Environmental & Occupational Health

For the second year in a row, Colorado Governor Jared Polis has demonstrated the state’s commitment to worker health, safety, and well-being by proclaiming August 20^th Total Worker Health® Day. Health Links™, a program based at the Center for Health, Work & Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health, is the champion of this officially sanctioned day.   

Total Worker Health (TWH) is an approach defined by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health as “policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being.”

The TWH approach recognizes that both work-related factors, and factors beyond the workplace, contribute to the many safety and health challenges facing workers and employers. TWH offers a timely approach to address the great changes and disruptions in how and where we work and the occupational and public health hazards we face.

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly illustrates how many of the factors that influence worker safety, health, and well-being transcend traditional occupational safety and health issues. Total Worker Health Day serves as an opportunity for employers to acknowledge the diverse challenges workers face and highlight the ways their organizations are integrating workplace health and safety efforts.

"Now more than ever, we are aware that our work directly impacts our health, safety, and well-being,” says David Shapiro, Program Manager of Health Links. “Organizations and leaders that focus on TWH are better able to manage the current situation because they are committed to putting their people first. In proclaiming August 20^th, 2020 as Total Worker Health Day, the Governor recognizes how important this work is today and for the future of the workplace and the workforce of Colorado."

In its continual effort to support and educate business owners and employers of all sizes and in all sectors, Health Links will be offering workshops on leadership, safety and mental health coinciding with Total Worker Health Day. Experts from the Colorado School of Public Health as well as professional safety organizations will provide evidence-based information with actionable steps for attendees to help them pursue TWH in their workplaces. In addition to these workshops, Health Links will be offering free plan upgrades to any organization that enrolls to be a Certified Healthy Workplace™ on August 20^th.