Emerging Health Issues: Inactivity & Obesity in Australian Healthcare

This literature review identifies physical inactivity and obesity as significant emerging occupational health issues within the Australian healthcare industry, largely due to increased automation and sedentary work environments. It explores how these issues manifest, leading to increased morbidity, mortality, and other health problems like hypertension and cancer among healthcare professionals. The review examines the Work Health and Safety Act (2011) and other guidelines, emphasizing the need for lifestyle modifications, workplace inspections, and increased physical activity. It further assesses standard industry practices, such as redesigning workplaces to promote movement and implementing policy interventions to encourage physical activity during workdays. The review concludes that a multi-faceted approach, including government support and workplace interventions, is crucial to address these health concerns and improve the well-being of healthcare workers. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

Running head: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT 1
Occupational Health Management
Student’s Name
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Introduction
Working environments such as the health care industry are progressively changing based
on the adoption of new technologies, work conditions, new employment forms, substances, and
work processes that correspond to the changes in the labor market. Notably, these changes attract
new opportunities and risks for employers and employees that in turn results in the demand for
regulatory, organizational, technical, and political initiatives to enhance safety and work in the
workplace. For this paper, physical inactivity and obesity is an emerging occupational health
issue that is evident in the Australian healthcare industry. This health issue is significant in the
Australian healthcare industry due to the increased use of automated systems and computers that
are primarily designed to optimize productivity. The automated systems and computer usage in
healthcare industry cause the healthcare professionals such as medical practitioners, physicians,
dentists, nurses, and pharmacists experience prolonged standing or sedentary work that leads to
physical inactivity that causes obesity as a health issue (Begley & Pollard, 2016). While physical
inactivity in relation to obesity is a significant emerging health issue, relevant literature will be
evaluated to show significant measures and legislation taken by the Australian government to
contain the health issue in healthcare.
How the health hazard/risk manifests itself at the selected industry/workplace and
how it may cause harm.
McPhail, Schippers & Marshall (2014) argues that physical inactivity and obesity lead to
the enormous burden of the disease prevalence in the Australian healthcare industry. Usually,
physical inactivity in relation to obesity is connected to diet and exercise, however, the
connection has shifted interests in the healthcare industry. This is because physical inactivity in

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relation to obesity manifests through the imbalance between consumption and expenditure in the
Australian healthcare industry. Physical inactivity in relation to obesity has become a norm in the
Australian healthcare industry and it should be prioritized by all health practitioners. Serra-
Majem & Bautista-Castaño (2013) argues that the healthcare industry is endowed with long
durations of uninterrupted sitting that are common in all offices and driving tasks that result in
physical inactivity and obesity. Physical inactivity and obesity cause harm in the healthcare
industry as it leads to increased morbidly mortality, and disabilities worldwide (Warburton &
Bredin, 2016). Other illnesses connected to physical inactivity and obesity includes hypertension,
breast cancer, pathology stroke, osteoporosis, and depressive disorders (Durstine, Gordon, Wang,
& Luo, 2013). Currently, the prevalence of physical inactivity among healthcare professionals
stands at 40 % among females and 60% among males while that of obesity is 45% among
females and 65% among males (Medina, Janssen, Campos & Barquera, 2013). For this reason,
the Australian workforce in the healthcare industry should prioritize physical activity to increase
the metabolic rate that will help overcome the prevailing occupational health issue.
Legislative requirements relating to the health hazard/ risk (for Australia you need
to consider the Work Health and Safety legislation, 2011), relevant codes and guidelines
and referring to relevant Australian/ International Standards.
Work Health and Safety Act (2011) offers a framework that is designed to protect the
health, safety, and well-being of all employees in workplaces. According to the WHS Act, every
employee is eligible for protection and the current inactivity and obesity levels need to be
addressed (Work Health and Safety Act, 2011). Based on the Act, there is a need to modify

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individual lifestyles worldwide through educational campaigns to increase awareness about
physical inactivity and obesity in the healthcare industry. The health campaigns will help the
health workforce in the Australian healthcare industry acquire the knowledge and skills required
to contain the occupational health issue. WHS Act argues about the adoption of increased
physical activity in the workplaces to induce physical activity and minimize the prevalence of
obesity among the healthcare professions. Work Health and Safety Act (2011) outlines codes of
practice that offers people guidance to achieve high levels of health and safety. The code of
practice applies to every member of the workplace and in this case, all the medical workers in the
healthcare industry are eligible. The Act also recommends workplace inspections to monitor and
enforce compliance hence they should increase engaging physical activities.
The Australian Government Department of Health outlines various guidelines whereby it
recommends Australians to ensure they engage in a physical exercise of about two and a half
hours to five hours each day that can help moderate the intensity of physical activity (Australian
Government Department of Health, 2012). The same department has a website that outlines data
about nutrition and healthy eating, promoting healthy weight and physical activity which should
be a key consideration in the Australian health care industry to overcome physical inactivity in
relation to obesity. Notably, if healthcare professionals remain physically active and limit the
sedimentary behaviors, it will be necessary to promote their health and well-being in the
healthcare industry (Bhurosy & Jeewon, 2014). It is important to maintain a healthy weight as it
not only contains obesity issues, but also, other illnesses such as cancer, heart diseases, and
diabetes. Additionally, the Australian Public Health Policy assets that professionals in primary

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and public health have an obligation also to support the Australian population to overcome the
issue of obesity and inactivity (Begley & Pollard, 2016).
Standard industry practice relating to the elimination or minimization of the health
hazard and its effectiveness
An example of a standard industry practice relating to the elimination of physical
inactivity in relation to obesity is by changing the workplace as the design matters. Notably, the
workplace is a changing place and technology plays a significant role in changing the energy
requirements of work hence results in a sedentary job type particularly in the healthcare industry
(Fritz, Huang, Murphy & Zimmermann, 2014). Other crucial shifts are notable in the physical
settings where the health professionals work as most of them prefer to work remotely using
technology instead of retiring from work. The government and employers within the healthcare
industry need to focus on enhancing a workplace design that promotes physical activity to
address the issue of obesity (Huang, Zourdos, Jo & Ormsbee, 2013). While changing the
workplace design is crucial to boosting physical activity in the healthcare industry, policy
interventions work jointly to ensure that health professionals also change their behaviors and
lifestyles. Policy interventions can promote physical activity to eliminate obesity by being
embedded in a workday or a physical workplace. Ways of establishing workday are by changing
the workflows whereby the healthcare professionals will be subjected into motion to execute the
job. For instance, a physical activity booster can be implemented where the workers are required
to stop in an assembly for five minutes whereby everyone engages in flexing, stretching, or
cardiovascular activity. Also, the healthcare setting should have staircases whereby medical

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practitioners are encouraged to use them to boost physical activity. The workplace design can be
integrated with establishing physical activity into workday or workplace through creative use of
technology. For instance, wearable tracking gadgets can be installed where all the employees in
the healthcare industry can measure their physical activity to help eliminate obesity. Leaders in
the healthcare industry should ensure they adopt cultural norms that endorse physical activity.
Policy documents about food and nutrition in the healthcare industry should be distributed so that
every healthcare worker can track their dietary patterns.
On the other hand, the selected industry practice regarding changing of the workplace
design is effective as it promotes physical activity that eliminates obesity as an emerging health
occupation issue. The healthcare industry improves physical activity among the professionals
that increases the total energy expenditure which in turn balances the individual body energy
through weight loss. Additionally, the fat that accumulates around the waist is eliminated and
abdominal obesity is minimized. The healthcare industry keeps the employees in motion and
each day they have an opportunity to burn body size and age. Physical activity also strengthens
the muscles and increases the energy that is burned by the body that helps in controlling weight
hence the prevalence of obesity is contained. This method is effective as it also helps in
minimizing the prevalence of other illnesses such as high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, heart
disease, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and some cancers in healthcare (Moore, Lee,
Weiderpass, Campbell, Sampson, Kitahara, & Adami, 2016).
Conclusion
To summarize healthcare setting is a complicated and dynamic working environment
whereby the health workers tend to be physically inactive that leads to obesity. Physical

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inactivity and obesity are collaborative and independent as they lead to increased mortality,
morbidity, and health care costs. The inter-connectedness of physical activity and obesity and
other risk factors shows that a small increase in physical activity reaps disproportional high
health benefits among employees. The employees’ level of losing weight is unsuccessful and
frustrating as they work on fixed schedules. Therefore, the workplaces are obliged to boost
physical activity as indicated by the WHS Act to eliminate obesity. The Australian Department
of Health Act outlines the need to observe dietary patterns in the healthcare industry.
Additionally, the workplaces should be integrated with physical activity boosters such as
staircases whereby the health workers are encouraged to use them to minimize the prevalence of
obesity. Wearable gadgets should also be adopted to ensure that the employees monitor their
physical activity to manage their weight. For this reason, it is important if the Australian
government supports the healthcare industry towards designing the work setting with appropriate
interventions to increase physical activity that help eradicate obesity issues.

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References
Australian Government Department of Health. (2012). Nutrition and Physical Activity. Retrieved
from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/nutrition+and+physical+a
ctivity-1
Begley, A., & Pollard, C. M. (2016). Workforce capacity to address obesity: a Western
Australian cross-sectional study identifies the gap between health priority and human
resources needed. BMC public health, 16(1), 881.
Bhurosy, T., & Jeewon, R. (2014). Overweight and obesity epidemic in developing countries: a
problem with diet, physical activity, or socioeconomic status?. The Scientific World
Journal, 2014.
Durstine, J. L., Gordon, B., Wang, Z., & Luo, X. (2013). Chronic disease and the link to physical
activity. Journal of sport and health science, 2(1), 3-11.
Fritz, T., Huang, E. M., Murphy, G. C., & Zimmermann, T. (2014, April). Persuasive technology
in the real world: a study of long-term use of activity sensing devices for fitness.
In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp.
487-496). ACM.
Huang, C. J., Zourdos, M. C., Jo, E., & Ormsbee, M. J. (2013). Influence of physical activity and
nutrition on obesity-related immune function. The Scientific World Journal, 2013.
McPhail, S. M., Schippers, M., & Marshall, A. L. (2014). Age, physical inactivity, obesity,
health conditions, and health-related quality of life among patients receiving conservative
management for musculoskeletal disorders. Clinical interventions in aging, 9, 1069.

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Medina, C., Janssen, I., Campos, I., & Barquera, S. (2013). Physical inactivity prevalence and
trends among Mexican adults: results from the National Health and Nutrition Survey
(ENSANUT) 2006 and 2012. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 1063.
Moore, S. C., Lee, I. M., Weiderpass, E., Campbell, P. T., Sampson, J. N., Kitahara, C. M &
Adami, H. O. (2016). Association of leisure-time physical activity with risk of 26 types
of cancer in 1.44 million adults. JAMA internal medicine, 176(6), 816-825.
Serra-Majem, L., & Bautista-Castaño, I. (2013). Etiology of obesity: two “key issues” and other
emerging factors. Nutricion hospitalaria, 28(5).
Warburton, D. E., & Bredin, S. S. (2016). Reflections on physical activity and health: what
should we recommend?. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 32(4), 495-504.
Work Health and Safety Act (2011). Retrieved from https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/laws-and-
compliance/workplace-health-and-safety-laws/laws-and-legislation/work-health-and-
safety-act-2011