PAHO and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH/CDC) will celebrate the 2010 World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 22 April with a panel discussion on "My Work, My Health: Healthy Workplaces in the Americas." The winners of the "My Work, My Health" photo contest will also be announced at the event, to be held at PAHO Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization is promoting a comprehensive approach to health, safety, and wellness in the workplace. It involves action in four areas: physical work environment, psychosocial work environment, personal health resources (access to occupational health services, health promotion), and enterprise community involvement.

According to WHO's Healthy Workplace Framework, a healthy workplace is one in which workers and managers collaborate to use a continual improvement process to protect and promote the health, safety and well-being of workers and the sustainability of the workplace by considering the following, based on identified needs:

• health and safety concerns in the physical work environment;
• health, safety and well-being concerns in the psychosocial work environment including organization of work and workplace culture;
• personal health resources in the workplace;
• ways of participating in the community to improve the health of workers, their families and other members of the community.

Implementing a healthy workplace program that is sustainable and effective in meeting the needs of workers and the employer requires continual improvement process. The Healthy Workplace Framework summarizes this process in eight steps: Mobilize, Assemble, Assess, Prioritize, Plan, Do, Evaluate, and Improve.

LINKS

• 2010 World Day for Safety and Health at Work Celebration
• Agenda: "Healthy Workplaces: my Work, my Health - April 22"
• Directions to PAHO headquarters
• Healthy Workplace Framework (WHO)