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On a rainy day in June, if you were in downtown Hamilton, Ontario you may have seen 26 people from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) peddling along Main Street on a very large bicycle, singing at the top of their lungs:

I don't know if you've been told,
Safety Spinners go for gold.
We are health and safety folks,
Raising funds for Heart and Stroke.
If you want to help our cause,
Clap your hands in loud applause.
CC,
OHS,
CCOHS, hooray!

We called ourselves the "Safety Spinners", recruited a husband and another co-worker's daughter for the occasion, and rode the "Big Bike for Stroke". You may have even seen a group of co-workers cheering from the sidewalk. For the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the "Big Bike" is a fund and awareness raiser. For CCOHS, riding the bike was a way of doing something for others that was healthy for ourselves and for our workplace. It was a way to get together and have a little fun during our lunch hour whether we were on the bike or not. To our delighted surprise, we were later presented with a "Team Spirit" award for our efforts!

When you are busy at work, it's easy to say things like "the customer is number one" or "quality first," and you mean it, too - paying attention to the customer or product is important and how any business keeps moving forward. But it is also very important to remember who talks to the customer, or who makes the product -- the people who work for the organization.

People Focus, the theme for this year's annual Canada's Healthy Workplace Week (October 25 to 31), is one of the four areas of focus for the Canadian Healthy Workplace Criteria as developed by the National Quality Institute and Health Canada. The aim of Healthy Workplace Week is to increase awareness of how important being a healthy workplace is to the success of an organization.

When an organization puts its people first, there are benefits for all people who work at the company, and for the organization itself.

Good for people

The workplace has a powerful effect on the health of its people. In fact, work itself is one of the major factors that can influence your health. In addition, because many Canadians spend a large part of their life at work, the workplace is a natural setting in which to promote health and wellness to help people achieve their best physical and mental well-being. It is a "full circle" situation: How healthy a person feels affects his or her job satisfaction and productivity, and in turn, a person's level of job satisfaction affects his or her health.

Good for organizations

Many organizations are starting to recognize that healthy people are valuable assets to the company, and that taking an active approach to the health and well being of their employees gets results. The Healthy Workplace Week People Focus theme builds on this awareness that helping people who work for and with you to be physically and mentally healthy can have many benefits. Creating a healthy work environment can:

• increase morale
• increase productivity
• result in fewer accidents and compensation claims
• create a healthier workplace culture
• enhance recruiting potential and ability to keep valued employees
• reduce personal and organizational health care expenses, and
• reduce absenteeism due to illness

Bottom line, the people will be healthier and so will the organization.

There are things that can be done to improve wellness, and case studies show that they work. The most important thing to remember is that the needs of one organization will be different from another, just as the needs of individual people are different. There is no "cookie cutter" or "one-size fits all" program. As with any policy, workplace health initiatives are most successful when they have the support and commitment of senior management and the involvement of different groups including union/labour, health and safety professionals, your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider and your joint health and safety committee.

A workplace health program might introduce activities such as:

• lunchtime walking clubs,
• weight management programs,
• smoking cessation programs,
• flexible work hour arrangements,
• stress management,
• sessions on better communication,
• assistance with day care or elder care,
• conflict resolution assistance, or
• any other health promotion strategy or program from which all members of the organization could benefit.

You don't have to have a workplace health program all planned out and in place to start making a difference. Sometimes the small steps can be just as important as the big ones.

Many years ago, CCOHS began a "fitness lunch" program. Employees are allowed to take 30 extra minutes during lunch hour twice a week - as long as they are doing some type of physical activity. Participating is completely up to the individual. Today the range of activities is very wide. Many people take a long walk. Some people power walk, roller blade, or swim while others take aqua fit or regular fitness classes. In the summer, several people get together and play a game of pick-up basketball at a local park. None of our activities are necessarily "fancy" and most are not expensive, but the main outcome is we enjoy our "extra" time and come back to work more refreshed.

Also, remember that everyone will have a different reason for participating in a workplace health and wellness program. For a voluntary program, it would be unrealistic to expect 100% participation, but there are some steps you can take to help encourage people to join.

• Survey and re-survey and implement the survey results. Be sure you are offering programs that people say are important and want to attend.
• Use "role models". Highlight the successes of people in your company newsletters or on bulletin boards (with their permission). It does not matter if success was "officially" at a work event or not
• Provide the right support. Have a co-ordinator or main contact person who can provide additional information to those who want it.
• Eliminate barriers. If appropriate, ask those who do not participate "why not?"
• Be flexible. You may want to capitalize on a "teachable " moment. Turn a negative event into a positive one by emphasising prevention and awareness.
• Offer a variety of options or programs. Programs can become "stale". Workforce changes may require you to re-visit the basics, or you can look for ways to expand or modify existing programs. Ask for input from various groups.

Workplace health programs can take many forms - one organization may focus on flexible work hours and daycare facilities, while another will emphasize fitness, and nutrition. Success can be measured in many different ways -- and tracking and evaluating whatever program you decide on is important -- but the most beneficial programs are those that offer elements that are valuable to the organization as a whole and, more importantly, are focused on the needs of its people.