2023 Occupational Health Management Summit

7:15am – 8:00am

Conference Registration & Networking Breakfast

8:00am – 8:15am

Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

8:15am – 9:00am

Expanding the Focus of Occupational Safety and Health

Work is changing. Technology, globalization, shifts in demographics, and other economic and political forces create new challenges for workers, employers and those who work to protect them. The field of occupational safety and health (OSH) must also change to meet the needs of the future. Factors influencing worker health and well-being go beyond traditional OSH concerns (exposures to chemical, physical, or biological agents). They include changing demographic profiles (e.g., more women, immigrant, and older workers and more chronic disease and mental health conditions), varying employment arrangements, increasing work demands, increasing psychosocial hazards, and changing work environments (built and natural). This session will explore how expanding the focus of occupational safety and health can produce a healthier workforce.

9:00am – 9:45am

Ways Employers Can Address Mental Health in the Workplace

Mental health is top of mind everywhere these days as about 20 percent of adult Americans report symptoms of mental illness according to the Centers for Disease Control. It’s no secret that work-related factors are impacting employee’s mental health. In fact, The World Health Organization classified employee burnout as a medical condition. The two most important steps employers can take to help address this is 1) talk about mental health and 2) offer resources. Employees are better able to navigate mental health issues when their employers have a plan in place. This session will explore recommended strategies for employers to adopt, including:

- Offering additional training for management

- Making sure people take time off

- Promoting workplace wellness

- Creating a comprehensive mental health benefit within your benefits package

- Offering and promoting supportive resources

9:45am – 10:15am

Networking & Refreshments Break

10:15am – 11:00am

How Ergonomics Awareness and Training Can Help the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Workplace

Musculoskeletal disorders are a result of injuries during work procedures, such as, repetitive motion, working in awkward positions, frequent or heavy lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying of heavy objects. The level of risk depends on the intensity, frequency and duration of the exposure to these conditions. MSD’s affect the muscles, nerves, blood vessels, ligaments and tendons. Afflicted body parts commonly include the wrist, elbow, upper/lower back, shoulder and neck. MSD’s are preventable. Employers can reduce occupational injuries and at the same time improve worker comfort, productivity, and job satisfaction by becoming familiar with ways to control risk factors. Employers should make workers aware of simple adjustments that can be made at the workplace to prevent the onset of MSD’s. This session will explore how implementing an effective ergonomics plan can help prevent MSD’s.

11:00am – 11:45am

How Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Impact Workplace Safety

Changing workplace demographics create challenges and opportunities for occupational safety and health. Some workers may be disproportionally affected in a diverse workplace based on their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age and other factors. In this session, learn how diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives mean more than simply improving demographic data—they can help workers receive equal treatment, training, advancement and representation that can, in turn, help create a safer workplace.

11:45am – 12:30pm

Workers Compensation and Occupational Safety and Health Challenges

Workers, employers and other stakeholders involved in workers compensation administration have long voiced concerns about the extent to which workers compensation promotes occupational safety and health and the well-being of injured workers. Safety culture is an organization's norms, beliefs, roles, attitudes and practices concerned with minimizing exposure of employees to workplace hazards. The goal of a safety culture is to develop a norm in which employees are aware of the risks in their workplace and are continually on the lookout for hazards. A safety culture motivates and recognizes safe behavior by focusing on the attitudes and behaviors of the employees. It is a process—not a program; it takes time to develop and requires a collective effort to implement its many features. This session will explore important components of a safety program, challenges and how to overcome them.

12:30pm – 1:30pm

Luncheon

1:30pm – 2:15pm

Developing a Smarter Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health

The workplace is where 156 million working adults in the U.S. spend many waking hours, and it has a profound influence on health and well-being. Although some occupations and work-related activities are more hazardous than others and face higher rates of injuries, illness, disease, and fatalities, workers in all occupations face some form of work-related safety and health concerns. Understanding those risks to prevent injury, illness, or even fatal incidents is an important function of society. This session will explore the strengths and weaknesses relative to the status quo and both short- and long-term actions and strategies needed to bring about a progressive evolution of surveillance.

2:15pm – 3:15pm

Panel: Building a Culture of Safety and Health in the Workplace

Healthy employees, in every respect, make for a more productive workplace with a happier workforce. They require fewer sick days, recover more quickly from ailments, and they are less at risk for long-term illnesses. But a healthy workforce doesn’t just appear; it’s cultivated by companies that value a healthy culture, and that collaborate with their health plans to create programs that play an active role in an employee’s health and well-being. More businesses are making it a priority to encourage and support their employees in adopting healthy behaviors. This means businesses are providing preventive support, convenient treatment options, and the tools employees need to take control of all aspects of their health. Wellness is more than managing acute or chronic medical conditions—it extends to all elements of an employee’s life and your business. For example, it can and should go hand-in-hand with safety training programs, tie ergonomics training with exercise programs, and connect to worker compensation loss prevention training. This session will explore ways companies are fostering a culture of safety, health and wellness on the job.

3:15pm – 3:45pm

Networking & Refreshments Break

3:45pm – 4:30pm

Preparing for the Future of Occupational Health and Safety

The hazards faced by workers in the U.S. are changing. While traditional occupational hazards such as chemical exposures and physical safety hazards continue to be responsible for a large number of workplace injuries and illness, changes in the organization of work and the workplace itself present new challenges to providing a safe and healthy work environment. Two examples of changes that impact the health of workers are the increase in precarious work arrangements, and changes in our climate that result in more frequent extreme climate events. This session will explore how employers can apply occupational health and safety training to identify workers likely to be at risk, consider how to quantify these exposures, explore options to control these exposures, and consider approaches to manage these risks through occupational health and safety programs and policies.

4:30pm – 5:15pm

Occupational Health Management in the Workplace

The effective management of health risks, as well as safety risks, is an essential part of good health and safety management systems. When risk management is integrated into the core business functions, real change and improvement can be seen – not only by preventing physical and mental harm to employees, but also by improving business performance. The session will provide guidance on identifying, controlling and measuring health risks in the workplace. It will also explore aspects to consider when providing occupational health services. The effectiveness of any health management relies on the competence and capability of those providing it. In the case of occupational health services, there are many crucial elements to be aware of—whether you’re providing them in-house or contracting them.

5:15pm

End of Day One

7:15am – 8:00am

Networking Breakfast

8:00am – 8:15am

Chairperson’s Remarks

8:15am – 9:00am

Why Employers Should Care About Value-Based Care

With so many things vying for employer’s attention, value-based care may seem like a topic that can wait or isn’t relevant. But, as an organization committed to providing healthcare benefits to employees, it's important for employers to understand value-based care and its impacts. In the context of the benefits ecosystem, it can help advance progress on major challenges facing organizations, including improving operational efficiencies, reducing spending, enhancing cost-effectiveness, and attracting and retaining top talent. Unlike traditional patient care models that focus on office visits and treating symptoms and conditions, and for the employers and health plans that cover the cost of their care and focus on fees for that service, value-based care is centered around the whole person and incentivizes keeping people well and at work. And better presenteeism produces bottom-line impact. This session will explore how employers can realize the business benefits of value-based care.

9:00am – 9:45am

Improving Workforce Health with an On-Site Health Center

It is no secret that healthcare in America faces difficult challenges, particularly in rural areas. This session will discuss how an onsite health and wellness center does not just improve employee engagement, as data suggests, a health center also makes financial sense by encouraging preventive health and diverting employees away from costly urgent care centers and emergency rooms. A properly structured onsite medical facility can provide employees with convenient, high-quality, low-cost, and easily accessible healthcare services, which can help improve the physical and mental health of employees, manage costs and outcome efficiency, and increase productivity. The biggest benefit for an onsite health center is peace of mind for your employees. It shows the employer is listening to its employees and is willing to make their wellness part of its culture. This session will explore how to improve workforce health with an on-site health center.

9:45am – 10:15am

Networking & Refreshments Break

10:15am – 11:00am

Preventing Substance Use in the Workforce

There are several steps employers can take to prevent substance use among employees. Employee assistance programs (EAPs), health and well-being programs, and unions can be allies in preventing substance use by supporting employee education on substance use and providing information on how to access help for a potential substance use disorder. Changes to work processes or conditions that reduce the risk of injury can also help by reducing the number of employees who may receive opioids for the treatment of injury-related pain. Efforts to reduce workplace stressors and to eliminate or reduce alcohol consumption at company social events may also be helpful in reducing substance use in the workforce. This session will explore steps employers can take to prevent substance use in the workforce, including:

The statement recommended that employers take a number of steps, including the following:

- Improving occupational injury and illness prevention programs

- Addressing ergonomic hazards

- Providing training and information on opioid misuse

- Offering or facilitating access to peer support in the workplace

- Reducing opioid and other controlled substance prescribing through workers’ compensation prescribing guidelines

- Offering alternatives to discipline programs (also known as second chance programs) in relation to positive drug tests or other evidence of substance use

11:00am – 11:45am

Ways to Improve Employee Engagement and Wellbeing

Employee engagement is a crucial element in every organization; it drives productivity, profitability, and business success. Although crucial, it can be one of the most difficult workplace elements to understand and improve. There is a striking relationship between engagement and wellbeing, with major consequences for employee productivity and performance: Engagement and wellbeing are highly reciprocal, with each influencing the future state of the other to a similar degree. But they are also additive—high wellbeing enhances the benefits of engagement, lifting employee performance to levels not reached through engagement alone. Given the clear returns on investment for building workers who are both engaged and have high holistic wellbeing, leaders can make a substantial difference in their employees' performance and lives by including wellbeing principles in engagement programs and making the most of their reciprocal, additive effects. This session will explore actions leaders can take to increase employee engagement and wellbeing and improve business outcomes—all at the same time.

11:45am – 12:30pm

Integration of eHealth Tools in the Process of Workplace Health Promotion

Electronic health (eHealth) and mobile health tools can support and improve the whole process of workplace health promotion (WHP). However, several challenges and opportunities should be considered while integrating these tools. Currently, a large number of eHealth tools are developed for changing health behavior, but these tools can support the whole WHP process, including group administration, information flow, assessment, intervention development process, or evaluation. This session will explore steps and critical and success factors for the implementation of eHealth tools in WHP.

12:30pm

Conference Concludes

12:45pm – 2:45pm

Workshop: Driving Health Equity in the Workforce

Employers have a key role to play in addressing health disparities nationwide and achieving a state of health equity, in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to live a healthy life. Research shows that by addressing drivers of health inequities in the workplace, employers can increase the health and productivity of their workforce and reduce health care spending. Health inequities account for roughly $320 billion in annual U.S. healthcare spending and counting. Building a workplace where all employees can thrive is no longer an option—it’s a moral and business imperative. This session will provide actionable strategies and principles employers can use to build toward health equity.