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White Glove Service is Our Standard of Care
Occupational Health Connections, Inc. (OHC) is a distinguished leader in occupational and employee health staffing and recruitment. For job opportunities, please visit: 
Research suggests that employee incentives, such as discounts on leisure activities or wellness-related items, can encourage healthier lifestyles. The role of health incentives has been a subject that many employers have not embraced. However, as employers face a challenge to increase employee engagement in health, perhaps incentives will start to have a place.
CHR Newsletter – April 23, 2015
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Wheezing and coughing on the job from work-related asthma is more common than you might think, according to a new U.S. health report.
The proposed rule says an employer may offer incentives up to a maximum of 30 percent of the total cost of employee-only coverage, “whether in the form of a reward or penalty,” to promote an employee’s participation in a wellness program that includes disability-related inquiries or medical examinations, as long as participation is voluntary.
The “National Safety Culture Change Initiative” report provides a basic understanding of the fire and emergency service culture, identifies individual and organizational behaviors that positively and negatively impact health and safety, and highlights areas for change by raising awareness about unsafe practices.
CHR Newsletter – April 9, 2015
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Director of rehabilitation services, occupational health and wellness at Aurora Health Care, recently discussed common mistakes that employers make when trying to satisfy their occupational health needs, and offered insight into how employers can smoothly navigate their occupational health needs.
This month’s round-up of occupational health research looks at predicted return to work of people absent with common mental health disorders, psychological fitness for work and health surveillance and work ability.
CHR Newsletter – March 12, 2015
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Trucker safety requires an alert, buckled-up, experienced driver, with a reliable vehicle and strong employer safety programs. About 2.6 million workers drive trucks that weigh over 10,000 pounds (large trucks).
Employees who point out problems in the office may help the company improve, but could be hurting themselves in the process. Such negative-minded workers are more likely to become mentally fatigued and defensive and experience a drop-off in production.
A healthy lifestyle intervention program administered at the workplace significantly reduces risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, according to a new study.
Hard physical work, high blood pressure and taking multiple medications are among the factors that may make men less fertile, new research finds.
A new poll in the United States finds that pain is a key factor in the gap between the amount of sleep Americans say they need and the amount they’re getting — an average 42 minute sleep debt for those with chronic pain and 14 minutes for those who’ve suffered from acute pain in the past week.
This month’s round-up of occupational health (OH) research looks at workplace asthma, employee burnout and absence self-referral.
CHR Newsletter – February 26, 2015
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An effective ergonomics program can prevent a lot of those small and large workplace injuries that can be so painful (and debilitating) for employees and expensive for employers.
Over the past decade, there have been many encouraging findings suggesting that mindfulness training can improve a broad range of mental and physical health problems. Yet, exactly how mindfulness positively impacts health is not clear. Researchers have developed a model suggesting that mindfulness influences health via stress reduction pathways.
Asthma, back pain, and congestive heart failure are among the conditions showing reductions in health care costs in one large employer’s disease management (DM) program, reports a study.
Urgent action is needed in response to the decline in the number of NHS doctors who are accredited specialists in occupational medicine. A recent meeting of OH practitioners debated solutions to this problem and considered whether OH nurses could take on work previously done by doctors.
Shorter shifts for medical residents don’t appear to be making any big improvements in doctors’ fatigue levels or in patient care, new research shows.
CHR Newsletter – February 12, 2015
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Influenza is associated with as many as 7,300 deaths annually in nursing home residents, but the vaccination rate for nursing home staff is only 54 percent, according to a study in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
Only 15 percent of working adults with asthma discuss with their doctor how their jobs might affect their breathing, even though nearly half have asthma that is possibly work-related, a new study reveals.
With Uber’s popularity and growth on the rise, the company continues to juggle safety and efficiency.
Sugarcane workers in northwestern Nicaragua experienced a decline in kidney function during the harvest, with field workers at greatest risk, suggesting that heat stress or other occupational factors may be playing a role in the high rates of chronic kidney disease in the region, a new study shows.
This month’s round-up of recent research in the occupational health sphere includes studies of lifetime shift work exposure, mindfulness and work-life balance and the effect of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among employees who are victims of bank robberies.
CHR Newsletter – January 29, 2015
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Workers who participated in an intervention aimed at reducing conflict between work and familial responsibilities slept an hour more each week and reported greater sleep sufficiency than those who did not participate in the intervention, a study shows.
This article is a concise summary of a comprehensive review of literature from 2005 to 2009 on bullying and harassment at work, and addresses the limited literature available up to 2005. It offers a critical appraisal of 27 papers. The evidence suggests that the prevalence of bullying was increasing and had physical and mental health effects on individuals. It also had consequences for the employer, such as reduced job satisfaction.
Health surveillance and screening are a familiar part of an OH adviser’s role, involving a systematic approach to the identification of early signs of work-related ill health or injury. This article is concerned with the need for OH providers to undertake surveillance in relation to known psychosocial workplace hazards that have been shown to cause harm to workers.
Stress, long hours and low pay are among the reasons why more than one-third of clergy in the United States are obese, according to a new study that also identified a number of ways that pastors can reduce their risk of obesity.
Working long hours may raise the risk for alcohol abuse, according to a new study of more than 300,000 people from 14 countries.
Before heading back to work on Groundhog Day, football fans will crowd together Feb. 1 to see the New England Patriots battle the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. There will be cheers, There will be tears. There will be food.CHR Newsletter – January 15, 2015
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An electrical malfunction caused a subway station in Washington, D.C., to fill with smoke, killing one woman and hospitalizing dozens of others. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has started to investigate what they consider to be an electrical arcing event.
Night shift work has been consistently associated with higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. In a new study, researchers found that women working rotating night shifts for five or more years appeared to have a modest increase in all-cause and CVD mortality and those working 15 or more years of rotating night shift work appeared to have a modest increase in lung cancer mortality.
Some mental health workers find it difficult to recognize their own burnout and even when they do they struggle to admit it to others, research shows.
Whether it is losing weight or quitting smoking, one employee wellness director says it can be done with the will to do so. About half of the most popular resolutions made each year are health-related, according to the United States government.
This review of recent occupational health research papers covers work stress and heart disease, shift work and cognition and work-related neoplasia.CHR Newsletter – January 1, 2015
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The Association of Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners (AOHNP) held its 2014 annual meeting and good practice forum in November in London. The title of the event was: “Mind games — identifying the game plan, not just being part of it.”
Higher ambient temperatures, more extreme weather events, air pollution, and the possibility of increased prevalence and distribution of water-borne and foodborne pathogens could affect workers, according to the agency’s discussion of the issue.
With a predicted seven billion mobile smartphone owners worldwide by the end of 2014, and increasing numbers of applications downloaded on a daily basis to both the iOS and Android operating systems (OS), statistics suggest that the number of mobile applications (apps) available has already exceeded one million for each OS. Here’s how occupational health (OH) practitioners can take advantage of them.
Holiday parties aren’t the only reason your employees are showing up for work bleary-eyed. A new study finds that one in five employees are sleep-deprived, and more than half of those are at risk for absenteeism, injuries and accidents.
Workers are becoming increasingly “nomadic” in where they work thanks to the availability of mobile technology. But employers are not providing the same risk assessments and support for these employees as they do for those in traditional office-based work. Here are the results of a recent large-scale European survey.
The American Society of Safety Engineers this week filed comments on NIOSH’s proposed
CHR Newsletter – December 18, 2014
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The business use of wearable-technology devices such as glasses, barcode readers and high-definition cameras is in the early stages, but it likely will expand beyond what we can imagine today. Are you ready?
Even though Black Friday is over and the hordes of disgruntled shoppers have gone home, the holiday season is still a dangerous time of year. There are about 128,700 fires each December, most of which are holiday-related, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
The most wonderful time of year has arrived, and with it comes the not-so-wonderful added stress in nearly every aspect of our lives, from social events to end-of-year work obligations.
Worksite health promotion (WHP) programs are designed to help identify and address health and lifestyle issues, and are offered by 75% of employers in Europe and the US. But research suggests that a high proportion (75%) of workers do not participate. Why do so many employees choose not to take part? Researchers investigated the reasons for nonparticipation, and have identified a variety of barriers.
Whether it’s a polar vortex or simply a blizzard, winter weather can be tough on our bodies, our cars, our travel schedules and our psyches. Here are some tips to protect yourself and employees during the winter months.
Americans who get job-based health insurance are spending a bigger chunk of their paychecks on health care than they were a decade ago, and they may be getting less financial protection for the money, a new report suggests.
