Health at work guide

Mar 26 2008 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A NEW guide will help Huddersfield employers to keep their workers healthy.

Arbitration service Acas said companies could save money and reduce absenteeism by ensuring employees were healthy at work.

The call comes after Government figures showed that 204,000 people across Yorkshire suffered from an illness caused or made worse by their work.

Acas has launched its online guide, Health, Work and Wellbeing in the Workplace, to provide free advice to employers, human resources managers and employees.

It is available at www.acas.org.uk

The launch of the guide coincides with Mental Health Action Week, which ends on Saturday.

Acas said one in three workers experienced mental health problems each year while stress-related sick leave costs UK industry £370m a year.

Some of the subjects in the guide include how to recognise health problems with your employees; how to create a healthy workplace; a health, work and wellbeing checklist; and further sources of expert information.

Peter McGee, Acas’s director for Yorkshire, said: “Creating a healthy workplace has strong benefits for individuals and organisations.

“If businesses take steps to manage ill-health they will save money and have happier employees.”