Corporate Wellness Meets Safety Culture: Why

Protecting Workers is Good Business

David P. Gilkey, D.C., Ph.D., CPE

Carla Lopez del Puerto, Ph.D. Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences

Department of Construction Management

Colorado State University Colorado Culture of Health April 30th, 2014

Session Objectives

Those attending this session should be able to:1.Explain concepts of work culture, safety

climate, worksite wellness, occupational health and safety and how they improve the wellbeing of employees, employers and are good business.

Today’s Focus

Worksite W

ellness

Health

Safety

The Hypothesis

Cultivating a positive corporate climate and culture is a path to improved employee and company health, safety, profitability and sustainability.

http://www.airproducts.com/company/Sustainability/managing-sustainability.aspx

The Message

• Embracing the relationship of wellness to occupational safety is core to developing successful strategies to ensure that your organization has high measures of safety climate, employee health and wellness, profitability and sustainability.

Corporate Sustainability | Danielito C. Vizcayno Blogs

Contrary or Complementary

ProductivityEfficiencyQualityProfits

HealthSafety WellnessCompliance

Balanced by Design

WorksiteExposuresConditionsPracticesCulture

Home lifeFamilyFriendsHobbiesCulture

Healthy Relationships and Practices

Ergonomics

An Applied science intending to optimize the fit of humans to work!

Environment

Person Job

Ergonomics

Productivity Efficiency

Quality Worker Health

Optimization

Worksite Wellness Pays

The benefits of worksite health and safety:• Lower health care costs• Higher morale and greater job satisfaction• Higher productivity• Fewer injuries• Ability to recruit & retain top talent• Lower absenteeism

CWHE, 2013

Business StrategiesDr. Ram Nidumolu “Top Sustainable Business Strategies from 2012”

1. Core Capabilities - Values and sustainability

2. Markets - Current and emerging

3. Governance - Megatrends, reporting & risk mgt

4. Stakeholder Mgt – Suppliers, invest, bus Mgt

5. Resource Mgt – Food, water, energy, global impacts and outlook…

Competition!

Culture of Wellness

• What is culture?

• What is wellness?

• What is safety?

• What is profitability?

Organizational Culture

Zohar, 2010• Organizational culture can be thought of

as “the interaction between the organization and individuals”.

• Good Culture?

• Bad Culture?

Safety Culture?

• What is safety culture?• Many things to many people…

“Top-level managers create policies, procedures, programs, budgets, and provide for personnel, equipment, and training and, in doing so, create the culture of the company.”

Safety Culture Concepts

• Company leaders create organizational infrastructure, establish hierarchy of managers, provide resources, and deploy their policies and procedures, thereby setting the tone for day-to-day priorities, work safe behaviors, adherence to safety standards, and the consequence of non-compliance.

Safety Climate?

• What is safety climate?• How is it different than culture?

Safety climate results from the enacted policies and procedures related to safety and the employee’s perceptions and assumptions about the real priorities and consistency of management policies and procedures. What if…?

Climate vs Culture

• We measure climate to understand culture

Climate and culture exist simultaneously and thus are influenced from the bottom up, and top-down interactions and perceptions may vary in relation to one’s level within the organization…

Cultural Difference

• What affects do cultural differences present when creating safety culture?

• Do people from other cultures make the same personal and professional assumptions about their workplace cultures in America?–We think not….

Domains of Climate

Zohar, 1990

1) Management commitment to safety:

#1 – Most important

2) Organizational status of safety officer:

Does the S&H manager meet with top management? $?

Domains of Climate

3) Organizational status of safety committee: Is the committee real, funded,

respected, sought after?

4) Successful safety training:

Who is trained? What is offered? Is training supported? Effective?

Domains of Climate

5) Level of risk at the workplace: How do employees feel about the risk in their jobs?Conditions? Exposures?

6) Effect of safe conduct on social status:Is safe work supported? Reinforced? Admired?

Domains of Climate

7) Effect of safe conduct on promotion within the organization:

Is safety health part of the annual review? Is it

supported?8) Effects of required work pace on safe

work practices:What if?

Safety Culture

Zohar, 2010• 202 studies had been published on safety

climate in numerous work environments over a span of 30 years and that a preponderance of evidence demonstrates that… a relationship existed between safety climate criteria and injury and illness outcomes.

»Culture matters!

Safety Culture

Zohar, 2010• Stated that safety climate measures are

leading indicators of injury and illness and that leadership can change and improve safety climate and thus reduce injury and illness in the workplace.

• Leading vs Lagging indicators of Safety?

vs

Safety Culture

• Research has also demonstrated that safety climate and culture are inversely correlated with injury and illness rates.

Safety Climate

Injury/Illness & Costs

Improving Safety Climate

Building a Positive Safety Climate:

1. Leadership – Mgt. commitment, priorities, values, policies, procedures, rewards, and resources allocated for day to day actions. Promoting safe work practices, conditions, health & wellness and profitability.

Hoffmeister, 2014 and Schwatka, 2014

Improving Safety Climate

2. Employee Involvement – Employee

participation in strategic planning, goals

and objectives, safety, wellness,

production, accident investigations,

innovation, improvement, profitability

Wherever possible!

Hoffmeister, 2014 and Schwatka, 2014

Improving Safety Climate

3. Formal Policies and Procedures – SOPs,

safety rules, orientation, training, annual

reviews, safety inspections, wellness,

productivity levels, discipline and

compliance, rewards, promotion and

more…

Hoffmeister, 2014 and Schwatka, 2014

Improving Safety Climate

4. Training - Topics, needs, safe work

practices, notices, qualifications,

competencies, records, accessible,

participative, and effective…

Hoffmeister, 2014 and Schwatka, 2014

NA – Development – Implementation - Evaluation

Promoting Health and Wellness

Promoting Health and Wellness

Promoting Health and Wellness

Certification

Promoting Safety

1. Management Commitment

2. Hazard Identification/ worksite analysis

3. Hazard prevention and control

4. Training for employees

5. Recordkeeping

Promoting Safety

Loss Prevention

5% Savings

Promoting Safety

Step #1: Formal Declaration of a Company-Wide Loss Prevention and Loss Control Policy

Promoting Safety

Step #2:

Formal creation of a Safety Committee and/or Coordinator

Promoting Safety

Step 3: Clearly Defined and Conspicuously Posted Safety/Loss Prevention Rules

Promoting Safety

Step #4:

Safety Awareness and Loss Prevention Training

Promoting Safety

Step #5:

A Written Designation Of Medical Provider

Promoting Safety

Step #6:

Written Policies and Procedures on Claims Management

ActionPlan!

CWPCCC Works

• Jim McMillian, MPH, CIH“Effectiveness Of The Colorado

Premium Cost Containment Program”– Overall findings showed that companies

that have maintained certification status greater than three years were found to have better results in eight different claims categories and three different rate measurements.

Case Studies

Climax Portable Machine Tools, Inc., SAIF Corporation, Clackamas County, OR

https://healthplans.providence.org/Pages/individuals-and-families.aspx

Motivations

• During times of increased financial pressure combined with the need to maximize every employee’s productivity, rising health care issues were a primary motivator for the desire to create a culture of wellness in the workplace.

https://healthplans.providence.org/Pages/individuals-and-families.aspx

Strategies

In 2010 SAIF initiated Wellness Strategies:• Health Fairs• Sponsored team events • Health screenings • Promoted weight loss • Organized fun group activities such as

hikes and healthy potlucks

https://healthplans.providence.org/Pages/individuals-and-families.aspx

Outcomes

https://healthplans.providence.org/Pages/individuals-and-families.aspx

Outcomes presentation included these findings:• Lost > 600 lbs. among all employees• For every $1 spent on wellness programs,

an organization can expect to see its medical costs fall by $3.27 and absenteeism costs fall by $2.73.

Case Studies

• Curves and Cleveland Clinic share a mission of health, wellness, and prevention, as well as the belief that a healthy population is more productive and requires less health care. Together we have established the Cleveland Clinic Certification program that is exclusive to Curves.

http://www.curves.com/corporate-successes

Results

• Integrated wellness program through its health plan, Curves Completed options a member available. Cleveland Clinic has reduced their cost trend. Since 2009, the Cleveland Clinic Employee Health Plan has experienced a $75 million dollar cost avoidance which they believe is because of their Healthy Choice and Wellness Initiatives.

Ergonomics

Colorado Case – Pinnacol Assurance• George Wahl, M.S., CIH, CSP• 1:17 ROI

Expectations• Increased productivity, quality and safety• Increased effective communication• Increased respect for all• Increased health and wellness• Increased worker cohesion and cooperation• Increased work culture• Increased safety culture• Increased profitability

Contact InformationDavid P. Gilkey, D.C., Ph.D., CPEAssociate Professor and Director, ERHS Undergraduate EducationCertified Professional ErgonomistOccupational and Environmental Health SectionDepartment of Environmental and Radiological Health ScienceCollege of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical SciencesColorado State UniversityFort Collins, Colorado 80523-1681Phone: 970-491-7138 Fax (970) 491-2940Email: dgilkey@colostate.edu

Carla Lopez del Puerto, Ph.D.Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Construction ManagementColorado State UniversityFort Collins, Colorado 80523-1584Phone: (970) 491-7960; Fax (970) 491-2473Email: carlalp@cahs.colostate.edu