The perils of integrating wellness and safety and health and the possibility of a worker-oriented alternative
2016
26
1
11-39
health programme ; occupational safety and health ; well being
Occupational safety and health
https://journals.sagepub.com/loi/NEW
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1048291116629489
English
Bibliogr.
"Integration of workplace wellness with safety and health has gained momentum on the initiative of the state allied with a segment of large employers and some health and safety professionals. Integration has a dual potential: to fundamentally reshape occupational health in ways that profoundly benefit workers, or to serve neoliberal corporate goals. A focus on the workplace and the ways work and health interact broaden the definition of a work-related injury or illness and emphasize and challenge the employer decisions that create hazards and determine risk. However, the implementation of integration is taking place in a context of corporate dominance and the aggressive pursuit of a neoliberal agenda. Consequently, in practice, integration efforts have emphasized individual worker responsibility for health and fail to actually integrate wellness with safety and health in a meaningful way. Can an alternative be envisioned and pursued that realizes the promise of integration for workers?"
Digital
The ETUI is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ETUI.