevity Centre UK. The report considers the case for extending working lives and the role of the EU institutions in this. ▪ Working Well Survey (5th edition), a global survey of health promotion and workplace wellness strategies - investigated emerging trends in employer-sponsored health promotion and wellness programmes. More than 1300 organsations from 45 countries participated. ▪ Calculating the international return on prevention for companies, project by DGUV, ISSA and others. The report states that investment in safety and health in enterprises has a direct and measurable cost-benefit potential. Data from over 300 companies in 19 countries was analysed.
Upcoming events
Global Healthy Workplace Awards 2014
The 2nd Global Healthy Workplace Awards & Summit will be held in Shanghai (China) on 9-10 April 2014. The GHWAwards are hosted by Global Knowledge Exchange Network in Health (GKEN), Wolf Kirsten International Health Consulting, and i-genius. Until 24 January, application entries are open to employer organisations (profit and not-for-profit) in the following categories: 1) Small and medium-sized enterprises, 2) Large scale enterprises, 3) Multinational enterprises. A recording of the webinar on "how to get global recognition?", during which the evaluation criteria and the process are explained, are available here... Another webinar will be organized in January. We are pleased to announce that prof.dr. Karl Kuhn, co-chair of the ENWHP, has joined the GHWAwards Advisory Board. On 10-12 April 2013, the 1st Global Healthy Workplace Awards & Summit took place in London (UK). Awards were given to businesses, which have developed exemplary workplace health programmes.
More information on the winners and ENWHP involvement...
Okay in the UK - Exchange of expert information UK 2014 NL
The 2014 Exchange is organised by the Dutch Centre Work Health, work2health UK and iHMQ (International Institute for Health Management and Quality) and will take place on 8-11 April 2014. It consists of a combined visit to London, Cardiff and North Wales to view at first hand the health and well-being programmes in 3 major organisations, for which each of them has received accreditation. Moreover, the opportunity will be provided to meet the representatives of the Greater London Authority and the Welsh Government to discuss the rationale and nature of the accreditation process. Many opportunities will be created for the participants to share knowledge and experience among one another, and to contrast their experience with that of the organisations visited: Transport for London, Admiral Insurance, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service. More...
Short listing of events in 2014
▪ Work, Health, and Well-Being: Integrating Wellness and Occupational Health and Safety in the Workplace (United States, Boston MA, 27-29 January), organised by the Harvard School of Public Health, this programme is designed for professionals with direct responsibility for worker health and safety. Participants gain the skills necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of workplace health strategies, translate this evidence into practice, and implement these strategies to design health promotion and occupational health and safety programmes. ▪ Human Economy - Sustainable Resource Management of an ageing workforce (Germany, Berlin, 20-21 February) The ddn - the Demographic Network organises an international, interactive conference on Sustainable Resource Management. The conference focuses on 4 pillars to make yourself ready to change the working environment: plan for the future (sustainable HR planning), keep your employees healthy (workplace health), develop diverse career models (for older workers) and manage risks (knowledge transfer). ▪ XX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2014 - Global Forum for Prevention (Germany, Frankfurt, 24-27 August) is jointly organised by ILO, ISSA and DGUV. The focus is on discussion - debate - action. Over 4.000 experts from all over the world will be discussing the latest OSH developments and trends. ▪ IFDM 2014 "Disability Management: Pushing beyond the boundaries" (Australia, Melbourne, 17-19 November) The International Forum on Disability Management 2014 will take place in Melbourne. A call for abstracts has been issued for presentations and workshops. The various themes are detailed on the IFDM 2014 website, the deadline for submissions is February 14.
