Topics of the Initiative Health and Work

Prevention aims and objectives

iga has developed a procedure for devising work-related prevention aims which help institutions for statutory accident insurance and prevention and statutory health insurance funds identify important prevention subjects based on different indicators which are important to them. Resources can be pooled more effectively and measures which have been used can be better assessed. Recently this method has been successfully employed by both the statutory health insurance funds and the institutions for statutory accident insurance and prevention.

You can initiate here a file download for more information :
iga-Report 8e "Developing aims and objectives for health prevention in the work environment" (PDF 1 MB)

Changes in the sphere of work

Today, structural and demographic changes in the sphere of work impose great challenges on enterprises. One example is the “ageing work force”. In the series of events “Working longer healthily and safely”, three companies developed scenarios for the year 2020. For this they took into account, among other factors, the regional economic situation, training requirements and the age structure of the employees. The findings derived from the scenario technique are to motivate businesses to develop strategies for the future. This can be, for example, continuous further training or occupational health promotion.

Healthy work

Pressing social issues, such as violence, also affect the sphere of work. For example, in public transport companies every tenth accident at work is caused by assault. For this reason, iga and the Institution for Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention for Trams, Underground and Railways together searched for strategies which would help transport staff defuse conflicts before the situation gets out of hand and violence arises. The result is a training course in which employees can practice, among other things, de-escalating behaviour. In this way it was possible to achieve a marked reduction in the number of accidents at work due to assaults.

Together with other experts, the iga has developed the concept of intercultural in-company health management, which aims to ensure that all employees, irrespective of nationality, are aware of their rights and obligations concerning health and safety at work. Employees should be given access to measures promoting health, and their supervisors should take account of cultural differences. The guide "Health in the Workplace" (PDF,4,5 MB) is an integral part of the concept.

Effectiveness of prevention

The question of how effective measures for safety at work and for occupational health promotion are was followed up by, among other measures, projects on the benefits of behaviour-oriented and structural prevention. The outcome was that programmes which, for example, target the behaviour of workers can lead to lower sickness costs within three to four years. In some cases, though, the full extent of the positive effects of these measures only becomes apparent after a longer period of time. Independent studies from the USA posit that a saving of $2.50 to $4.85 per invested dollar can be made on working hours lost through absence. Between $2.30 and $5.90 per invested dollar can be saved on sickness costs. Pilot projects in Germany have produced similar figures.

More information:
Download iga-Report 3e "Health-related and economic benefits of workplace health promotion and prevention: Summary of the scientific evidence" (PDF 273 KB)

A new report aims to update and extend a former review published as iga-Report 3e. The iga-Report 13e includes more than 40 reviews and meta-analyses comprising almost 1.000 studies.

Download iga-Report 13e "Effectiveness and economic benefits of workplace health promotion and prevention. Summary of the scientific evidence 2000 to 2006." (PDF, 1,5 MB)

Networking and exchange of information

There must be coordination between experts and people in charge if they want to be successful. For this reason iga supports the German Network for Occupational Health Promotion (“Deutsches Netzwerk für betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung”, DNBGF) in which it is responsible for the liaison office. It also finances the network’s conferences. By now the DNBGF has developed into the largest platform for occupational health promotion in Germany.