Here are some really good reasons why you might want to encourage your workforce to make healthy lifestyle choices to further enhance the good work you do to protect them from risk at work.

Physical Activity and Health at Work

Physical activity helps people to manage stress, back pain, weight and medical conditions, all of which can lead to absenteeism and loss of productivity.

Did you know?
Physically active employees take 27% fewer days of sick leave, which equates to more than two days of improved attendance per employee, per year. (Ref: British Heart Foundation & Loughborough University 2008)

The amount of physical activity used in performing work tasks has more than halved in the last three decades.70% of the adult working population is inactive, causing a decrease in work productivity of five to six hours per person per week. A recent study in Australia showed a loss of 1 1/2 hours productivity per worker per afternoon.

Smoking and Health at Work

Smoking augments the hazardous effects of many chemicals, dusts, fumes and gasses in the workplace and increases the rate of development and severity of many work-related illnesses, including lung diseases, cancers and hand arm vibration syndrome.

Did you know?
An average smoker loses 5.7% of their working day if taking smoking breaks in addition to normal scheduled breaks throughout the day.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) estimates that over 3  million working days are lost in the West Midlands every year due to smoking related sick leave.

Tobacco Control & Customs and Excise

Smokefree Sandwell aims to reduce smoking and tobacco-related harm by:

• Reducing the availability of tobacco products
• Reducing advertising, marketing and promotion of tobacco products
• Reducing exposure to secondhand smoke
• Supporting smokers to quit
• Regulating tobacco products
• Running effective communication and educational campaigns
• Combating the availability of smuggled and illicit tobacco products
• Effective enforcement of smokefree and age of sale legislation

Did you know?
About 1/5 of tobacco used in the UK is illicit. Tobacco smuggling results in a net loss to the Treasury of more than £2m a year. Much of the illicit tobacco cargo is trafficked through the West Midlands motorway network. Your business could be adversely affected by some of the issues around smuggling, sales and transportation of illicit tobacco products and the increased harmful effects of these products on the health of your employees.

Health and Older Workers

The number of older people living in the United Kingdom is steadily rising, whilst the birth rate has fallen and continues to fall. This means that around one third of the population will be over the age of 50 by 2015. The health of the population is improving and people are living longer and healthier. In Sandwell, life expectancy has risen to an average of 79.4 years for women and 74.4 years for men.

Did you know?
Employing older workers makes good business sense by;

• Giving you access to a wider talent pool
• Lowering recruitment and training costs
• Retaining corporate knowledge
• Retaining workers with valuable skills, ideas and knowledge to share and pass on to younger workers

Mental health, wellbeing and work

Mental ill health, including anxiety, depression and work-related stress is now the number 1 reason for sickness absence, at a cost to UK employers of £26 billion a year. In 2007/08 a Labour Force Survey found that 13.5million days were lost in UK due to self-reported work related stress.

Did you know?
Management of absence and return to work for employees with mental ill health is often seen as the most difficult of management tasks and often has the most negative outcomes for both employers and employees.