Web-based stress management program for employees empowers businesses to increase productivity and reduce absenteeism by addressing the $300 billion issue of stress in the workplace.

Mental Workout, which offers web-based programs that inspire and empower people to live better lives, and Stephan Bodian, the bestselling author of Meditation For Dummies, recently announced the release of ‘Freedom from Stress’, a comprehensive, user-friendly program developed to enable businesses to reduce stress among their employees.

’Freedom from Stress’ is a web-based program that offers five effective, scientifically proven strategies for eliminating stress and enhancing overall well-being. Users can apply the strategies in sequence, each building on the next, or they can begin where they feel inclined and stick with the strategies that work best for them to build their own personalized stress-management program. The program can be used at the employees’ convenience and can be accessed anonymously.

The program includes a video introduction to stress, a personal stress evaluation with progress tracker to measure improvements, a stress journal to identify personal stress triggers, tips for dealing with stressful situations, suggestions for lifestyle changes, and a total of 18 guided exercises and meditations that can be downloaded to a mobile device, computer, or CD for optimum accessibility.

The author and narrator of the program, Stephan Bodian, is an internationally celebrated author and meditation teacher and a licensed psychotherapist with expertise in stress management and positive psychology.

Freedom from Stress is available for $9.99 (U.S.) at www.mentalworkout.com/store/apps/freedom-from-stress/web. Volume discount pricing available upon request.

In an effort to support training compliance related workplace violence and harassment (Bill 168) as well as alcohol & drugs in the workplace, Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) and Corridor Interactive have partnered to deliver Ontario trucking employers toolkits to support legislative compliance. These toolkits are user friendly and most importantly, meet government requirements.

The training content for the Workplace Violence toolkit was authored by recognized experts Glenn French of the Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence and Dr. Barbara Benoliel of Preferred Solutions.

"No longer can employers ignore destructive workplace conduct, be it physical violence or harassment," states Glenn French of the Canadian Initiative, adding that "currently the spotlight is on Ontario’s Bill 168 which places new and onerous obligations on all employers, regardless of size or industrial section."

Effective June 15, 2010, the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act changed, placing on employers significant responsibilities to protect workers from workplace violence and other forms of abuse. This includes protections from physical acts of aggression such as assaults and threats; generalized harassment, which goes beyond the protections currently offered under the Human Rights Code and domestic violence. These are sweeping changes to current legislation, requiring employers to take all reasonable steps to ensure employees are safe regardless of where they work and while at work.

Under the new legislation, employers are required to have in place a comprehensive violence prevention program that includes a corporate policy on violence/harassment prevention, an organizational risk assessment, reporting and investigation protocols, emergency response measures and training for all employees.

"The OTA recognized that since alcohol & drug training was delivered in the mid 1990’s, there may be many new supervisors who are not compliant with the regulated training requirements. There are others who need to review their responsibilities and procedures to meet them. Distinct from the program for supervisors of regulated drivers, a separate course provides training for supervisors of non-regulated staff. Both courses support an employer’s health and safety obligations," states Barb Butler of Barbara Butler and Associates.

Butler went on to comment, "We recognize that the primary audience for a carrier’s training program may be for supervisors of DOT regulated drivers. However, increasingly carriers are extending their alcohol & drug policies to other parts of their organization, where supervisors still need appropriate tools to implement those policies – the OTA e-learning offering provides an efficient and economical training method." Butler is Canada’s preeminent alcohol & drug authority and sole author of the learning content.
Ensuring your compliance
"Although alcohol & drug compliance and the requirements of Bill 168 appear daunting, our partnership with Corridor has resulted in the development of easily applied resource toolkits for all workplaces that have an interest in legislative compliance. These innovative products make Corridor an industry leader in e-learning," comments Joanne Benac, vice president membership administration and accounting of OTA.

Training practices meet compliance requirements and it provides managers and supervisors with the necessary tools and skills to ensure legislative compliance throughout their organization. From Tips and Guidelines, through to providing leaders with the necessary forms, checklists and audit requirements; these toolkits are a leader’s one-stop resource. It provides compliance in a turnkey and affordable fashion for all employees, without unnecessary complexity.

Corridor powers a wide range of innovative and practical applications designed to train employees on the critical workplace issues of the day. Applications cover New Employee Orientation, Leadership, Diversity, Leadership, Accessibility, Health and Safety, Hours of Work, and many more. From concept through to launch and ongoing support, Corridor’s Learning Systems deliver measurable ROI.

To learn more about Bill 168 and OTA programs, visit www.ontruck.org.  

Canadians can measure their own stress level by taking the Mood Detector test at www.mooddetector.ca or on the National Mental Health Week Facebook page (CANMentalHealth). They can also receive tips on how to enhance their mental health by subscribing to the National Mental Health Week’s Twitter.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has now released its program for North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week that runs May 2 to 8.

With "How Safe Are You?" as the theme for 2010, CCOHS has produced a selection of free webinars and podcasts on workplace violence, the impact of injuries, and promoting health and safety through social media. The programs were developed for workplaces to use during NAOSH Week to raise awareness of these important issues and to ultimately improve the health, safety and well-being of workers.

Webinars:
Ontario Bill 168 - Violence & Harassment in the Workplace. Jessie Callaghan, Senior Technical Specialist, at CCOHS explores the ideas, implications and applications regarding this Ontario Bill and how workplace policies and procedures will be affected. This webinar is available on demand.

Short but Tweet: Ten Twitter Tips for Health and Safety with Krista Travers, Marketing Communications Officer at CCOHS, on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 1:00 p.m. EST. The free, 30-minute webinar will aim to give Canadians a better understanding of Twitter’s potential and how it can be used to enrich and promote health and safety in the workplace. This is a live event.

"CCOHS has had a history of adopting emerging technologies in order to make information about health and safety available to Canadians. What we are currently exploring with social media tools now is a continuation of this spirit," says Krista Travers, marketing communications officer at CCOHS. "Twitter is one such tool we use to get health and safety messages out there. Along the way we've learned some lessons which we think will be helpful to others who are considering or just beginning to use Twitter."

Podcasts:
Violence and Harassment in the Workplace: Jessie Callaghan, Senior Technical Specialist, at CCOHS discusses workplace violence and harassment - how to protect your employees, tips for prevention and the new requirements under Ontario Bill 168.

Workplace Injuries: A Personal Story: Bill Bowman, a victim of a workplace injury shares his personal story and how he and his family were impacted by the tragedy. Bill also describes the work of Threads of Life, an organization that provides support to families affected by workplace tragedies.
 
NAOSH Week strives to focus the attention of employers, employees, the general public, and all workplace safety and health partners on the importance of preventing injury and illness in the workplace, at home and in the community.

NAOSH Week is an annual initiative led by the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE) in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), Labour Program, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). NAOSH Week continues to be a truly continent-wide event, celebrated in Canada, along with North American partners in the United States and Mexico. For more information visit www.naosh.org/.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), a Canadian federal government agency based in Hamilton, Ontario is Canada’s national resource for the advancement of workplace health and safety. CCOHS promotes the total well-being – physical, psychosocial and mental health – of working Canadians by providing information, training, education, management systems and solutions that support health and safety programs and the prevention of injury and illness. CCOHS partners and collaborates with agencies and organizations from Canada and around the world to improve the quality and quantity of resources and programs, as well as expand the breadth of usage of occupational health information to many different segments of society. For further information, visit www.ccohs.ca.

There was a time when jobs that inflicted vibrations on the body — long-haul truck driving and construction work, for instance — were considered bad for the back. But new research out of the University of Calgary suggests that certain vibrations may in fact help alleviate chronic back pain.

A component of workplace health that is often overlooked is the one component that cannot be avoided: the air we breathe.

The air quality inside a workplace is often the cause of myriad health problems, ranging from a mundane dry throat or headache to more serious bouts of nausea and dizziness.

Heart disease is one of the top killers of Canadians. According to Statistics Canada, in 2005 alone, more than 71,000 people died of major cardiovascular diseases. Chances of survival decrease drastically the longer a person waits to get medical attention.

February is Heart Month and St. John Ambulance says it’s important for people to recognize the signs and symptoms of a heart attack. Knowing these signs and symptoms can spell the difference between life and death:

Office work and snacking – the two seem to go hand in hand and it's having a disastrous effect on our waistline and our health. This according to a recent study published by Laval University in Quebec. Researchers at the school examined the eating habits of subjects who had just performed 45-minutes of workplace tasks such as reading, writing and computer use versus those who ate after simply relaxing. The worker subjects loaded up on calories afterwards, consuming 200 to 250 more than their non-productive counterparts.

The shrill blaring of the alarm drills into your brain and jolts you out of your restless sleep. With eyes heavy as lead, you drag your aching body to work. Nowadays, with half the people gone, you have to go flat out or risk being downsized next – but your incompetent boss doesn’t really care. You stay late, then there’s a traffic jam, heavy rain, and more bad news on the radio. Getting home is no relief – usually when you see your spouse it’s one big fight – mostly about money. The kids are a worry too – and thinking about work keeps you from sleeping, again.

Sounds like a bad dream? Maybe. But parts of it are reality for many people today.

When Canadian brick manufacturer Brampton Brick decided to invest in automated external defibrillators (AEDs), it did so with the health and safety of its aging workforce in mind.

“Our employee turnover rate is next to zero,” says Nick Bartzis, health and safety coordinator for Brampton Brick. “People that come to (work at) Brampton Brick usually retire at Brampton Brick.”