Paul Fallon, from WorkHealth, with Mark Nisbet and Bill Lewis, both from Reece Plumbing Distribution Centre, helped launch a new WorkHealth campaign last week. 60158
By Bridget Cook
A DANDENONG South business helped launch a new WorkHealth campaign last week aimed at reducing the costs of chronic preventable disease in the workplace.
With sick leave estimated to cost Victorian employers more than $2800 per employee each year, a new television commercial, which screened last week, calls on bosses to step up to the challenge by signing up for free WorkHealth.
The new WorkSafe Victoria initiative was launched at Reece Plumbing’s Distribution Centre in Dandenong South last week.
WorkHealth director Pam Anders said since the program began, the free, confidential, 15-minute WorkHealth checks had been delivered at more than 19,000 workplaces across the state.
“Smart employers know that employee health and wellbeing has an enormous impact on their bottom line, which is one of the reasons we have seen an increasing focus on health and wellbeing in many workplaces,” she said.
“But we’re also finding that the most common reasons that bosses sign up for WorkHealth checks is because they want to show they care about their staff and support them to look after their health.
“We know that the vast majority of employers really do care about their workers, and the WorkHealth checks are a great way to demonstrate this.”
Reece Plumbing’s Distribution Centre manager Mark Nisbet said the benefits for signing up for WorkHealth checks at the company’s distribution centre were obvious.
“We have had a couple of blokes in our team who had heart attacks while at work over recent years,” he said.
“Having ambulances pull up at our workplace was a fairly harsh reality, and as the employer, we felt we would have liked to have done something to help prevent this from happening.
“WorkHealth checks for us seemed the perfect way to help our staff learn about their health risks, and hopefully, stop major problems before they occur.
“Several of our people have gone on to make positive changes, myself included. We’re now looking at other ways that we can support healthy lifestyle choices at our workplace, including introducing a subsidised onsite canteen to encourage healthier eating throughout the day.”
A total of 290,000 workers so far have received WorkHealth checks, with alarming results recorded. This included at least 66 per cent of workers found to have a medium or high risk of developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease, and needing to make some changes in order to avoid serious illness.
Further results show that 70 per cent of workers reported inadequate physical exercise and 25 per cent of workers had high cholesterol.
Employers can complete the application for WorkHealth checks at workhealth.vic.gov.au or call WorkSafe Victoria on 1800 136 089.
