European Network for Workplace Health Promotionec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2003/action1/docs/2003_1_12_frep... · European Network for Workplace Health Promotion ... is the vision

European Network for Workplace Health Promotion

Final Report

- Activity Report -

presented by the Upper Austrian Sickness Fund

Healthy Work

in an Ageing Europe

Grant Agreement No. 2003120

Final Report - Grant Agreement N° 2003120

2

INDEX 1. INTRODUCTION AND AIMS OF THE PROJECT............................................................................................3

2. PROJECT MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................................................5

3. ACTIVITIES, ACHIEVEMENTS AND FINAL STATE OF THE PROJECT .................................................8 3.1 WORKING PACKAGE 1.1: ..................................................................................................................................8 ANALYSIS AND COLLECTION OF DATA AND INSTRUMENTS ..............................................................................................8 FOR PROLONGING WORKING LIFE.....................................................................................................................................8 3.2 WORKING PACKAGE 1.2: ................................................................................................................................11 ANALYSIS AND COLLECTION OF INFORMATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL ............................................................................11 FOR PRODUCING A EUROPEAN REPORT ON THE ACTIONS OF WHP REGARDING AGEING WORKFORCE............................11 3.3 WORKING PACKAGE 2: ...................................................................................................................................12 PREPARATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW WORKING PLATFORM “WORK AND HEALTH”.......................................12

4. DISSEMINATION.................................................................................................................................................14 4.1 PRESS CONFERENCE.......................................................................................................................................14 4.2 EUROPEAN STATUS REPORT “HEALTHY WORK IN AN AGEING EUROPE.........................................................14 4.3 LINZ CONFERENCE.........................................................................................................................................14 4.4 PR ACTIVITIES ...............................................................................................................................................15 4.5 PUBLICATIONS ...............................................................................................................................................17

5. SIGNATURE AND APPROVAL .........................................................................................................................18

6. ANNEX....................................................................................................................................................................19 6.1. MINUTES OF ENWHP BUSINESS MEETINGS ..................................................................................................19 6.2. MINUTES OF ENWHP ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS.............................................................................27 6.3. PRESS INFORMATION BY OÖGKK .................................................................................................................35


3

1. Introduction and aims of the project “Healthy Employees in Healthy Organisations” is the vision of the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP) which has been supported by the European Com-mission since it began in 1996 as part of the European Programme for Action on Health Promotion, Information, Education and Training.

The ENWHP is an informal network of national occupational safety and health organisa-tions and players in the field of public health in the EU member and accession countries, the countries of the European Economic Area and Switzerland. All of the 31 members are nominated by their national ministries or responsible ministerial authorities; they represent the Network at national level as National Contact Offices. ENWHP gathers and dissemi-nates successful workplace health practice and methods from all countries and economic sectors which has helped extend knowledge in Europe on methods and examples worth copying and has helped to respond to the new health challenges imposed on Europe by a changing world of work. First of all the Network managed to develop a common European understanding of WHP which was defined in the Luxembourg Declaration. In the years that followed, the Network completed four projects defining quality criteria and documenting models of good practice, i.e. successful individual projects for large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises and organisations in the public administration sector. National WHP infrastructures (national networks and forums) have been developed, a truly European inventory of useful methods ‘toolbox’ has been created and arguments have been collected which justify investments in WHP. “Work and Health” has thus become an accepted issue on the European social agenda. Given the success of the ENWHP at a European level, the network will draw public atten-tion to a problem that will apply to all European countries in the years to come. On the one hand, the tense situation of many of the European national budgets (and thus their pension funds) will force workers to remain in employment longer till they are entitled to a full old age benefit from the respective pension funds. On the other hand, the continuous ageing of the European population will lead to a lack of qualified personnel if people continue to retire early due to health problems. This means, therefore, that in years to come enterprises will have to accomplish their busi-ness aims with a continuously ageing workforce. It also becomes clear that both nation-wide economic prosperity as well as individual well-being will depend on a healthy ageing workforce. It has to be a main objective of national social policies, as well as the enter-prises’ human resource policies, for employees to stay in full possession of their health till they reach the statutory age of retirement. Otherwise the precious know-how of older work-ers will be lost, as well as their manpower, and this will inflict a serious loss on national economies. There are two main obstacles for implementing successful WHP measures for an ageing workforce. Firstly, general strategies and policies for WHP developed by the ENWHP are still not widely considered as an investment in the company’s capital, and the coming lack of quali-fied workers has not yet been fully realised. Secondly – resulting from the facts previously mentioned – neither the public nor the enterprises are aware enough of the situation to take advantage of tailor-made measures to prolong elders’ working life and their well-being at work. Considering the wide range of information already collected and made available, the number of companies actually taking a comprehensive and integrated approach to health management as recommended by the ENWHP is still relatively low.


4

Having well-founded know-how in one country is not necessarily a guarantee that it is ac-cessible or useful for other countries.

Briefly: The existing actions of WHP need to be refined for them to be applicable to the age-ing workforce in Europe. Based on this background the 5th joint ENWHP initiative has set the following targets: Analysis and collection of data and instruments for prolonging working life Analysis and collection of current practices, strategies and policies to improve health

status and reduce health inequalities by tackling the relevant health determinants of the ageing populations and workforces across Europe.

Preparation of a new working platform in the area of health information and work.

To achieve these objectives different methods have been adopted: Data and information analysis and collection. Evaluation of existing data and information, development and collection of indicators. Questionnaire-based survey. Consensus building among (corporate) experts. Workshops and business meetings. Literature review. Public relation methods.

The outputs are: European report on strategies and instruments for prolonging working life. European report on the current status of WHP for the ageing populations and work-

forces. Preparation and establishment of a new working platform in the area of health informa-

tion and work. Dissemination of results through the national forums of WHP and ENWHP.


5

2. Project Management

The project management is a multi-level responsibility. The entire project was co-ordinated by the Austrian National Contact Office (NCO); it thus served as the main beneficiary for funding by the European Commission and took care of all financial aspects of the project (e.g. business meetings, personnel cost for the working packages etc.) Moreover the Aus-trian NCO was responsible for the working package 1.2. The German NCO has been ap-pointed specifically to be responsible for the working packages 1.1 and 2. The achievements of the project are as follows: Working package 1.1: The German National Contact Office (NCO) was the co-ordinator for working package 1.1. A European report on strategies and instruments for prolonging work-ing life was compiled. There are different actions, plans and host of tools available with which the health, qualifications, motivations and therefore the work ability and employability of a company’s older worker can be fostered. The report presents which approach is suitable and viable for companies and their employees depending on the initial conditions at the company and on the specific HR tasks. Working package 1.2: The Austrian NCO co-ordinated working package 1.2. The collection and analysis of information at national level lead to a European report on WHP actions for the ageing workforce. Isolated health-related activities to keep ageing employees in the work process have already been implemented in a few Member States. While simple changes in the work organisation can help prevent strain, which particularly affects ageing employees, and health-promoting measures can ensure that they remain longer in the work process due to their good health, measures taken in the different Member States vary. Therefore each Member State has prepared a national chapter taking into account the respective political context and health promotion initiatives for ageing employees. These national chapters have been integrated into a concise European report by the Austrian NCO and will appear at the ENWHP web-site. The entire national chapters will appear in the national language on the website of the respective NCO. Working package 2: This working package was again co-ordinated by the German NCO and was dedicated to the preparation and establishment of a new working platform “Work and Health”. Being an important instrument for developing a health monitoring system in Europe, work-related health monitoring recently became subject of a project supported by the health monitoring programme. In order to allow for synergies, health information activities and health promotion activities should be linked. Workplaces have long been acknowledged as suitable settings for health promotion, and relevant European activities are successfully co-ordinated by the ENWHP. The aim of this working package was therefore to establish and operate a new working platform “Work & Health”. Working structures have been constructed on how to analyse data needs in regard to the existing indicators for work-related health monitoring, to establish quality assurance measures in relation to the performance of the pro-posed indicators, to recommend data and exchange standards, to establish a standard for reporting and analysis, and to analyse upcoming new work-related health threats from a pub-lic health perspective. On a more general level, Network meetings have been organised and used as a platform to present and discuss the results produced. Advisory committees have been appointed to be responsible for strategy planning. They consisted of the Network chairpersons, the project co-ordinators and seven NCOs from the different European regions. The thirteen countries represented this time are Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, the Neth-erlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.


6

In the period covered by this project, three Network meetings and three advisory committee meetings were organised. The Network meetings took place in Budapest (11/2004), Brati-slava (7/2005) and Prague (11/2005), the advisory and strategy committee met in Berlin (9/2004) and Düsseldorf (4/2005 and 10/2005) (see Annex). Moreover, the 5th European Conference on Promoting Workplace Health took place in Linz on 19th-20th June 2006.

Manpower for the execution of the activities

Country involved Name Organisa-

tion/Partner Func-tion/Activity

Number of person days

Daily cost (€ per day) Costs (€)

Austria Christian Boukal OÖ GKK, Austria Scientific Re-searcher 220 216,00 47.520,00

Austria Christian Boukal OÖ GKK, Austria Scientific Re-searcher 8 300,00 2.400,00

Austria Martina Blutsch OÖ GKK, Austria Project Assistant 90 170,00 15.300,00

Austria Elfriede Kiesewet-ter OÖ GKK, Austria Project Manager 128 380,00 48.640,00

Austria (Romania) 1.600,00

Germany Thomas Theuringer 2004

BV BKK, Ger-many

Scientific Re-searcher 55 353,00 19.415,00

Germany Thomas Theuringer 2005

BV BKK, Ger-many


Germany Vivien Peters BV BKK, Ger-many

Project Assistant 110 228,00 25.080,00

Germany Christof Röttger BV BKK, Ger-many


Germany Wolfgang Bödeker BV BKK, Ger-many


Germany Brigitte Jürgens-Scholz

BV BKK, Ger-many


Germany Reinhold Sochert BV BKK, Ger-many


Germany Reinhold Sochert BV BKK, Ger-many


Germany Lorraine Kruse BV BKK, Ger-many

Project Assistant 95 305,00 28.975,00

Belgium Karla van den Broek PREVENT Scientific Re-

searcher 8 400,00 3.200,00

Czech Re-public Alena Steflova

Institut mikroelek-tronických aplikaci

Scientific Con-sultant 8 150,00 1.200,00

Denmark Kurt Aebelo Sonderjyllands Amt Head of Centre 8 316,00 1.704,00

Finland Riitta-Maija Hämäläinen

Finnish Institute ofOccupational Health


France Michel Valée ANACT Lyon Head of Centre 8 382,00 3.056,00

Hungary Gábor Galgóczy National Institute of Occupational Health

Director 10 116,00 1.016,00


7

Iceland Asa Asgeirsdottir Vinnueftirlit Rikis-ins

Department Di-rector 8 371,70 2.000,00

Ireland Richard Wynne Work Research Centre

Scientific Direc-tor 8 405,00 3.200,00

Italy Giuseppe Masanotti

Dipartimento di specialita' medico-chirurgiche e sanita' publica Università degli Studi di Perugia


Luxem-bourg Paul Ambrosini Inspect. du travail

et des mines Scientific Re-searcher 8 400,00 3.200,00

Nether-lands Elsa van der Maas Stichting NIGZ Project Em-

ployee 21 263,85 3.200,00

Norway Odd Björnstad National Institute of Occupational Health, Norway

Senior Advisor 12 268,00 2.080,00

Poland Elzbieta Korzen-iowska

Nofer Institute of Occupational Health

Head of Centre 8 64,10 440,00

Romania Theodor Haratau Fundatia Romtens Project Manager 8 82,00 400,00

Spain Maria Dolores Solé Ministerio de tra-bajo y asuntos sociales

Directora de Programa Técnico

10 227,50 1.440,00

Sweden Bo Hagström Arbetslivsinstitut Syd

Regional Direc-tor 8 375,00 2.928,00

United Kingdom John Griffiths work2health Scientific Re-

searcher 8 400,00 3.200,00

Note the following comments: The Oberösterreichische Gebietskrankenkasse (Upper Austrian Sickness Fund) placed three people for the project management at disposal. Names and number of working days are listed in the above table. The daily rates for the project assistant (Martina Blutsch) and the researcher (Christian Bou-kal) are lower that those quoted in the contract. The daily rates for the project coordinator (Elfriede Kiesewetter) are higher than those in the contract because the department she manages has been upgraded. Her responsibilities as project coordinator – with a higher salary – are compensated by the lower costs fort he assis-tant and researcher. Mag. DDr. Oskar Meggeneder, deputy director of the Oberösterreichischen Gebietskranken-kasse was responsible since the beginning of the project for the management. After he re-tired on November 30, 2005, the responsibilities were handed over to the senior executive DDr. Hans Popper. Daily rates were not charged by either directors.


8

3. Activities, achievements and final state of the project 3.1 Working package 1.1: Analysis and collection of data and instruments

for prolonging working life While the working population is ageing and plans are afoot to delay retirement in many coun-tries, the production system still largely functions with a younger age structure than the cur-rent age pyramid. This imbalance will be even more marked in the years to come. The ques-tion of how these workers can remain efficient in the “second half of their working lives” and how to maintain and develop their skills and safeguard their health is not only worthy of care-ful examination, but also illustrates a need for implementing procedures and concepts for promoting healthy and active ageing in companies. In contrast, older workers do not enjoy the attention in companies which would be appropri-ate to overcome the problems of the demographic change. Of the three corporate strategies to deal with older employees – career design, work design, externalisation – the latter is cur-rently still in the limelight. Against this background, this working package aims at an increased knowledge on available tools and strategies for healthy and active ageing at company level. The following objectives in particular should be achieved: - To conduct a survey on the scientific literature concerning the public health impacts of

the ageing workforce. - To compile a list of tools, action plans and strategies for healthy and active ageing at

company level in Europe. - To study and evaluate the tools, action plans and strategies. - To compile a comprehensive report on strategies and instruments for prolonging working

life.

Main results of the literature review The population of the EU is ageing rapidly. The number of older people in employment is low and improvements in the employment rate have been modest to date. Moreover, many with-draw from the labour force at a relatively early age. Since the late 1970s Europe has wit-nessed a stark reduction in the participation of older workers which has led to an artificial re-juvenation of the labour force despite an increase in the average age of the total population. Currently, the ageing of both the total population and the active population is moving in the same direction. In a context where people live for 20 years after retiring from working life, increasing partici-pation/employment will become crucial. To address these issues, the EU has set itself two important objectives: to increase the employment rate of older workers to 50 % by 2010 (Stockholm target) and to delay by five years the age at which older workers withdraw from the labour force by 2010 (Barcelona target). The employment rate for older workers in the EU-25 stood at 42,5 % in 2005 (50,1 % for men and 30,5 % for women). The average exit age from the labour force was 59,9 years (60,5 for men and 59,1 for women). The March 2003 European Council concluded that working longer represents an important way of in-creasing employment rates in general and, thus, a major contribution to improving the finan-cial sustainability of pension systems. Results of scientific research – including a study by the European Foundation on age and working conditions in the EU – reveal three important aspects of how work affects the health of ageing workforces: 1. Firstly, evidence suggests that work-related health problems increase with age. Musculo-

skeletal disorders mostly concern service workers and elementary occupations, whereas


9

the incidence of stress-related health problems is more predominant for high-skilled, non-manual occupations. This underlines the importance of measures to improve work-ing conditions and to pay more attention to health and safety in the workplace.

2. Secondly, the increase in employment of older workers in the past years is related to the increase level of part-time work. At EU level, part-time work among older workers has in-creased at an annual rate of over 4 % compared to just 1 % for full-time employment. Between 1997 and 2001 half the jobs created for older workers were part-time which lead to an increase in the total proportion of older workers in part time employment to 22 %. This indicates that promoting more flexible working time arrangements may be a better way of striking a balance between work and private life which is more in line with the needs of older people.

3. Thirdly, research shows evidence that older workers receive less training than prime-age workers and low-skilled older workers are provided with lower levels of training than high-skilled older workers. There is a correlation between workers remaining longer in the labour force and the level of training they receive. In general, older workers taking part in educational and training activities tend to retire at a later age. Finally, there is no empirical evidence that older workers are more or less productive than other age groups. OECD analysis shows that the productivity potential of older workers is not impaired by age but by lack of skills – something that can be corrected through training.

Main results of strategies and instruments for prolonging working life

Based on scientific and practical knowledge which have been acquired from discussions on ageing issues over the last 20 years meanwhile there are numerous and different strategies and tools available that can be taken to help improve the status of ageing workers and the level for prolonging working life. A relevant selection was assembled and is presented in the brochure “Strategies and Instruments for Prolonging Working Life”, which is attached to this report. It complements the European report compiled under working package 1.2 from a company point of view and therefore mainly addresses HR and health experts at company level. The procedures and concepts for promoting healthy and active ageing in companies are structured as follows: Tools to analyse the initial situation at the company and to identify the need for action.

Four tools to analyse the initial situation at the company and to identify the need for ac-tion are presented:

- An age structure analysis shows the actual age structure of the workforce and its ex-pected development in the future. It can provide a good launch pad to determine and discuss possible HR problems in the company related to the change in the age structure.

- The check list to identify the need for action regarding the age structure focuses on the working and employment conditions in the company. Proceeding from the HR policy pur-sued, the question is raised as to what risks this policy involves for an ageing workforce.

- By contrast, the Work Ability Index focuses its sights on the employees and their work ability assessed by themselves. Proceeding from the employees, an examination is made of whether reductions in their work ability are imminent in the future.

- The workshop concept “Quality of Work – Healthy into Retirement” involves the sensiti-sation and sharing of experience in a group. The topics explored include the reasons why there are difficulties of “working in old-age” in the company and what action can be taken to solve these problems.

Action approaches with which work and manpower deployment can be organised in an

age- and ageing-appropriate way. They outline the possible range of action and not “only” involve the ergonomic design of the workplace and rather classic behaviour-oriented health programmes but equally further training and staff development, the organisation of the work and working time, reintegration of employees with diminished capabilities and the corporate culture. Depending on the specific problems of the age structure, which be-


10

come evident after an analysis of the starting situation, and on the company’s basis for action, the aim is to decide in what areas a company should primarily be active.

Concrete company examples show, that it is advisable and successful to develop an “in-

tegrative” strategy involving different but intermeshing measures in order to achieve ef-fective and lasting promotion of the work ability and employability of the workers. A fun-damental change in paradigms is required; away from the “youth culture” of previous dec-ades towards a labour and HR policy embracing all generations which suits the future greater number of older employees and the longer working life. Such a change in para-digms requires intermeshing activities at different levels of action. It necessarily implies:

- A review of the working conditions with regard to the work ability and efficiency of the employees and the maintenance of health.

- The fostering of continuous further training parallel to employment, especially in the process of work.

- The support of new starts in occupations also for middle-aged and older workers, which presupposes the conception of new HR development strategies as well as the flexible organisation of working time and a recruitment and manning policy independent of age.

- The rethinking of negative age stereotypes and the (further) development of a corporate culture which is based on communication, can cope with conflicts and co-operation, and promotes personal responsibility with individual decision latitude.

The example of voestalpine AG, which is described in detail, shows what a holistic strategy can look like in a large company.


11

3.2 Working package 1.2: Analysis and collection of information at national level

for producing a European report on the actions of WHP regarding ageing workforce This working package aimed at publishing a concise report on existing measures of WHP especially targeting older workers. Thus the Austrian NCO, as project co-ordinator, provided a national status report on measures of workplace health promotion. This national chapter served as a template for partners in the ENWHP to compile their own national reports. The European report was aimed at a description of programme policies on a national, regional and operational level as well as on the level of co-operation between social partners. This report now comprises information and recommendations regarding the future demographic changes in connection with occupational health. Information and suggestions for healthy ageing at workplaces were collected on various lev-els: • Legal basis • Political basis • National programmes and projects • Stakeholders

• Public health system • Social security • Unemployment insurance • Different lobbies (trade unions,

chamber of commerce, workers' chamber etc.)

• Players in health promotion policy • Different players

• Enterprises • Management consultants • Players in adult education • Scientific research institutes

• Players in workplace health promotion • Professional consultants • National and regional networks • Entrepreneurs' network

After composing its own national chapter, the Austrian NCO sent it as a template – supple-mented with an outline of the continuing problem and a guideline for completing the national reports – to all the participating partners in the ENWHP. These files were handed over to the partners on June 26, 2004. The deadline for sending in respective national chapters was set for November 2004. Although Greece and Portugal agreed to co-operate at the beginning of the project, changes took place during the course of the project. During the project, there was a change of government in Greece. The political developments meant there were no longer personnel or financial resources available. In Portugal, there were no financial resources available for producing a report. The co-operation between all the other partners was successful. On the whole, the reports were complete and submitted punctually to the project managers.

After the partners have sent in their national chapters they have been revised and “con-densed” by the project coordinator. Measures were “extracted” and fitted into a concise chart. In case of ambiguities or lack of clarity the author of the chapter had to be contacted for fur-ther information. That was the case for all chapters. After translation by a professional inter-preter, the national files have been sent to the authors for proofreading to guarantee the quality of the “condensed” chapters. Reports on the project were made both at the Business and Advisory Committee Meetings. This provided an opportunity to discuss and clarify problems. The meetings therefore played an important role in drawing up the European status report. Each participating country reported on the project on the website of their national forum and provided their national report for public access.


12

After finalising all the national chapters the individual files have been combined in one con-cise European report and printed. You find the resulting book in the attachment.

3.3 Working package 2: Preparation and establishment of a new working platform “Work and Health”

The 2nd working package aims at further developing and co-ordinating the European Union Health Information and Knowledge System from a work-related health perspective. Work-places have long been acknowledged as suitable settings for health promotion. Relevant European work-site health promotion activities as well as the establishment of work-related health monitoring have been funded by the EU Commission and carried out successfully. According to the rules of operating a European Union Health Information System and in or-der to allow for synergies, existing health information and health promotion activities should be linked. When the project was planned and started there were only vague ideas on how or with which structures this co-ordination process could be achieved. We therefore proceeded by setting up a working group of experts in the fields of public health, workplace health promotion, oc-cupational health and safety and from social insurance institutions, who all focus on the rela-tionship between work and health and are interested in the impact of working conditions on health outcomes. This so called working platform ”Work and Health” was to begin work by addressing the following issues: - how to analyse data needs in regard to the existing indicators for work-related health

monitoring, - to identify areas where indicators are still missing, - to establish quality assurance measures in relation to the performance of the proposed

indicators, - to recommend data and exchange standards, - to establish a standard for reporting and analysis, - to analyse upcoming new work-related health threats from a public health perspective, - to identify and use information channels for dissemination of results and feedback for

consolidated public health activities. An excellent opportunity for securing the strong co-operation necessary as a result of the de-layed start to our activities was seen in recruiting experts for “Work and Health” from the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP) and from the WORKHEALTH project. While the ENWHP involves important national experts and stakeholders representing the field of workplace health promotion, the co-operating partners in the WORKHEALTH pro-ject are experts and stakeholders in the field of health monitoring from social security, scien-tific and occupational health and safety institutions. A preliminary (informal) meeting was held to discuss interests and possible operational pro-cedures at the WORKHEALTH project meeting which took place in Dublin at the same time as the ENWHP business meeting in June 2004. At the same time, DG SANCO developed co-ordinating and advisory structures, tackling the enlargement issues and contributing to the overall planning process for implementing the Health Information and Knowledge System. For these purposes, seven working parties and more specific task forces or workshops have been created in the different fields. On this ba-sis and under the initiation of DG SANCO, the originally planned “Work and Health” working platform was adapted to take on the form of a task force linked to the “Accidents and Injuries” working party. On this new, formal basis DG SANCO organised a preliminary meeting in Luxembourg on October 5, 2004, inviting the representatives from the WORKHEALTH group, the ENWHP,


13

the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the Euro-pean Agency for Safety and Health at Work, EUROSTAT and DG Employment and Social Affairs. The group agreed on intensifying the exchange of information continuously on the relevant developments in the field of work-related health monitoring. Regarding the WORK-HEALTH results and planned activities that were presented and discussed at the meeting, there was consensus on the suitability of the planned processes and that the outcomes should be made available for further discussions in the context of the framework outlined above. Meanwhile, the project consortium decided that the planned European work-related health report should have a strong public health orientation. The concept follows from the policy-cycle-model of a work-related public health monitoring as it was developed by the WORK-HEALTH project. From this point of view the report starts by diseases identified to have high public health importance. These diseases are studied with respect to risk factors, affected populations and preventive measures leading to the identification of important policy domains for policy recommendations and activities. European data sources including public health data are used to analyse the distribution and impact of diseases with respect to occupations, economic sectors, and affected groups. Given that data necessary to draw a comprehensive picture are not available on European level, an in-depth-analysis follows on member state level. The report is aimed at the policy level (MP, ministries, agencies). It is an easy to read document to provide information which can trigger policies, monitor the reasonability and ef-fectiveness of policies and activities, and promote workplace health promotion. It complies with the topics and language of the European social agenda. The activities of the Task Force were regularly reported to the meetings of the working party “Accidents and Injuries” as well as to the Network of Working Party leaders.


14

4. Dissemination

The project partners were kept updated on the progress of the project. Various methods were chosen, some of which have been described above. Providing in-formation and discussions on the results with the partners at the Business Meetings and conferences were most important for the quality assurance. The bilateral exchange of in-formation in particular and discussions on open questions contributed to the success of the project.

4.1 Press Conference

Press conference to introduce the European status report „Healthy Work in an Ageing Europe“. In keeping with the agreement reached relating to Item 4 (Ageing project) at the 19th ENWHP Business Meeting in Bratislava, a press conference was held in Linz on February 1, 2006. The participants included the project manager, DDr. Hans Popper, senior execu-tive at the Upper Austrian Sickness Fund, Dr. Reinhold Sochert, from the German Federal Institute of Company Health Insurance Funds in Essen and Mag. Christian Boukal, project coordinator. Mag. DDr. Oskar Meggeneder was welcomed as a special guest. DDr. Meg-geneder managed the project until he retired on November 30, 2005 and published the status report „Healthy Work in an Ageing Europe“ together with Mag. Christian Boukal.

4.2 European Status Report “Healthy Work in an Ageing Europe

In a combined effort with the editors of the national chapters, ongoing communication took place by e-mail to eliminate problems and ambiguities from the report. the final edited chapters were sent to the editors to correct and release. In this way, the work carried out by the coordinator was evaluated and the quality of the report was assured. The report was also reviewed for the public in specialised press publications. The interest shown by the local press in this issue was echoed in the publications. It appears from the reports in the local and specialised press that there is interest in the issue in general and that the publication was received positively. The media attention and reviews on the report in both the local and specialised press was positive (see Annex for reviews)

4.3 Linz Conference 5th European Conference on promoting workplace health

Press Release/ Clippings The press releases were made in an effort to reach a wider public.

1st and 2nd Announcement were produced in advance to advertise the conference. The 2. Announcement was also printed in 1.500 copies (covered by sponsors). 4.500 copies of the conference programme were printed (covered by sponsors).


15

Conference Website: A Conference Banner was designed and put online. All relevant in-formation such as registration details, conference products, results, presentations, press & pictures were displayed online. A special news edition was distributed to disseminate the conference outcomes.

4.4 PR Activities A Press Kit with relevant ENWHP information is available to all NCOs both in online and offline versions. In the course of the 4th ENWHP Initiative the website ENWHP.org was already re-launched and a new concept was developed and implemented. Based on a maintenance contract with an external agency (Dimento Design) a monthly fee was required. The European re-port, „Healthy Work in an Ageing Europe“ appeared on the ENWHP homepage. Die na-tional ENWHP forums published the respective national chapters in their own language on the web-site. Interactive Tools exist such as an online generated version of the “Questionnaire for Self Assessment”, which the network developed in a previous project. The tool helps compa-nies to quickly assess the quality of their health programmes and to identify strengths and weaknesses of their health policies.

Image Brochure in 2 languages: 10.000 copies were up-dated and printed in English and 5.000 in German (covered with own BKK BV funds) and distributed to the network members and the secretariat. The 38-page-brochure raised the need for investments and network ac-tivities in the field of Workplace Health Promotion. In this way it supported both the dis-semination and the network marketing process. An Anniversary Brochure was produced and printed in English (2.000 copies - covered with own BKK BV funds) on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the ENWHP. This bro-chure was distribute to all Members at the Linz Conference. Accesses to media databases was provided in order to improve disseminating and mar-keting activities. The databases which the ENWHP subscribed to were GBI (German speaking) and LexisNexis. The German Federal Statistical Office supplies databases, which were evaluated afterwards. Newsletter Newsletter (Online-Journal): Since 2003 a total of 11 quarterly edi-tions of the electronic publication were produced. They can all be downloaded from the web-site. The primary purpose of the newslet-ters is to inform both internal and external target groups about net-work developments as well as to provide additional features (arti-cles, news etc) which support the key messages of the ENWHP, based on the Luxembourg Declaration.

Internal Communication: All members were regularly informed about the project process at the Business Meetings and Confer-ence. The Communication between NCOs was facilitated by the internal mailing system as well as by the establishment of an Information Area, where Members can store documents, pictures and other files to be shared with others.

Online Journal


16

Handling External Information Requests: The secretariat responded to specific requests for information, facilitated by the web.


17

4.5 Publications The following publications were produced during the course of the 4th initiative and will be en-closed with this final report.

• Healthy Work in an Ageing Europe – A European Collection of Measures for Promoting the

Health of Ageing Employees at the Workplace • Strategies and Instruments for Prolonging Working Life • News – Linz Conference • Anniversary Brochure • Up-dated Image Brochure • Up-dated Press Kit • Linz Folder


18

5. Signature and approval

This report was read and approved by DDr. Hans Popper, Managing Director of the Oberösterreichische Gebietskrankenkasse (OÖ GKK – Upper Austrian Sickness Fund). DDr Hans Popper Linz, November 14, 2006 Mangaging Director Oberösterreichische Gebietskrankenkasse


19

6. Annex

6.1. Minutes of ENWHP Business Meetings Minutes - 18th ENWHP Business Meeting 5th – 6th November 2004, in Budapest Conclusions and Decisions Item 1: Introduction of Representatives of the New Member States / Enlargement Process Representatives from seven New Member States were invited to participate at the 18th Business Meeting. Representatives from Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia were introduced to the network. The Business Meeting welcomed the new countries and will support their integration into the network activities. Particular support will be provided through the project ‚Dragon-Fly‘ (or-ganised by the Polish NCO with support of the Romanian and German NCOs) and the secretariat. Item 2: Current ENWHP Initiatives The Business Meeting agreed with the procedures and actions involved in the current project (NCO Austria) and the projects planned by Polish and Finnish NCOs. Emphasis was made on the importance of co-ordinating the interfaces which have already been identified (analysis activities / enlargement process / application of the action model of the 4th initiative). The representatives from the EU-15 + EEA member countries should be involved wherever possible in the implementation of the enlargement process. Item 3: Adoption of the ENWHP Strategy – 2010 There was broad consensus on the general framework suggested for the ENWHP Strategy – 2010. The Business Meeting agreed on the following amendments and asked the secretariat to revise the draft strategy proposal accordingly. a) The second target will not specify a quantitative target at European level. NCOs may use quali-tative or quantitative specifications at national level. The latter may also be related to an indicator of current implementation. b) The grouping of the individual strategies and actions should be simplified. If possible and where appropriate the document should provide more details with regards to those actions / elements of the strategy for which further details are already available. c) No clear decision was made regarding the suggested marketing campaign "Healthy Enterprise" (see item 5). This should be reflected in the strategy document but at the same time should bear in mind that the network in principle intends to develop its activities in the area of quality and good practice labels. Further decisions can only be taken at the next business meeting. Item 4: Finance Model and Network Organisation The Business Meeting recognised the necessity for financing the secretariat infrastructure by com-bining third party funding with a financial contribution from each NCO (to cover at least 40 % of the shortfall) and agreed to the principles of the "Equal Status Model". It foresees an equal contribution from all the network member organisations towards the overhead costs for the secretariat but with different conditions for the New Member States and candidate countries. This model should be supplemented if possible by re-financing with specific services independent of EU funding.


20

The Business Meeting asked the NCOs to investigate the possibility of organising a financial con-tribution from the beginning of 2006. Eight NCOs have already indicated that they are prepared to make a financial contribution based on the framework specified for an "Equal Status Model‘. The secretariat was asked to discuss the needs and specific details bilaterally with all member organi-sations. The business meeting broadly agreed to explore the possibilities of formalizing the status of the network by setting up a legal association and asked the secretariat to develop a proposal with a view to implementing the new finance model from the beginning of 2006. Item 5: Implementation of the ENWHP Strategy – 2010 MoveEurope / Proposal for the next ENWHP Initiative The Business Meeting agreed with the proposal presented by the Italian NCO and asked the NCO to plan the next steps. The Dutch NCO agreed to participate in the planning and implementation process. Other NCOs may join in at a later stage. ENWHP Healthy Enterprise Campaign The discussion on this proposal to implement the second target of the adopted strategy framework revealed the different positions – specifically in relation to the feasibility of the marketing campaign. Therefore, no decision was taken. Work plan 2005 / ENWHP Secretariat The work plan proposal was not discussed at the business meeting. All NCOs are invited to com-ment on the written proposal. Item 6: News from the ENWHP Member Countries The Business Meeting approvingly took note of several presentations on national and European initiatives (see presentations attached): - The Hungarian Forum for WHP - Integrated Health Management - Exercise Promotion Campaign - Monitoring Programme - Healthy Plants at the Workplace - Health Generating Companies - New Publications from Sweden Item AC Meeting: The 5th ENWHP Conference in Linz 2006 At the Advisory Committee Meeting on Thursday, November 4, the next Network conference was discussed. It will take place in Linz on 19th-20th June 2006. The Conference facilities were pre-sented by the Austrian NCO and initial ideas were discussed about the general title, how it should be structured and topics for the workshop. The AC Meeting agreed to the participants to 400 and to set up a working group to plan the course of the Conference in more detail. The working group will consist of representatives from the NCO Austria, NCO Germany / Secretariat, NCO Finland and the Chairman of ENWHP. The group will hold its first meeting in Vienna on December 18, 2004. Next Business Meeting The 19th Business Meeting will take place on 1st-2nd July, 2005 in Bratislava/Slovakia and hosted jointly by the Slovakian NCO and the Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology. The meeting will be linked to the CIANS conference. Karl Kuhn will co-ordinate the organisation of a workshop on June 30, before the meeting, on "Behaviour Modelling".


21

Members of the New Advisory Committee are: NCO Norway (EEA countries and Northern European Countries) NCO Romania (New MS and Candidate Countries) NCO UK (Western European Countries) NCO Austria (Project Co-ordinator and host of the next conference) NCO Poland (Project Co-ordinator) NCO Finland (Project Co-ordinator) NCO Portugal (Portugal has not yet agreed to participate and may be replaced by the Spanish or

Greek NCO for the Southern European Countries) If their project application is approved by the European Commission, the Italian NCO will also be invited to participate.


22

Minutes - 19th ENWHP Business Meeting – 1st – 2nd July 2005, in Bratislava Conclusions and Decisions Item 1: Network Financing and Organisation At the ENWHP Business Meeting in Budapest (5th-6th November 2004) the secretariat was asked to prepare for a decision to be taken in Bratislava on how NCOs could make a financial contribu-tion towards running the secretariat and to cover the 40 % financial shortfall of third party funding currently covered by the BKK. To determine the feasibility, a survey was carried out by the secretariat to assess the framework conditions in the member organisations and the results were shown to the Business Meeting. The results show that: • 14 NCOs are in a position to make a financial contribution beginning in 2006 • 2 NCOs will not be in a position to make a financial contribution • 8 NCOs were not able at present to clarify their position • 5 NCOs have not yet responded • The majority of NCOs were shown to prefer a system based on a “share model” and on a con-

tract or co-operation agreement basis with a legal entity (BKK Federal Association). Decisions: • From 2006 onwards the costs will be covered by an equal payment of 2.300 Euro annually

from all ENWHP member organisations in the EU-15, the EEA countries and Switzerland and 30 % of this amount from the New Member States and Candidate Countries.

• The financial system shall be based on bi-lateral, annually renewed contracts between the member organisation and BKK. The contractual solution agreed upon is a pilot, to be reviewed and discussed at the end of 2006 in terms of the contract conditions.

• NCOs unable to participate in this system at the beginning of 2006 should contribute indirectly by accepting a reduction in their allocation of funding for network projects. The secretariat should explore in advance a solution of practical implementation.

• Third party funding and lobbying the Network at European level should not only address DG SANCO – as outlined in the description of services – but also DG Employment.

• The Business Meeting asks the secretariat to draw up and finalise the respective contracts instantly. The Members attending the meeting but who have not yet responded to the ques-tionnaire supported the proposal.

Item 2: Update on current ENWHP projects As well as the ageing project there are currently three Network projects running or planned to start. While the WORKHEALTH (BKK) and DRAGON-FLY (Nofer) projects aim to include WHP into the enlargement process by setting up ENWHP infrastructures in the new member states, the WHP policy and strategy project of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health is trying to place WHP on the EU agenda. The Finnish project will include a series of workshops for all the NCOs where they will develop a draft recommendation for a council resolution for the Finnish presidency in autumn 2006. The participating project leaders gave an update on the ENWHP projects. For each of the three projects, a separate questionnaire for analysing the status quo has been sent or will be sent to the participating NCOs. A critical discussion was therefore held on the need for close co-ordination in the development of instruments and procedures for data collection and analysis in future. In this way it is possible to avoid duplication and a potential rejection and lack of understanding by the ENWHP member organisations.


23

Decisions: • The Business Meeting requests the project leaders to continue their close co-operation and

exchange of information, particularly with regard to the results of the projects. • The scope of the co-ordinated projects should include policy recommendations and the pro-

jects should try to ensure joint external communication. The discussion in the network about these issues should also be organised in a workshop as part of a business meeting.

• It was agreed to hold the Krakow symposium to finalise the DRAGON-FLY and WORK-HEALTH projects in Mid-October of 2006.

• Members are requested to provide the Finnish Institute with names and contact information by the end of July 2005.

Item 3: Move Europe project The Network has applied for financial support from the European Commission for the “MoveEu-rope” project which is scheduled to begin in 2006 and to run approx. for three years. The project will concentrate on life-style related WHP, focusing on the following four fields: physical exercise, smoking prevention, nutrition and mental health. The initiative is designed as a campaign which sets quality standards for Good Practice in behaviour-related WHP, identifies relevant models and disseminates these results throughout Europe. It is split into seven working packages. These will be organised by the NCOs of Italy (main project leader), Netherlands, Belgium, Germany (Secre-tariat), Romania and Austria. The overall budget for the project amounts to 1,8 Million Euro. 48 working days have been assigned to each of the participating 26 NCOs. Costs for five business meetings to cover travel and subsistence expenses for each NCO were included in the calcula-tions. Decisions: • The Business Meeting welcomes the application for the new ENWHP initiative within the

framework of the Public Health Programme and agrees with the key issues presented by the main project leader. Proposals have been made to have a separate workshop session for dis-cussing the theoretical foundations of the project.

Item 4: Ageing project The “Ageing” project and the status quo after twelve months duration were presented together with the plans for the Linz conference. The problems involved in acquiring the necessary data for the European Health Report on Ageing Workforces were outlined. This is taking time and will lead to a delay in producing the report (end of 2005). In contrast, the national reports on WHP for older workers will be completed punctually in July 2005. Decisions: • The Business Meeting agrees that the summary report on WHP for older workers (based on

the national reports) should be shown to the NCOs before it is published by Septem-ber/October 2005.

• The Business Meeting welcomes the idea for holding a press conference in Austria linked to the publication of the report.

• The Business Meeting agrees to the concept, organisational plans and the programme put forward for the conference in Linz in June 2006. All ENWHP members are requested to submit their suggestions for plenary speakers by August 15, 2005, and for the breakout session speakers by end of September 2005. The national forums should be considered in this proc-ess. Amendments should be made with regard to the wording of the strand “Age-conducive work organisation and design” (maybe to "Work Organisation and Design conducive to Ageing Workers"?) and Alan Walker should be placed as a potential plenary speaker in this strand (in-stead of “Lifestyle Management”).

• The 1st announcement should be sent out in September 2005.


24

Item 5: Rules and Procedures for Network Co-operation and Communication Thoughts on the need to formalise corporate identity formats and project management procedures were presented. This may be necessary in the light of recent network developments. At present there are a number of projects underway, co-ordinated and marketed individually by various NCOs. To a certain extent, the projects overlap and all involve a different number of NCOs. These and other trends may lead to inconsistent communication of ENWHP values and messages and ineffi-cient co-operation which could potentially weaken the network’s profile. In order to strengthen the network’s internal and external relationship building, a further standardisation of formats and pro-cedures may become inevitable. Decisions: • The Business Meeting acknowledges the need for a stronger Network CI and co-ordination

and asks the secretariat to develop a more detailed proposal for “Guidelines for Network De-velopment and Communication”, with for example the use of logos and formalised procedures for co-ordinated project management. Together with the “Guidelines” the secretariat should submit a strategy plan for marketing the Network.

• The ENWHP members agree that the rules of internal procedure should be modified to fit the new Network operations and policies. The Business Meeting asks the secretariat to draft an amendment and to present the modified version for approval at the next Business Meeting in Prague.

• The secretariat is asked to put forward different proposals for the composition of the Steering Committee (former Advisory Committee) so that members can choose from several options.

• The title for the position of the chair should be renamed: Chairperson instead of Chairman. Item 6: ENWHP Summer School An idea emerged at the Business Meeting in Budapest (5th-6th November 2004) to arrange an ENWHP summer school. The concept and a draft didactical guidelines were presented for running such a WHP course. The course will take place in summer 2006. Decisions: • The Business Meeting welcomes the idea of an ENWHP Summer School, agrees to the initial

concept and asks the NCO Spain to develop the idea in a working group which is to be estab-lished.

• The NCO Spain is invited to consult the institutions in the Network which have past experience in running summer schools.

• The ENWHP members are asked to reply to the proposal submitted by the NCO Spain. Item 7: Organisation of future Business Meetings Evaluations already carried out in the past on the efficiency of the business meetings, indicate that improvements to the current procedures are necessary. There is general agreement that the NCOs would appreciate more time for a professional exchange of information and joint learning. A rec-ommendation was made to hold the meeting on Thursdays to Saturdays, beginning with a one-day topic related workshop. Decisions: • The Business Meeting agrees to the change of structure for future Business Meetings put for-

ward by the secretariat. A survey will be carried out by the secretariat among the NCOs to es-tablish topics and find contributors for the series of workshops. They should be organised and facilitated by individual or groups of NCOs and supported by the secretariat.

• The Business Meeting itself should be as short as possible, formalised more strongly and de-cisions should be based on a clear, transparent and written procedure.


25

• The Business Meeting agrees that the Business Meetings in 2006 will take place in connection with the Linz Conference and the Krakow Symposium.

• The secretariat was asked to present a timetable with all important dates NCOs are involved up to the end of 2006.

Item 8: Other matters 1. Book project: Workplace Health Promotion: Visions from Europe – Theory, practice and evi-

dence The Network was informed after the Business Meeting in Budapest by Richard Wynne (NCO Ireland) and Giuseppe Masanotti (NCO Italy) about plans to publish a book on WHP. Richard and Giuseppe will be the editors of this publication which will be a commercial enterprise and so far has involved only a small group of NCOs and a few other colleagues. The initiative was communicated and presented as an independent, “unofficial” ENWHP project.

Decisions: • The editors invite all NCOs to contribute to the book and asked the NCOs not yet involved

in the project to contact them if they are interested in writing a chapter. • A suggestion was put forward to distribute the book at the conference in Linz.

2. Project on smoke free workplaces – a joint ENWHP and ENSP initiative

Based on several discussions between the secretariat and the European Network for Smoking Prevention (ENSP) to explore the possibilities for collaboration between the two European net-works it was agreed to carry out a pilot project. So far a general framework for a pilot project was developed with participation of the secretariat, the NCO Romania, independent consult-ants and ENSP representatives. The project will mainly focus on responding to the question: How to translate smoke free policies and strategies and programmes into practice? There is agreement that it is not enough to implement smoke free policies at the workplace but to de-velop the general framework that would support a smoke free environment with regards to work places.

Decisions: • The Business Meeting welcomes the idea of further co-operation with the European Net-

work for Smoking Prevention. Members of ENWHP are asked to consider the possibility of participating in the project and to provide the NCO Romania or the secretariat with ideas and suggestions.


26

Minutes - 20th ENWHP Business Meeting – 18th – 19th November 2005, in Prague Conclusions and Decisions Item 1: Rules of internal procedure and network financing The amendments to the statutes of the network which became necessary following EU enlarge-ment were approved by the Advisory Committee in Düsseldorf on October 21. They were unani-mously accepted by the members at the business meeting following further amendments to the preamble and articles 4, 5, 6 and 10. • Dr. Maria Dolores Sole and Dr. Karl Kuhn were unanimously elected as the new chairper-

sons of the network. • The BKK Federal Association was re-elected as secretariat of the network for another three

years. • The new Steering Committee will consist of the following members:

- Chairpersons and the secretariat - Co-ordinators of current ENWHP initiatives (NCOs of Finland, Italy, Austria and Poland) - NCOs of Switzerland (to be confirmed), Sweden, Romania and Czech Republic.

Reinhold Sochert reported on the pilot scheme scheduled to begin in 2006 where NCOs are ex-pected to pay a financial contribution towards the upkeep of the secretariat. Contracts have been drawn up with 14 countries and several more have indicated that they will be in a position to sign a contract in the near future. Item 2: Linz Conference The next European conference will be held in Linz to conclude the 5th ENWHP initiative and is be-ing organised by the Upper Austrian Sickness Fund (OÖGKK). Sarah Sebinger reported that or-ganisation is going according to plan. Reinhold Sochert presented the programme and asked the NCOs again to submit suggestions for speakers together with abstracts (title, contact details of the presenter, max. 200 words) by December 30, 2005, latest. The NCOs from Belgium, Netherlands, France, Italy (2), Sweden, UK, Romania, Spain and Czech Republic have volunteered to chair breakout sessions. Dragonfly project Patrycja Wojtaszczyk from the Nofer Institute gave an update on the progress made in the Dragon-fly project which is an ENWHP project to initiate national infrastructures in the Accession and Ap-plicant Countries. The series of round table meetings is underway where politicians, employers, health experts and other national stakeholders are invited to discuss the development of WHP in their country. Four meetings have already successfully taken place, in Malta, Lithuania, and Cy-prus and Slovenia. Estonia will hold a meeting on December 19, 2005, and Latvia on January 13, 2006 (see documentation on ENWHP website). An international conference will be organised by the Polish NCO in Krakow in October 2006. Items 3 & 4: MoveEurope project Giuseppe Masanotti presented the plans for the Move Europe project. Three parallel groups dis-cussed the plans and identified a number of aspects which need to be considered by the project consortium. The lifestyle emphasis of the project poses a problem for some OSH institutions and it is expected that few countries will not take part in the project. The date for submitting the supporting documents from the participating NCOs was set for Novem-ber 30. Giuseppe has now negotiated an extension of the deadline to Mid-December. A contract will be drawn up by the Commission once they have received all the necessary documents.


27

6.2. Minutes of ENWHP Advisory Committee Meetings

Minutes - ENWHP Advisory Committee Meeting – 13th September 2004, in Berlin Conclusions and Decisions The brief presentations and explanation of the five relevant project profiles, the group continued by identifying the critical interfaces between the different projects and put forward suggestions for en-suring a coherent approach. A short to-do-list was then drawn up to organise the next steps, par-ticularly regarding the involvement of all the network members. The main results revealed: 1. It is possible to organise a coherent approach which can ensure transparency, make use of

potential synergies and avoid inefficiency. One of the five projects has already begun (Ageing Project), three are ‘true’ ENWHP-based projects, and two have limited ENWHP involvement (Projects on Mental Health and Work Health Monitoring).

2. The Ageing Project is the first application to follow the ENWHP triangle model (national WHP

forums + ENWHP toolbox + the case for investing in WHP) which is based on a specific topic (the ageing workforce). The project focuses strongly on strand 1 of the public health pro-gramme and will produce a topic-related European health report and an up-dated analysis on the current state in Europe. In addition, the project will produce further input for the ENWHP toolbox (four topic-related tools). Finally, the project will prepare for the set-up of a special task-force on workplace health as part of the newly established advisory infrastructure of the Com-mission under strand 1 (health monitoring). The concept and tools developed for the data col-lection (current status report) will be used in the Finnish PMWA project and the Polish Enlargement Project to develop a joint data collection concept.

3. The Finnish PMWA Project (Promotion and Maintenance of Work Ability) focuses strongly on

the development of best-practice methodologies and contributes to the agenda of the Finnish Presidency in 2006. The status-quo analysis will be an up-date of available information and will be required as input for a high-profile conference to take place in Finland in 2006.

4. With regards to the ‘data collection and analysis’ which is a critical interface between the pro-

jects, the following recommendations were put forward: Parallel data collection procedures should be combined (Enlargement Project and PMWA Pro-

ject). It is necessary to clearly define the purpose and objective for the whole data collection and

analysis process and to steer the process on the basis of these objectives. One of the objectives will be to provide information for the high-level conference, and a second

could be to provide understandable context information on the national situation via the ENWHP web-site, particularly as the web-site is soon to be changed to a portal solution which will increase the profile of the national WHP forums.

In a number of countries, there are extensive reports already available describing the current situation. It is highly unlikely that an additional process of data collection organised by ENWHP with its very limited resources will produce any added-value. These limitations should be taken into account.

Procedures used previously for data collection and analysis revealed broad differences in terms of the quality of the end product.

5. The Finnish and Polish NCOs (FIOH and Nofer) agreed to co-operate closely in developing the

respective concepts and instruments. A first draft will be presented at the next business meet-ing in Budapest.


28

6. The PMWA project has the potential for identifying and analysing existing general WHP meth-

odologies. This would provide a very valuable input for the ENWHP toolbox and could also be used for a more systematic knowledge-transfer. Whether and under which conditions the de-velopment of a synthesis methodology would contribute added-value, needs to be closely ana-lysed and discussed. The ENWHP could work particularly on best-practice methodologies for WHP action at supra-company level (specifically networking at local level) since in this area the knowledge-base available seems to be very poor. One concern raised was the role of the pilot projects. Countries with an established infrastructure may need a specific focus. They would regard more general WHP pilot projects as a superfluous duplication of work that has already been carried out. In other countries these pilot projects could be used to market WHP and cre-ate awareness on the part of key stakeholders.

7. The Enlargement Project and parts of the Work Health Monitoring Project shall support the

integration of seven new member countries, the other current new member countries and the candidate countries. Nofer, Romtens and BKK have now established an action plan which de-fines the individual actions which are funded by both projects with clearly defined responsibili-ties. The ENWHP secretariat has already contacted candidate organisations and the relevant ministries in the seven new countries. Some of them will most probably attend the Budapest Business Meeting as a guest.

Nofer/Romtens will carry out bilateral briefing meetings with all interested candidate NCOs and also introduce the status-quo analysis procedure (which will be jointly developed with FIOH). These meetings shall prepare for round table meetings organised by the responsible NCO and involve representatives of the key institutional stakeholders. BKK shall be represented only at the round table meetings. It was undecided whether the 5 current members from Eastern Europe should be invited to attend the round table meetings as well.

A new action will be introduced by the BKK which will provide assistance with the organisation of national advocacy and marketing conferences or seminars on WHP for a limited number of interested new member countries (incl. the candidate countries Romania and Bulgaria).

This 4-step approach (identification, bilateral meetings, round table meetings, national advo-cacy and marketing conferences) will lead to a symposium organised by Nofer in early 2006 in Krakow.

9. The Work Health Monitoring Project will mainly focus on the development of a European Work-

place Health Report based on work carried out in the WORKHEALTH I project which devel-oped an indicator model. To some extent, the project will support the Enlargement process (as outlined above). Only very few NCOs are involved as experts in the core action of this project (the European Workplace Health Report).

10. The Mental Health Project is carried out by a consortium of international networks and focuses

on the dissemination of policies and strategies in the field of mental health promotion (in rela-tion to 3 target groups: children and adolescents; the working population; the elderly; and on three health topics: depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders). So far, the ENWHP is not a formal member of the consortium. The BAuA is the main project co-ordinator and the key activity will be to organise 13 national seminars which will disseminate national action plans.

It was agreed that ENWHP and BAuA will continue to maintain an exchange of information and that the ENWHP secretariat will include the results of the previous activities in the ENWHP toolbox.

11. The secretariat will inform all the network members about the results of the meeting and pre-

sent an interim report to the advisory committee meeting. Nofer, Romtens and FIOH will be in-vited to participate in the advisory committee meeting.


29

Minutes - ENWHP Advisory Committee Meeting – 7th – 8th April 2005, in Düsseldorf Conclusions and Decisions 1. Current ENWHP projects Background/Current Situation: At present there are three Network projects currently running or planned to start. The participating project leaders gave an update on the status of the ENWHP projects. - Elfriede Kiesewetter and Reinhold Sochert presented the “Ageing” project and the status quo

after nine months duration. The problems involved in acquiring the necessary data for the European Health Report on Ageing Workforces were outlined. At the moment, it is unfortu-nately only possible to evaluate important European data on a limited scale. Specific requests have therefore been made to Eurostat to obtain the necessary tables. This process is taking time and will lead to a delay in producing the report (November 2005). In contrast, the national reports on WHP for older workers will be completed punctually in July 2005. The Advisory Committee (AC) agreed that the final report should be published as soon as it is completed and not to wait until the Linz Conference in June 2006. The second working package relates to a working platform “Work&Health”. It has now been adapted to take on the form of a task force for “Work Health Related Problems” linked to the “Accidents and Injuries” working party within the EU Health Information System.

- Matti Ylikoski gave a report on the status of the Finish project “WHP, National Health Policies and Strategies in an Enlarging Europe”, which began in December 2004. Although the ques-tionnaire was sent out at the beginning of February 2005, only a few responses have been re-ceived. He also showed how the Finnish NCO plans to combine the Finnish Presidency with WHP issues by launching preparatory meetings prior to the Ministerial Conference which is scheduled to be held in Summer 2006. The Network’s NCOs will be invited to take part in the preparatory process and an application for funding will be made to cover the costs. This could be combined with the Business Meeting in Prague for which there is no funding yet allocated.

- Reinhold Sochert outlined the status quo, the overlaps and difficulties which have arisen during the course of the Workhealth II and Dragon-Fly projects. The delay in beginning the Work-health II project which has occurred while waiting for the final approval by the Commission could hamper the successful exploitation of synergies in the two projects.

Decisions/Recommendations: The AC noted and approved the reports and asked the project leaders to continue co-operating and exchanging information. In particular, the AC underlined the need to closely co-ordinate the development of instruments and procedures for data collection and analysis in order to avoid dupli-cation and a possible lack of acceptance and understanding with regards to ENWHP member or-ganisations. Survey procedures should be pre-tested and based on a joint development approach. It was also suggested to postpone the Krakow symposium until the end of 2006 or beginning of 2007. 2. Linz Conference Background/Current Situation: A discussion took place at the last AC meeting on November 4, 2004 about the next Network con-ference which will be held in Linz on 19th-20th June 2006. An agreement was made to set up a working group to plan the conference. This group consists of representatives from the NCO Aus-tria, NCO Germany / Secretariat, NCO Finland and the ENWHP Chairman who held their first meeting in Vienna on December 18, 2004. A second meeting was held in Essen to discuss the organisational issues. Elfriede Kiesewetter and Reinhold Sochert described the results of these discussions and the progress made in the organisation and programme planning. It was empha-sised that the financial resources required for running the conference are almost certainly guaran-teed – for the first time without the support of a EU project budget.


30

Decisions/Recommendations: Amendments should be made to the draft programme for the list of speakers to include an ade-quate proportion of women and representatives from all regions. The draft will be sent to the NCOs who will be invited to submit suggestions for speakers by the beginning of June. A decision was taken to make a link in the programme to the Finnish presidency and to the efforts being made by the NCO Finland to place the issue higher up on the European agenda. Represen-tations by the national forums and the conference sponsors were also discussed. 3a. WHP Book project - Richard Wynne & Giuseppe Masanotti Background/Current Situation: The Network was informed some time ago by Richard Wynne (NCO Ireland) and Giuseppe Ma-sanotti (NCO Italy) about plans to publish a book on WHP which was agreed upon at the Business Meeting in Budapest. Richard and Giuseppe will be the editors of this publication which will be a commercial enterprise and will involve only a small group of NCOs and a few other colleagues. The initiative was communicated as an independent project. In view of the slot in the programme at the Linz conference to celebrate ten years of ENWHP, the secretariat considered the possibility of adapting this initiative to become an official ENWHP project from which both the ENWHP and the current group of authors could benefit. An alternative sugges-tion put forward was to publish a separate ENWHP book in preparation for the Linz conference. Decisions/Recommendations: The editors and the current group of authors are asked to consider whether this proposal is feasi-ble as an ENWHP project, how it could work and under which conditions. The AC meeting asked the secretariat to discuss possible solutions with the editors and present the results at the next business meeting. 3. Network Finances Background/Current Situation: The ENWHP Business Meeting in Budapest (5th-6th November 2004) discussed various options for co-financing the network infrastructure. There was general recognition that it will be necessary in future for the NCOs to contribute financially towards running the secretariat and to secure the basic functions, based on an equal status system. The NCOs should pay to cover the 40 % financial shortfall of third party funding that is currently covered by the BKK. At the BM in Budapest, the se-cretariat was asked to prepare for a decision to be taken in Bratislava, based on a survey to as-sess the framework conditions in the member organisations and on the results of the discussions at the AC meeting (in Düsseldorf). The survey was carried out by the secretariat and the results were shown to the AC meeting. The main results show that: 14 NCOs are in a position to make a financial contribution beginning in 2006. 2 NCOs will not be in a position to make a financial contribution. 8 NCOs were not able at present to clarify their position. 5 NCOs have not yet responded. The majority of NCOs have shown preference for a contribution system based on equal payments of 2.300 Euro annually from the EU-15, the EEA countries and Switzerland and 30 % of this amount from the new Member States and candidate countries. An overall majority voted for formal-ising the NCO financial contributions on a contract or co-operation agreement basis with a legal entity (BKK Federal Association).


31

Decisions/Recommendations: The AC meeting reconfirmed the necessity for a re-financing system from 2006 onwards and asked the secretariat to prepare for a final decision to be made at the next Business Meeting in Bratislava. The AC approves of the following recommendations on which to base the decisions to be taken at the next business meeting: - From 2006 onwards all ENWHP member organisations shall share the costs involved in main-

taining the secretariat infrastructure. - The financial system shall be based on bi-lateral, annually reviewed contracts between the

Member organisation and BKK . - The NCOs unable to take part in this system at the beginning of 2006 are asked to consider

whether they could contribute indirectly by accepting a reduction in their allocation of funding for network projects.

- The BKK Federal Association is asked to establish a sustainable financial system to rectify the shortfall by the end of the current European Public Health Programme.

- The seven new NCOs will not be asked to participate in this system until the beginning of 2007. The BKK Federal Association should cover their share.

The AC recommended revising the current rules of internal procedure to support this new system and the secretariat is asked to draft amendments in preparation for discussion and approval at the next business meeting. Recommendations were also made for continuing to examine how framework conditions can be established to set up an independent legal entity for ENWHP members at a later stage. 4. New Project Proposal Background/Current Situation: In February, the group of NCOs responsible for developing the new Network initiative met in Essen to discuss the project concept and the application procedures. The “MoveEurope” project for the improvement of lifestyle related WHP in Europe which is scheduled to begin in 2006, is split into seven working packages. These will be organised by the NCOs of Italy (main project leader), Neth-erlands, Belgium, Germany (Secretariat), Romania and Austria. The application was drawn up un-der the co-ordination of the secretariat, including the communications with the NCOs and the Commission. The final application was presented to the Advisory Committee, including the sched-uled contents of the project and the budgetary proposition. The overall budget for the project, which is planned to run for three years, amounts to 1,8 Million Euro. 48 working days have been assigned to each of the participating 26 NCOs. Costs for 5 business meetings, covering travel and subsistence expenses for each NCO, were included in the calculations. Decisions /Recommendations: The AC approved the application which was finalised according to the plans drawn up by the pro-ject group, as well as taking the recommendations into consideration received from the Commis-sion. The application was submitted to the Commission via the NCO Italy. 5. ENWHP Summer School Background/Current Situation: An idea emerged at the Business Meeting in Budapest (5th-6th November 2004) to arrange an ENWHP summer school. Maria Dolores Solé presented the concept she has drawn up for running a WHP course. The course will now be postponed until summer 2006, due to the shortage of time. Decisions /Recommendations: Maria Dolores was asked to present a more detailed concept at the BM in Bratislava.


32

6. Business Meeting Bratislava Background/Current situation: Evaluations already carried out in the past on the efficiency of the business meetings, indicate that improvements are necessary to the current procedures. There is general agreement that the NCOs would appreciate more time for a professional exchange of information and joint learning. To this end, the secretariat has drawn up a proposal containing two elements: - The two annual business meetings should in future be combined with a one-day workshop. The

workshops should be run to follow a jointly established list of topics. They should be organised and facilitated by individual or groups of NCOs and supported by the secretariat. The results of these workshops could be used in a series of publications, the first of which could be launched and presented to celebrate ten years of ENWHP at the Linz conference in 2006.

- The business meetings should be formalised more strongly and based on revised rules of in-ternal procedures and a new guideline for ENWHP formats and network identity procedures (including consensus-based rules for the development, application, management and dissemi-nation of ENWHP projects, the use of PR procedures etc.). Decisions made at the Business Meetings should be based on a clear, transparent and written procedure, overseen by the AC.

Decisions/Recommendations: The AC welcomed this proposal and asked the secretariat to carry out a preparatory survey on the priorities for the series of workshops. A change of format was discussed for future Business Meetings. It is anticipated that BMs in future should last from Thursday to Saturday, beginning with a topic related workshop. To establish rele-vant topics and find contributors, the secretariat will e-mail requests to all NCOs. The first work-shop on “Modelling behaviour” will be held in Bratislava and organised by the Chairman, Karl Kuhn. He would like to remind you of his request for support in organising this event by receiving models or examples from you that have proved successful in the past. 7. Formats and Corporate Identity Procedures Background/Current Situation: Thomas Theuringer expressed thoughts on the need to formalise corporate identity formats and project management procedures. This may be necessary in the light of recent network develop-ments. At present there are a number of projects underway, co-ordinated and marketed individually by various NCOs. To a certain extent, the projects overlap and all involve a different number of NCOs. These and other trends may lead to inconsistent communication of ENWHP values and messages and could potentially diminish the network’s profile. Furthermore, the concurrent pro-jects have caused a certain amount of confusion among the members which may result in in-transparent and inferior project management. Recent experiences have confirmed this impression. In order to strengthen the network’s internal and external relationship building, a further standardi-sation of formats and procedures may become inevitable. Guidelines for Good Practice, with for example the use of logos and formalised procedures for co-ordinated project management, could help to make the joint network development more transparent, understandable, consistent and efficient. Decisions /Recommendations: The AC acknowledged the need for a stronger Network CI and co-ordination and asked the secre-tariat to develop a more elaborated proposal for “Guidelines for Good Practice” for the BM in Brati-slava.


33

Minutes - ENWHP Advisory Committee Meeting – 21st – 22nd October 2005, in Düsseldorf Conclusions and Decisions Item 1: Linz Conference The Advisory Committee meeting approved the report on the current situation regarding the plan-ning of the conference in Linz in June 2006. Once again, all ENWHP members are urgently re-quested to submit suggestions for breakout session speakers as soon as possible (deadline was the end of September). The national forums should be considered in the process of nominating appropriate speakers and presentations. The Advisory Committee suggested the following changes to the current programme: - The title of the introductory presentation in the celebration slot should be changed to “ENWHP

– ten years of networking”. - This introduction should be followed by a slide show presenting “ENWHP in action” and a 45-

minute talk show session involving 5-6 ENWHP representatives (possible facilitator: John Grif-fiths). Statements from other members should be collected beforehand and shown on an over-head during the talk show and could be used as subject for the discussion.

- The voestalpine presentation will conclude the celebration session. - Matti Ylikoski has been requested to present an official ENWHP concluding statement in the

final plenary, to comment on the conference and present the Finnish presidency process and next steps of WHP in Europe.

The Advisory Committee welcomed a proposal by the secretariat to produce a celebration bro-chure which would present all NCO member organisations and their representatives and would include brief information about the network. The secretariat was asked to check the costs and the implementation. Item 2: Prague Meeting a) The Advisory Committee meeting agreed on the agenda and procedures for the business

meeting in Prague suggested and presented by the secretariat. b) The Advisory Committee meeting approved the report and information on the Finnish workshop

which will be held in conjunction with the business meeting. Decisions taken by the Advisory Committee: The sequence of item 1 should be changed: e) amendments to rules of internal procedure will be-come the first sub-item a) followed by the others. Matti Ylikoski will chair a) the election of chairpersons and b) the election of secretariat based on a preparatory briefing from the secretariat. The secretariat was asked to invite network members to submit suggestions on NCOs interested in participating in the next steering committee, assuming the suggested amendments to the rules of internal procedure are approved at the Prague business meeting. Item 3: Rules of internal procedure In the light of recent network developments, the need to formalise corporate identity formats and project management procedures and to modify the rules of internal procedure was recognised at the business meeting in Bratislava. The Advisory Committee meeting agreed to the modifications to the rules of internal procedure drafted by the Secretariat to reflect the changes in network opera-


34

tions and policies. In particular the Advisory Committee proposes that the following decisions should be adopted at the business meeting in Prague. • For the next three years the ENWHP will be chaired jointly by Maria Dolores Solé and Karl

Kuhn. • The NCOs shall provide the network with an annual report with information on its national dis-

semination activities related to ENWHP. • The Advisory Committee should act as a Steering Committee and has therefore been renamed

as such. The Steering Committee includes the following members: The chairpersons, repre-sentatives of the Secretariat, the co-ordinators of ENWHP initiatives, max. four NCOs elected every three years and the host of ENWHP conferences.

• Formats and procedures of ENWHP initiatives and projects are set out in a specific article of the rules of internal procedure.

Item 4: MoveEurope project The Advisory Committee meeting welcomed the report showing the progress of the application and negotiation procedure for the new ENWHP initiative within the framework of the Public Health Pro-gramme. A special workshop will be organised on the second day of the forthcoming business meeting in Prague to provide the network members with information. The AC emphasised the need for clear information on the project tasks for the participating NCOs in the MoveEurope initiative. Item 5: Dragon-Fly project The Advisory Committee meeting approved the report and requested the project leader to present the next interim report at the next meeting of the steering committee which is scheduled for Febru-ary 2, 2006, in Helsinki in conjunction with the FIOH pilot project meeting Item 6: Financial issues According to the decision taken at the business meeting in Bratislava, a system has been intro-duced to finance the network secretariat, based on bi-lateral, annually renewed contracts between the NCOs and BKK. The secretariat was asked to draw up and finalise the respective contracts. A progress report was shown to the Advisory Committee with details of countries which have already signed contracts. The AC agreed that the procedure should be continued . Additional issues: Item 7: ENWHP summer school initiative Maria Dolores Sole reported on the planning process. One of the main challenges at the moment is the organisation of the administrative and financial aspects. The AC asked Maria Dolores Sole to present a brief status quo report to the next business meeting. Item 8: Publication project Giuseppe Masanotti made a presentation to report on the status of the publication project. A pub-lisher has been found who has shown interest. Some contributions are still missing. It is very likely that the book will be published in time for the Linz conference.


35

6.3. Press Information by OÖGKK Here is some press information and reaction to the publication of the European status re-port „Healthy Work in an Ageing Europe“.

8/2006

D/ÖA cb European report on measures for older employees Healthy Jobs for older people Due to the demographic change there will be fewer young, well qualified employees avail-able to the job market by 2030 with serious consequences for the economy. In its 5th Initia-tive under the management of the OÖ. Gebietskrankenkasse the „European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP)” addressed issues concerning employees in the lat-ter half of their working life. Models of good practice in workplace health promotion were gathered and presented. In 25 years time, today’s 35- to 45-year olds, will be 60 to 70 years old. Combined with the falling birth rates, this means that the number of employees retiring will outnumber those entering the job market. The allocation of costs through the state systems will also mean that an small number of workers will have to support a large number of people in retirement. It is therefore particularly im-portant to maintain the health and working ability of older people. The ENWHP activities are designed to help improve health and well being at work. 20 European countries took part in drawing up the status report „Healthy Work in an Ageing Europe“, where for the first time the emphasis was placed exclusively on older workers. Three points in particular were shown to influence the health of employees and consequently affect the economic success of the companies: eliminating unhealthy working conditions, arrange work-ing hours suitable for older workers and maintaining and developing their professional qualifica-tions and providing training. Advanced training measures and physical training during working hours should provided and mentoring available for “senior citizens“. Professional development for older employees should not be discontinued which is often the case when retirement is already visible on the horizon. To regard investments in this area as a waste of economic capital would be fatal in view of the framework conditions in enterprises in the near fu-ture. Responsible companies cannot rely solely on the experience provided by older workers. The way companies treat people also influences the decision taken by younger workers on whether they want to work for a company. In this way, companies can also count on their employees to identify themselves with the company. In a health report relating to the world of work, which is the second half of the of the 5th Initiative, a overview focusing on the health situation of the working population and the stress factors caused by work is given. A tool is shown for setting up specific targets and to control if they have been reached. The problems older employees are facing on the job market and suitable workplace health promo-tion solutions for solving them will continue to be studied even after the 5th Initiative has ended. On 19th and 20th June 2006, Linz will be the scene of an ENWHP conference with a high level in-ternational audience. The OÖGKK is responsible for the organisation. Experts from home and abroad will speak on the subject relating to the title of the conference “30-40-50-plus – Health Work


36

in an Ageing Europe“. In the plenary and in various workshops, opinions will be exchanged on na-tional activities on Workplace Health Promotion. The participants will have the opportunity to hear about examples of good practice from the ENWHP member countries and to consider whether they can be implemented in their own country.


37

21/2006

D/ÖA Ulba HEALTH PROMOTION: Invitation from OÖGKK to 5th ENWHP-Conference Healthy work Strategies to preserve and improve the health, working and employment ability of older em-ployees are the main topic of the 5th ENWHP (European Network for Workplace Health Pro-motion) conference. The Oberösterreichische Gebietskrankenkasse (OÖGKK) is organising the conference titled “Healthy Work in an Aging Europe – Gesunde Arbeit in einem älter werdenden Europa” which will take place on Monday, 19th and Tuesday 20th June at the Linz Design Centre. According to the OÖGKK chairman, Alois Stöger, “In a steadily ageing Europe, it is particularly important to share information and to develop strategies in good time”. The Oberösterreichische Gebietskrankenkasse and the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion co-operated in organising a two day conference. Experts from throughout Europe dis-cussed new strategies to preserve and improve the health, the working ability and employability of older workers. The many participants included the Minister for Health, Maria Rauch-Kallat, the Managing Director of the Association of Social Insurance Agencies Dr. Josef Probst, the senior executive of the OÖGKK, Director DDr. Hans Popper and Voest-Director Dr. Alfred Düsing. 300 delegates from Europe and even one guest from Japan registered for the conference. Three subjects were discussed at the conference: Lifestyle-Management: “Active Ageing“, Improving Work Ability and Lifelong Learning and Work Organisation and Design for Older Workers. Plenary presentations were made on each of these three issues, followed by four parallel workshops where the subjects were discussed in more detail. In the Lisbon Agenda, the strategic target was set to make the European Union the most competitive and dynamic economic region in the world. The demographic changes are setting new challenges for companies and the social security systems in Europe. “This is of course where Workplace Health Promotion will play an important role“ said OÖGKK chairman Alois Stöger. The programme includes culinary and cultural highlights: On Monday evening the guests will get a foretaste of the Linz cultural capital 2009 at a gala dinner in the Lentos Museum. Journalists are welcome to the conference at any time.

This report was produced by a contractor for Health & Consumer Protection Directorate General and represents the views of thecontractor or author. These views have not been adopted or in any way approved by the Commission and do not necessarilyrepresent the view of the Commission or the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection. The EuropeanCommission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this study, nor does it accept responsibility for any use madethereof.

Documents

European Network for Workplace Health Promotionec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2003/action1/docs/2003_1_12_frep... · European Network for Workplace Health Promotion ... is the vision