Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention at the Workplace

Abstract

The concept of workplace safety and health has focused largely on preventing accidents and on minimizing hazardous exposures. However, because workers spend a substantial part of their waking hours at the workplace, the potential to influence the health of a large proportion of the world's population through the workplace is enormous. The opportunities to carry out health promotion and chronic disease prevention activities at the workplace are countless, including ( a) health screening; ( b) tobacco cessation activities; ( c) the promotion of healthy food choices and weight loss; ( d) active breaks with physical exercise in terms of microexercise, enhancement of infrastructure, and organization of work tasks to facilitate incidental physical activity; and ( e) routine vaccinations. This review discusses the key factors necessary to implement health promotion and chronic disease prevention programs at the workplace and discusses the different foci and possibilities with respect to the differing nature of work for the blue- versus white-collar workforce. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 45 is April 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.