The fundamentals of health and wellbeing risk management
Risk assessment
Undertake detailed occupational health and wellbeing risk assessments, focused on occupational disease exposures and factors that may negatively impact mental and physical wellbeing. This will enable a cohesive action plan to be developed and implemented to help control and reduce potential causative factors to minimise risk.
Risk profiling
Improve risk management by reviewing the root causes of incidents, occupational health screening outputs and sickness absence trends to identify ‘hot spots’ where resources can be targeted effectively.
Focus on the hierarchy of control
Control and mitigation of risks using the rule of ‘reasonably practicable’ is the key to success. Focus initiatives and resources to foster a more holistic approach to the management of health, safety and wellbeing at work.
Chris Andrews, Director of Risk Management Solutions
“At Aviva, our proactive prevention philosophy on risk management allows us to help our clients effectively manage the risks that may cause long-term mental and physical ill health. By sharing information and advice on how to reduce these risks and promote better wellbeing within the workplace, we hope that we can help you to protect your people and your business.”
Risk assessment
Effective risk assessments are an important part of any occupational health and wellbeing strategy. A risk assessment should analyse the tasks completed by the employee over a typical working week, estimating their overall exposure. Consider other lifestyle factors that may contribute to daily risk exposure such as hobbies, health, and financial and psychological factors. When looking at your current control measures, determine what's working and what changes you can put in place to improve outcomes.
Education and training
Employees and employers can all benefit from investing in education and awareness programmes. Employees can feel comfortable knowing they're supported in the workplace and managers and supervisors can be better equipped to support employees going through health issues. We work with SafetyCulture Training to help businesses manage some of their key risks, and for drivers we offer support through Drive iQ.
Hybrid and home working
Flexible working for many businesses may now be the norm, so you need to consider how to support your staff with their physical and mental health when they're working at home. It's important they have the right equipment, that they take regular breaks, set clear boundaries around home and work life and that you have regular catch-ups with honest and open conversations.
Lifestyle factors
The increase in sedentary desk-based work may have an influence on the risk of developing health issues. Encouraging sedentary employees to move more at work could lead to physical and mental health benefits, especially when practiced alongside other healthy lifestyle choices.
Mind health and wellbeing
Your occupational health and safety strategy should always incorporate mind health and wellbeing as an integral part of your overall risk management approach. Encourage a more open workplace culture, provide support when employees are struggling and invest in education and awareness programmes to help everyone gain a better understanding of this often-stigmatised topic.
Physical health and wellbeing
Engage with your occupational health provider to explore what could be provided to boost physical health and wellbeing in the workplace. Consider areas that can be controlled, like exposure to noise, hazardous substances and repetitive manual handling tasks. Encourage sedentary workers to engage in regular physical movement to support posture. Monitor and measure phsyical health through voluntary blood pressure checks, cholesterol checks and other routine checks.
Our Specialist Partners to help manage your Health and Wellbeing risks
To access this solution at preferential rates and terms, contact our Specialist Partners.
Petros
Resilience and good mental health
Petros provide support, resilience assessment, consultancy, training and intervention to improve personal and organisational resilience. Services include individual assessment, coaching and a range of training courses for personal resilience (Challenge of Change), mental health awareness for employees and MindHealth for Managers.
Innovate Healthcare
Occupational Health and Wellbeing
Innovate Healthcare provide a range of occupational health and wellbeing services covering the full employee lifecycle. Services include new starter health screening, management referrals, health surveillance, vaccination programmes and therapeutic services including counselling, CBT, EMDR and physiotherapy. Their approach to occupational health can help to mitigate risk, help to meet regulatory obligations and help to improve attendance, in turn helping to reduce absence-related costs.
Need further help or assistance?
Call our Risk Help Line to speak to our Risk Management Solutions team for help and advice on
0345 366 6666
Opening times: Monday - Friday* 9:00am - 5:00pm
Email us at: riskadvice@aviva.com
* Excludes Bank Holidays. The cost of calls to 03 prefixed numbers are charged at national call rates (charges may vary dependent on your network provider) and are usually included in inclusive minute plans from landlines and mobiles. For our joint protection telephone calls may be recorded and/or monitored.