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A project to improve UC Berkeley workers' health and safety.
A project to improve UC Berkeley workers' health and safety.
What is our mission?
Our project aims to design and facilitate an accessible needs assessment tool for residential student services program (RSSP) dining and custodial employees to identify, address, and advocate for worker health and safety.
Our approach involves modifying the Total Worker Health Model, created by the CDC and NIOSH, to fit the needs of UC Berkeley's Custodial and Dining Services Staff to maximize their safety, health, and overall well-being.
Our project aims to design and facilitate an accessible needs assessment tool for residential student services program (RSSP) dining and custodial employees to identify, address, and advocate for worker health and safety.
Our approach involves modifying the Total Worker Health Model, created by the CDC and NIOSH, to fit the needs of UC Berkeley's Custodial and Dining Services Staff to maximize their safety, health, and overall well-being.
Who are we partnering with?
We are partnering with UC Berkeley's University Health Services Be Well at Work department. The Be Well at Work Program strives to "improve employee health and well-being, leading to a more engaged and productive workforce."
The Be Well at Work Program already offers employee assistance in several areas including disability management, elder care, ergonomics, occupational health, wellness, and work/life balance. They exist to promote a positive environment for employees at Berkeley and to ensure they can easily access the resources that are provided to them.
We are partnering with UC Berkeley's University Health Services Be Well at Work department. The Be Well at Work Program strives to "improve employee health and well-being, leading to a more engaged and productive workforce."
The Be Well at Work Program already offers employee assistance in several areas including disability management, elder care, ergonomics, occupational health, wellness, and work/life balance. They exist to promote a positive environment for employees at Berkeley and to ensure they can easily access the resources that are provided to them.
What population are we working to help?
Our focus population is dining and custodial staff within the Residential Student Services Program (RSSP) at UC Berkeley. We will be interviewing them to understand how we can best create a needs assessment survey for their needs.
Our focus population is dining and custodial staff within the Residential Student Services Program (RSSP) at UC Berkeley. We will be interviewing them to understand how we can best create a needs assessment survey for their needs.
Workplace Health & Safety
Workplace Health & Safety
What is Worker Health?
What is Worker Health?
A worker’s health is influenced by two factors:
External Factors: things that workers bring with them to the workplace, such as family circumstances, health practices, beliefs, attitudes, and values.
Internal Factors: what the workplace does to employees once they are there, such as organization of work in both the physical and mental sense.
What is Job Stress?
What is Job Stress?
Job stress is “the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the worker" (National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health).
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) are the main regulatory organizations for ensuring workplace health and safety.
Types of Job Stress:
Job characteristics: excessive workload, lack of control, lack of physical mobility
Organizational factors: lack of communication, lack of training, lack of job mobility, lack of supervision, unpredictable shifts, etc.
Interpersonal Relationships: difficulties with supervisors/colleagues, bullying, harassment, disrespectful behavior, etc.
Physical hazards: fatigue, heavy lifting, bad ergonomics, handling sharps, poor lighting, slippery floors, violence/assault risk, etc.
Impact of Stress in the Workplace
Impact of Stress in the Workplace
Our project revolves around work being a social determinant of health. As defined by the CDC, social determinants of health (SDOH) are the "conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks." The work environment clearly has an effect on people's health and safety.
Scientific studies have shown a causal relationship between job strain and poor health and safety outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, depression, anxiety, workplace injuries, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high cortisol (stress) hormones, depressed immune response, and changes in eating habits. (Belkic KL, Landsbergis PA, Schnall PL, Baker D. (2004)
Alarmingly, employees who experience high job stress are less likely to participate in workplace health promotion programs, which are designed to protect employees and ensure their health and safety.
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