News

CPH center creates video series to promote Total Worker Health™

Published on May 20, 2015

healthierworkforcecenterlogoThe University of Iowa’s Healthier Workforce Center for Excellence (HWCE) has created a series of training videos designed to help small businesses incorporate innovative techniques and best practices into their workplace environment and to promote the concept of Total Worker Health.

Total Worker Health is a strategy developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that integrates occupational safety and health protection with workplace policies, programs, and practices that promote health and prevent disease to advance worker safety, health, and well-being. This approach also considers the whole person and understands that health and safety factors – both at work and at home – affect the worker as well as his or her family.

Diane Rohlman
Diane Rohlman

According to Diane Rohlman, director of the HWCE and UI associate professor of occupational and environmental health, the videos are part of the center’s Education and Translation project and are constructed on a peer-to-peer model.

“We took research and what we know works well and combined that with real-world best practices from small businesses,” Rohlman says. “The videos are essentially businesses speaking to other businesses on how to incorporate Total Worker Health concepts into their workplace.”

The series features segments about ergonomics, managing stress, and tips from business leaders in Iowa and Nebraska. To view the videos, visit www.HWCE.org.

The HWCE will be releasing another series of eight videos this summer called “Total Worker Health Essentials,” designed to show small business how to get started with planning, implementing, and evaluating Total Worker Health programs in the workplace.

The University of Iowa Healthier Workforce Center for Excellence is one of four National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Total Worker Health Centers for Excellence and is located in the University of Iowa College of Public Health. The Center was established in 2006 and is built upon extensive investigator experience in occupational health and safety, ergonomics, and health promotion.  The HWCE is designed to improve understanding of effective, integrated employee health programs and translate evidence into practice for the benefit of employed populations.