Employee Health: Federal

Author: Lourdes Fernandez

Summary

• Maintaining a safety- and health-conscious workplace leads to a wide range of benefits for employers, such as increased productivity, decreased costs and decreased time off for injuries and illnesses. See Creating a Safe and Healthful Workplace.
• HR should have a program to help manage everyday health concerns in the workplace, such as basic first aid, hygiene and allergies. See Everyday Health Concerns.
• Employees' health may be affected by the work environment or other working conditions, such as sick building syndrome or shift work disorder. See Environmental Health Concerns.
• An employer may need to take precautions to protect employees from infectious diseases and pandemics, both in the workplace and abroad. See Infectious Diseases.
• Every employer must be prepared to deal with mental health issues of its employes. See Mental Health Concerns.
• An employer should take steps to manage employees who use drugs and alcohol as well as those who smoke or vape in the workplace. See Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking.
• Having a plan for managing emergency medical situations in the workplace, such as heart attacks and strokes, will better prepare HR to handle these high tension situations when they arise. See Emergency Medical Situations.
• An employer needs to have an immediate plan of action if an employee dies while at work. See Managing an At-Work Fatality.