Occupational Health Management Plan

This report discusses the development and implementation of an occupational health management plan for an accounting firm to address lifestyle and metabolic health complications associated with sedentary work and unhealthy diet. The plan includes educational sessions, practical classes, diet consultation, and exercise implementation. The aim is to reduce sitting time and promote a balanced diet and exercise among workers.

Occupational Health Management Plan
Student Name
Student ID
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Executive Summary
Hazards associated with harmful lifestyle behaviours such as unhealthy diet
consumption and prolonged engagement in sitting result in negative health
consequences like obesity, loss of muscle mobility and increased risk of metabolic
disorders. To address the same, an occupational health management safety plan has
been developed for an accounting firm where workers engage in long hours of sitting
and intake of an inadequate diet from the workplace cafeteria. The following report
discusses extensively on the background and significance of such as intervention,
existing safety policies and implementation of an educational and practical
demonstration plan aimed at enlightening managers and café workers as well as
reducing sitting time and increasing exercise and balanced diet consumption among
the concerned workers.
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Contents
Executive Summary....................................................................................................ii
Industry or organisation name....................................................................................2
An introduction............................................................................................................2
Definitions...................................................................................................................3
Workplace demography..............................................................................................4
Assessment of risk......................................................................................................4
Critical review of relevant literature.............................................................................5
Management Plan.......................................................................................................5
Emergency Response................................................................................................6
Evaluation...................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 6
References.................................................................................................................8
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Industry or organisation name
The organization which has been chosen for the preparation and implementation of
the occupational health safety management plan, is ‘ABC Consultants’ (name
changed to maintain anonymity, privacy and confidentiality) – an accounting firm
located in the Sydney, Australia.
An introduction
Background: For the maintenance of optimum health and wellbeing, it is of utmost
importance for individuals to maintain an equilibrium of dietary and exercise activities
characterised by engagement in adequate amounts of exercise, reduction in
prolonged hours of sitting or sedentary activities and increased intake of a diet
balanced in the five food groups outlined by the Australian Dietary Guidelines (Malek
et al., 2016). Living a sedentary lifestyle characterised by prolonged hours of sitting –
a prevalent requirement in most desk associated jobs similar to the one chosen for
this report – along with consumption of an unhealthy diet, results in negative health
manifestations in the form of increased susceptibility to obesity and the associated
emergence of metabolic deficits such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus,
hepatic and renal disorders and possibilities of cancer (Huang, Benford & Blake,
2019).
Hence, to prevent the same, the Department of Health recommended adults aged 18
to 64 years to practice 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate intensity and 1.25 to 2.5 hours of
vigorous intensity physical activity, every week (Department of Health, 2019).
Additionally, the Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend consumption of a
balanced diet containing reasonable amounts of core food groups such as: fruits,
vegetable, legumes and beans, whole grains and cereal products, reduced fat milk
and milk products like cheese, yogurt, seeds, nuts, beans and lean meats like fish,
poultry and eggs (Nutrition Australia, 2019). However, as per the National Health
Survey covered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017 -2018), it was observed
that adults within the age group of 18 to 64 years, engaged primarily in sitting
(43.7%) followed by walking (22.8%), standing (19.5%) and vigorous physical activity
(13.6%). Further data revealed high rates of obesity (67.0%) and consumption of fruit
across more than slightly half of the population engaging in fruit consumption (51.3%)
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019).
Such habits have been implicated to be largely prevalent across sedentary
occupational environments with limited time, awareness or availability of employee
engagement in exercise or balanced diet consumption. Hence, such a background is
indicative of the low rates of physical activity, healthy food consumption and high
rates of sedentary lifestyle, necessitating the immediate need to administer measures
to address these metabolic and lifestyle hazards to health (Huang, Benford & Blake,
2019).
Aims: To plan, develop and implement an occupational health management plan on
a chosen accounting firm operating in Sydney, Australia, for the mitigation of lifestyle
and metabolic health complications associated with prolonged hours of sedentary
work and availability and consumption of nutritionally imbalanced food by the
workplace cafeteria.
Objectives: Hence, in alignment with the above identified objective, the occupational
management plan will be developed as per the following objectives:
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1. To educate employees and employers on the hazards associated with long
sedentary work hours and unhealthy food consumption, and the benefits
associated with exercise and balanced diet intake.
2. To develop an occupational hazard management plan to reduce the hazards
of lifestyle issues and negative health and metabolic health outcomes
associated with prolonged sedentary work and consumption of nutritionally
imbalanced food at the workplace.
3. To educate the food handling workforce employed at the cafeteria on
strategies of healthy food preparation, as per the Australian Dietary
Guidelines.
Significance: The health hazard so identified is of major cause of concern and of
significance to the concerned workers, employed at the workplace in particular and
across daily lifestyle in general. Sedentary occupations similar to the one prevalent in
the chosen organization is characterised by workers engaged in work with prolonged
hours of sitting. Long hours of engagement in sedentary activities results in workers’
increased susceptibility to the being obese and overweight (Després, 2016). Lack of
treatment of the same, will result in increased adiposity and high risk of acquisition of
metabolic disorders like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and
cancers among workers - further resulting in negative health outcomes, reduced life
expectancy and compromises on the workforce functioning, organizational
production and resultant financial losses. Consumption of an unhealthy diet,
especially if the same is delivered by the occupational environment further results in
workers’ progression towards the above health hazards (Chu et al., 2016).
Purpose: Hence, the primary purpose of this occupational hazard management plan,
is to reduce or eradicate the prevalent metabolic health hazards associated with
prolonged sedentary work and unhealthy diet consumption across the selected
workplace. To achieve the same, the purpose of this occupational hazard
management plan is to instil increased awareness and knowledge among workers
and employers on the need to sit less, exercise more and eat healthy for
achievement of long term health outcomes. Lastly, the purpose of this hazard
management plan is to educate the workplace cafeteria staff on strategies of healthy
cooking as per national recommendations.
Definitions
Sedentary Work: A type of job or workplace characterised by long hours of sitting,
though a substantial amount of standing or walking may be need to undertake certain
activities (Lin et al., 2015).
Balanced Diet: A diet consisting of proportionate quantities of a variety of core food
groups, recommended by the Australian Dietary Guidelines, to be: fruits, vegetable,
legumes and beans, whole grains and cereal products, reduced fat milk and milk
products like cheese, yogurt, seeds, nuts, beans and lean meats like fish, poultry and
eggs (Nutrition Australia, 2019).
Physical Activity: As postulated by the Department of Health, any form of activity
known to stimulate blood circulation, heart rate, respiratory rate and muscle
functioning at acceptable levels (Department of Health, 2019).
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Workplace demography
The workplace chosen for the development of the occupational hazard management
plan is ‘ABC Consulting’ – an accounting firm located in Sydney Australia. The
original name of the organization has been kept hidden for the purpose of
maintaining privacy and confidentiality. The workers who generally work in this
organization are adults, within the age group of 25 to 45 years of age, comprising of
both males and females. The work hours of the organization range comprise of 9
hours, ranging from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. However, workers are often compelled to
extend their work hours to often 10 to 12 hours due to occupational pressures. The
chosen organization employs accountants in primarily sedentary jobs of auditing,
taxing, financial consultation and management of activities associated with
accounting for clients residing locally or regionally. The occupational environment
also has facilities of a cafeteria serving budget friendly food. The chosen workplace is
located at multi-storeyed building in an urban locality, where the floor in which the
office is located has facilities of an open garden space for workers to engage in short
periods of rest and recreation.
Assessment of risk
Potential Hazards: Upon examination and monitoring of the practices conducted in
the chosen workplace, it was observed that the prevalence of detrimental lifestyle
behaviours associated with prolonged sedentary work environments and increased
consumption of a high fat, high sugar diet or diet which is not balanced in core
nutritional groups – are potential hazards (Close et al., 2018).
Risks associated with the Hazard: Risks which may occur due to these hazards
include physiological risks such as increased adiposity, inadequate muscle tissue
development and increased weight gain resulting in overweight/obesity as well as
metabolic risks such as increased susceptibility to diabetes mellitus, hypertension,
hyperlipidemia, oxidative stress and possibilities of cancer (Park & Lee, 2016).
Exposure: The exposure to the identified risks is due to work related practices and
the work environment such as an occupational working protocol necessitating
workers to sit at their workstations for long hours and consumption of a nutritionally
inadequate diet served by the workplace cafeteria services.
Risk Assessment: The risks were assessed by comparing the same to the
Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Physical Activity Guidelines developed by the
Department of Health (Department of Health, 2019). Upon conducting visual
inspection and interviews among the food preparation staff in the cafeteria, it was
observed that meals mainly comprised of high fat, high refined grain and high sugar
products (such as cheeses, white bread burgers and sandwiches, refined noodles
and pasta, sugary soda beverages, which are non-compliant with the national
recommended core food group and balanced diet intake. The Department of Health
necessitates adults aged 18 to 64 years to practice 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate
intensity and 1.25 to 2.5 hours of vigorous intensity physical activity, every week,
followed by avoiding long sitting hours and frequently engaging in movement or
segmenting prolonged sedentary hours into shorter time spans (Department of
Health, 2019). A lack of the same was observed with workers almost working seated
for a stretch of 7 to 8 hours.
Legal Requirements and Ethical Considerations: The ethical issue which needs
to be addressed and was observed to function at the workplace is ‘Duty of Care’ –
the legislation necessitating that it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure
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avoidance of harm to the employees, in the absence of which compensation may be
requested (Millar & Hsu, 2019).There is a however a need to address work health
and safety issues by the employer by considering the Work Health and Safety Act
2011 – responsible for protecting workers’ health, welfare and safety (Queensland
Government, 2019).
Proposed Change: Hence a change is needed, in the form of a revised working
schedule which necessitates workers to be active and avoid prolonged sitting along
with provision of nutritionally balanced meals in the cafeteria.
Critical review of relevant literature
At present, as evident from the risk assessment, there are no current plans or
policies available at the chosen workplace to address this issues. However, it has
been evidenced that introducing recreational areas, nutritious food options or
exercise facilities within the workplace, can be beneficial in reducing workers’ sitting
time (Hendren & Logomarsino, 2017). Several interventions to prevent health
hazards due to sitting have been postulated by ‘Safe Work Australia’, which include:
introduction of standing workstations, establishing workplace rules which necessitate
workers to stand while reading, talking or delivering a message by walking instead of
mailing and performance of ‘standing’ meetings (Safe Work Australia, 2019). It has
however been criticised that workers and employees are often resistant to change
and consider such interventions to be time consuming. These can however be
countered by establishing an educational plan or incentives and reward frameworks
(Dutta, Walton & Pereira, 2015).
Management Plan
Hence, the management plan will comprise of the following components:
Educational Plan: Firstly, employees and employers will be included in an
educational session where they will be taught on harms of sitting and unhealthy
dietary intake, and strategies of exercise and balanced diet consumption using audio-
visual presentations and distribution of educational booklets (Nobrega et al., 2016).
Practical Classes: A practical class will be conducted where staff will be taught
healthy cooking strategies, menu planning principles and balanced meal preparation
using demonstrations and distribution of recipe books (Meng et al., 2017).
Diet Consultation: By collaborating with a healthcare organization, a nutritionist will
be appointed to visit the premises daily to provide dietary consultation and body
measurement facilities to the workers, free of cost (Hipp et al., 2015).
Exercise Implementation: A fitness practitioner will be appointed who will hold
weekly mild exercise sessions at the recreational areas followed by collaboratively
working with WHS personnel to develop a working schedule with decreased sitting as
per WHS recommendations mentioned previously (Bolton et al., 2017).
Frequency: To ensure comprehensive learning and training, the educational and
cooking classes will be provided on alternate days of the week, with a reflection and
feedback session at the end of each week (Price et al., 2017).
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Emergency Response
While the present hazard is not associated with emergencies or evacuation, the
following numbers may be considered for dietary and exercise consultation or in case
of injuries due to exercise.
Organisation Name Contact Title Phone number
Nutritionist: XYZ
Healthcare
Organization
Mrs. Baker Consultant Nutritionist + 61293247000
Outpatient
Department: XYZ
Healthcare
Organization
Mr. Watson Outpatient Manager + 61293247100
Emergency Services:
XYZ Healthcare
Organization
Mr. Dawson Emergency Staff Team
Leader
+ 61293247200
Fitness Practitioner:
Local gym and Fitness
Centre
Mr. Wilson Fitness Practitioner + 64503247000
Ambulance Mr. Duke Ambulatory Team Leader + 61293247500
Evaluation
The plan will be monitored using both process and outcome evaluation methods in
the following ways:
Process Evaluation: Weekly discussion sessions will be conducted which will
involve the WHS official, nutritionist, the fitness practitioner and the manager of the
organization interacting on workers’ responses, progress noted and strategies for
continuous improvement. Every week, workers will be asked to reflect upon the
changes and communicate any issues or provide feedback on the same (Sharma et
al., 2019).
Outcome Evaluation: A final feedback survey and interview will be conducted where
workers will score the overall plan after 1 month and discuss with the manager on the
ways in why they would or would not like this hazard strategy to be implemented for
long term. Weekly hazard assessments will be conducted by the WHS officials.
Lastly, the manager may invest in healthcare services where community nurses are
appointed to measure workers’ anthropometrics, blood glucose and blood pressure
levels for metabolic monitoring (van den Berg et al., 2019).
Conclusion
Hence, to summarise, an occupational health safety plan is necessary to prevent
hazards associated with lifestyle, diet and prolonged sitting at the workplace using
dietary interventions, exercise implementation and training and educational
frameworks. Inclusion of process evaluation end feedback procedures will ensure
employee satisfaction, timely management of grievances and hence overall success.
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Such a plan will be helpful to combat the harmful effects associated with obesity and
metabolic diseases due to lack of exercise and balanced diet consumption.
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