Produced by Renfrew County and District Health Unit
The Renfrew County and District Health Unit is pleased to present Health For All Workplaces, a newsletter for workplace managers and occupational health and safety staff. We hope that you find it useful and we welcome your comments and feedback. Enjoy!
Health Unit Workplaces Staff
We support workplace personnel and local trade and business associations to improve awareness, develop skills and to improve work environments, as mandated by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.
These initiatives are aimed at:
The workplace is an ideal place to promote physical activity as 15 million Canadians spend more than half of their waking hours at work!
Workplace active living policies and programs have been shown to reduce:
In addition, research suggests that there is a link between active living and employee well being. Healthier employees have:
The Renfrew County and District Health Unit has several resources to assist employers to promote physical activity in the workplace. For more information call Theresa Mann at 613-432-5853 or 1-800-804-0772.
The following websites have a variety of resources and tools to encourage physical activity among your employees: www.cchalw-ccsvat.ca/english/ www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/pau-uap/fitness/work/main_a_e.html www.active2010.ca
Source: Public Health Agency of Canada 2005
Did you know:
The Renfrew County Car Seat Safety Coalition promotes the safe use of child car seats in Renfrew County. The Coalition has produced a reference card that gives more information about car seat safety.
To promote child car seat safety with your employees, contact Renfrew County and District Health Unit at 613-735-8651 Ext 516 or 1-800-267-1097 Ext 516.
Don’t flush it…Don’t throw it in the garbage… Encourage employees to clean out their medicine cabinets. In May, expired and leftover prescription and non-prescription medications can be taken to participating pharmacies or hazardous waste depots for safe disposal during the county-wide Medicine Clean Out Campaign. Vitamins and herbal remedies will also be accepted.
If your workplace would like to participate in this campaign, posters and special collection bags are available from Renfrew County and District Health Unit. A Medicine Clean Out display can be borrowed or a presentation arranged for employees. Call 613-432-5853 or 1-800-804-0772 for more information.
If your employees are required to drive their own vehicle or a company vehicle for work, you might consider the following initiatives:
First United Nations Global Road Safety Week: April 23-29, 2007
It is expected that hundreds of initiatives, organized by governments, private sector companies, foundations and others working for safer roads, will take place around the world during this week.
For more info: http://www.who.int/roadsafety/week/en/
For an organizer’s toolkit, go to: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2006/9241594829_eng.pdf
Canada Road Safety Week: May 14-21, 2007
This annual event is an education and enforcement activity by Canada's police forces. It is held the week before and over the May long weekend. For Canadian Road Safety information, go to: http://www.tc.gc.ca/road/menu.htm
Keep Your Company Vehicles in Shape!
Did You Know?
Proper tire maintenance is not only critical to the safe operation of your vehicle, but will also:
Colorectal cancer is cancer of the colon and/or rectum. It affects men and women almost equally.
Have regular screening tests: Men and women age 50 and older - fecal occult blood test (FOBT) every two years. If you are at risk, you may need to begin regular colorectal cancer screening at an earlier age.
Warning signs:
If you experience any of these warning signs for more than a few days, discuss them with your health care provider.
In most cases colorectal cancer can be prevented or successfully treated if caught early.
During these days when the last remaining patches of snow remain on the ground, we enjoy the absence of our unwanted summer visitors - mosquitoes. It is these seasonal environmental blood suckers that are responsible for the transmission of the West Nile Virus.
Follow these basic rules to reduce or eliminate the bite of mosquitoes:
It is impossible to stop all the mosquitoes in the valley, but it is possible to protect ourselves and our families from being bitten. For more information contact the Environmental Health Division at 613-735-8654 Ext 555.
Use the following websites to help you plan activities for
nutrition month.
Dietitians of Canada -www.dietitians.ca/
Food
Labelling
-www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/label-etiquet/index_e.html
Eating and
Activity Tracker - www.dietitians.ca/eatracker
Nutrition
Resource Centre - www.nutritionrc.ca/
Food and Nutrition
-www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/index_e.html
EATING WELL WITH CANADA’S FOOD GUIDE
A copy of the new food guide is included in this newsletter. You may wish to post it for employees.
To order additional copies visit: www.healthcanada.gc.ca/foodguide or call: 1-866-225-0709
The Workplace Wellness Challenge took place from October 30 – November 5, 2006. For over five days, participants tracked their physical activity and tried out daily challenges. Workplaces competed against each other. The Renfrew County and District Health Unit presented plaques to the large (80 and over employees) and small (1 – 79 employees) workplaces that had the highest percentage of employees participating. This activity challenged all workplaces to motivate and encourage employees to increase their physical activity.
Congratulations to all workplaces that took the challenge!
For resources or for program information call Theresa Mann at 613-432-5853 or 1-800-804-0772 or visit our website at www.rcdhu.com.