Building a Culture of Wellness and Safety – Where to Start? 

By Katie O’Neill

It is not uncommon to hear that while many employers have both safety and wellness committees, they rarely interact with one another. Employees, managers, and leaders may inherently realize that there are benefits to combining safety and well-being efforts, and quite a bit of overlap, but they also may encounter difficulties when it comes to where the rubber meets the road with integrating initiatives and strategies. Although it can require a revamped approach, there are many benefits to developing a holistic safety and well-being benefits and cultural workplace strategy. Decreased costs and risk, increased engagement, improved employee morale, decreased absenteeism, and improved connectivity are just a few examples. 

Developing these plans from both a strategic and tactical level can vary widely among employers and industries, but here are some key points to discuss with your team and ideas on how to start building stronger communications between wellness and safety.

Recognize the common connection points: Certain injuries and conditions are quite common to see present on both Workers’ Compensation and medical claims, such as musculoskeletal injuries and problems. While those back, neck, and shoulder injuries are costly and numerous, there are many points of intersection between health and safety that might not be as obvious.  For example, if an employee is an undiagnosed or unmanaged diabetic, they could experience neuropathy, which could impact balance, coordination, and walking. They also could experience changes in vision and problems with wound healing. Sleep apnea, which can often be underdiagnosed can lead to decreased alertness and reaction times. Stress, depression, and anxiety can alter focus and engagement at work.

Change the culture around wellness: Part of the reason that wellness programs can experience less engagement than safety programs, can be because they may be seen as participation based, whereas safety is a fundamental requirement. By tying wellness initiatives with safety checklists (for example, encouraging stretching and strengthening breaks, stress reduction, annual physicals, and condition management), you can help managers and employees see how they connect, and are of equal importance to safety checks. While you cannot require participation in wellness programs, building their value and developing a greater awareness of how they can improve workplace safety can help build better engagement and results.

Communications: Consider including a seat for wellness and safety people on both committees, developing a joint committee, or periodic meetings to align initiatives. While this seems like a simple step, it is one of the most important to help open discussions to discuss challenges and brainstorm solutions. Leveraging multiple channels of employee communications (such as signage, on-site events, digital apps, and pre-shift meetings) and streamlining messaging can help to reduce information overload and still reinforce important goals. Having the additional insights and feedback from people working in all areas of the organization can also be helpful in being mindful of the real challenges they see day to day, and how those might be overcome. 

Holistic data reviews and strategy: Claims and reporting from medical and Workers’ Compensation are subject to different rules and may look different, but often the right analysis and approach can identify where risks might carry over. For example, if medical reflect concerns with opioid use and chronic pain, it is a good indicator to start becoming more proactive with your safety team to address prevention, awareness, and evaluate the need for additional resources. These claims can occur simultaneously, or switch back and forth, and having full view of the claims experience and costs holistically can provide good intel on where there might be areas of concern. 

Look at your work environments holistically: We are quick to make sure we identify safety risks in the workplace, and understandably so, but are we also evaluating how the workplace environment could be influencing health risks? Apply the same lens to how employee health can be impacted by what types of foods are on-site, work/life balance, and accessibility to preventive care. This also includes employees who are working off-site; are there ways to help improve communications and tools for them to eat healthier, sleep better, or manage stress? Small things such as providing lists of healthier convenience food options for on-site and field workers, digital programs for improved mobility and fitness, or a PTO day for self and preventive care can serve as part of your approach to considering health as a function of safety. 

Start small: Adding additional responsibilities, communications, and initiatives can always seem daunting, but the overall goal is to make things more united and seamless for everyone. Starting with simple awareness strategies, such as adding communications apps for wellness and safety, signage about Employee Assistance Programs with your safety notices, and opening the lines of communication can ultimately reduce the amount of work required for everyone by creating a more simplified approach and cohesive culture of health and safety.