In all workplaces the health and safety of employees is closely linked with the company's profitability. Human resource strategies for improving the health and safety of people in the workplace do not necessarily cost money - in fact they usually save money. A practical book based on the authors' combined consultancy experience, Increasing

In all workplaces the health and safety of employees is closely linked with the company's profitability. Human resource strategies for improving the health and safety of people in the workplace do not necessarily cost money - in fact they usually save money. A practical book based on the authors' combined consultancy experience, Increasing Productivity and Profit Through Health and Safety shows readers how they can use ergonomics to make money for their organizations. Richly illustrated with a range of case studies drawn from heavy industry, retail sales, hospitals, hotels, and call centers, the book outlines universal concepts that can be used in any workplace. Included with the book is a CD-ROM that contains a simple but sophisticated working cost-benefit analysis model. This model enables readers to input their own data, which will help them make the case for implementing workplace health, safety, and ergonomics programs. For the non-expert there is a chapter that explains economics concepts and models using 'non-economics' language. Human resource personnel, physicians, safety and risk management specialists, trainers, and ergonomists as well as business managers and engineers will find this book to be a powerful support tool for developing and implementing workplace improvements.

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

Undertaking economic evaluations of workplace-based occupational health and safety interventions can be difficult, reflected by the significant lack of literature, evidence and guidance on the subject. Particular difficulties include: complex labour legislation; differences in the perception of health risks associated with work experiences amongst workplace parties and policy makers; the burden of costs and consequences being borne by different stakeholders in the system; conflicting incentives and priorities between the multiple stakeholders; lack of consensus about what ought to count as a benefit or cost of intervening or not intervening; multiple providers of indemnity and medical care coverage; and industry-specific human resources practices making it difficult to identify all work-related illnesses and injuries. In addition, most health economics methods books are designed for use in a clinical setting, which cannot be adapted for the workplace setting. In the face of such barriers, it is not surprising that few studies of occupational health and safety interventions contain an economic evaluation. This book aims to lay the foundations for a systematic methodology of economic evaluation of workplace interventions, by identifying the main barriers to research of high quality and practical relevance, and proposing a research strategy to remedy these weaknesses. Context chapters provide a wealth of background material ranging from a presentation of the broad conceptualization of work and health, to suggestions for strategies in confronting the dearth of data often experienced by occupational health and safety researchers. They take into account the varying institutional and regulatory approaches in different international jurisdictions. Specific topic chapters delve into the principles and application of economic evaluation methods relevant to this setting: study design, type of analysis, costs, consequences, uncertainty, and equity are all covered, providing guidance on analytical and decision making challenges. The concluding chapter synthesizes the summaries, conclusions, challenges and recommendations from across the book, presenting these in a reference case.

The previous edition of the International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors made history as the first unified source of reliable information drawn from many realms of science and technology and created specifically with ergonomics professionals in mind. It was also a winner of the Best Reference Award 2002 from the Engineering Libraries