Transcripts
And what are the main reasons for taking time off work? Well, you might think stress was the biggest problem, but actually it’s only the third most common reason. Second is muscular problems like neck aches and backaches. The problem that causes the most time to be taken off work is minor illnesses, things like colds and flu.
Further down the list, we have various other health conditions. Interestingly, around six per cent of sickness absences are for undisclosed reasons. That could mean a very serious illness, of course – or it could mean taking a day off to watch the football!
7.4
Hello and welcome, everyone. Thank you for coming; I know I didn’t give you much warning … So I’ve asked you here because I want to talk to you about the health of our staff. More specifically, there has been an increase in staff illness over the past 12 months. In fact, there has been a 12% increase in sick days this year compared to last year. Obviously, this causes several problems. Perhaps most importantly, the company loses money. We calculate that staff illness has already cost us more than one million dollars this year. Because, of course, we have to pay the wages of the ill employee but, in addition, we often have to pay for someone to replace them.
So, what are the main problems and how can we try and improve the situation? Well, in terms of physical illness, the most common complaint is bad backs. Clearly, there is a problem in how employees are sitting at their desks. Could you all check the desks and chairs in your offices and make sure every member of staff is sitting properly with the computer screen and keyboard in the correct position?
A lot of time off work is also caused by headaches. Could you please make sure staff are not spending more than an hour in front of a computer screen without a break?
Of course, another reason for headaches could be stress. And this is another big problem with our staff. So it’s a good idea to look for signs of stress in all your employees. You should have regular meetings with each member of staff to discuss any problems they’re having, or anything they’re worried about. And can you also be careful how you speak to employees, please? We’ve had a couple of complaints recently about managers shouting at staff … and I will remind you that shouting is never acceptable.
Finally, we have had some staff take days off work because they can’t sleep at night. Again, this is often caused by stress, but also by overworking. Can you check your staff are not working long hours? Nobody should be working past 7 p.m.
OK, that’s about it, I think. Are there any questions? …
7.5 Hello. My name’s Simon Worthy, and I’m from the Council. Thank you for inviting me here today to talk to you about health at work. Did you know that last year there were 630,000 injuries at work? It’s a big problem, isn’t it, both for employers
and for employees? I was surprised by that number, and that’s why today I’m going to talk about two things. Firstly, how to avoid accidents, and secondly, what to do if there is one. I’m also happy to take any of your questions, but we’ve got a lot to get through, so let’s do that at the end of my talk. OK?
Anyway, starting with avoiding accidents, I’m going to cover accidents with hot water and food, and accidents from furniture. So, I’d like to ask you, how many of you use hot water to make yourself a drink at work? And how often do you carry hot drinks up and down steps, or carry your books, laptops and hot drinks at the same time as trying to open a door between different rooms? These are dangerous things to do. That’s why I’m encouraging employers to put safe water heaters on each floor.
Slideshow – What’s good for you? In general, scientists agree: to be healthy we should eat a balanced diet made up of fruit, vegetables, fish and perhaps a little meat. Everyone knows that. Right? Well, yes. But on many of the smaller details, the scientists can’t agree. For example, one year, we read in the newspapers that eggs are high in cholesterol. That’s no good! Cholesterol is a substance found in our blood, and too much is bad for the heart. But wait! The next year, the science changes. Cholesterol from our food doesn’t end up in our blood. We can eat lots of eggs! It’s so hard to keep up. And maybe next year, eggs will be bad for us again. Who knows? In this way, throughout history, opinions have varied widely about what is good for us, and what is bad. Let’s go back into the past and take a look at some ‘healthy’ diets. One of the earliest diet books was called The Art of Living Long. It was written by Luigi Cornaro, and was published in Italy in 1558. In it, Cornaro recommends eating less than 400 grams of food a day. And for older people, he suggests only one daily egg. We use the word ‘fad’ to talk about things that become very popular for a short time. So, we can say that Cornaro invented the first fad diet. But we can’t say that he was wrong – he lived until he was 98. Very impressive! In the late 19th
century, a man called Horace Fletcher had
a theory. He believed that you should chew every mouthful of food at least 32 times. He said we need all that chewing to digest our food properly. That way, we don’t get sick. The theory made Fletcher very rich. But science has moved on, and no one follows his advice today. The ‘grapefruit diet’ was popular in Hollywood in the 1930s – and it still has fans today. Followers of the diet believe that if you eat a grapefruit together with fatty foods, you won’t put on weight. The acid in the grapefruit breaks down the fat. Nice try! But there is no evidence that this diet makes people healthier.
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