Pity the workplace health promotion guinea pigs

we gt the bullying lecture this week. 4 hours of it. Fun! (I learned I shouldn’t roll my eyes so much) :p

Pommy bastard said :

More nannying…

A freind of mine who works for ACT health had to sit through a lecture on; “washing his hands, and not eating his sandwitches after picking up dead dogs etc” the other day. He’s been a nurse for nearly 30 years. He’s also been told that if your granny stumbles in front of him at the hospital, he’s not to try and save her, but to leave her fall to the floor.

I have had H&S lectures on how to sit in a chair, how to correctly pick up an (empty) box, and how I’m not to carry more than three sheets of paper at a time.

Even at my age I hit the gym (Club Lime) 5 times a week and can bench my body weight + for four reps, and there’s some pencil neck geek was telling me how I should look after myself by not risking farting to hard. The silly bugger looked like a strong gust of wind would snap him at the waist, I’ve seen more meat on a butchers biro.

It’s crap like this which makes people want to get out of the professions.

Agreed. Workplace health and safety is an absolute pain in the arse. The amount of extra paper work that some people end up with having to justify what they are doing in order to satisfy OH&S is ridiculous (I have had to deal with this in a number of professions).

Of course, this is a direct result of our litigious society, where I can sue my employer for negligence if I fall off an unsteady ladder that I have balanced on an office desk, simply because I was never trained not to do so.

That is why I got to sit through a half day of ‘ladder training’ at one workplace, even though the need for me to ever use a ladder at the workplace never arose.

“Tobacco smoking, alcohol misuse, poor diet, physical inactivity and unhealthy weight are not only major contributors to chronic disease, they also place great pressures on our health system, leading to reduced productivity and participation in our workforce and community,” Ms Gallagher said.

“The ACT Health Healthy@Work Pilot aims to improve the health of our workplaces, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and mental health/stress management.”

Stop the presses – or is it electrons these days?

What sentient being in the ACT can possibly not have heard the current mantra of our betters about how we should all live to minimise costs to the health system and become more worthwhile people all round.

Incidentally, improving the ‘health of our workplaces’ might involve steam cleaning rather than chivvying employees. Fail on basic grammar, but aerobic fitness is so much more important than literacy.

Of course, other arms of government are complaining about how we all inconsiderately live longer than ever, with consequent grave dangers to society and the Budget.

Another boondoggle which wastes our money, hectors us about how we live, and produces no visible outcomes whatsoever. It makes politicians feel good, supplies income to consultants and fitness freaks, induces guilt in the weak minded and changes absolutely nothing.

Bah, humbug.

Why should we pay for it. Healthy or unhealthy, these idiots don’t work full stop.

More nannying…

A freind of mine who works for ACT health had to sit through a lecture on; “washing his hands, and not eating his sandwitches after picking up dead dogs etc” the other day. He’s been a nurse for nearly 30 years. He’s also been told that if your granny stumbles in front of him at the hospital, he’s not to try and save her, but to leave her fall to the floor.

I have had H&S lectures on how to sit in a chair, how to correctly pick up an (empty) box, and how I’m not to carry more than three sheets of paper at a time.

Even at my age I hit the gym (Club Lime) 5 times a week and can bench my body weight + for four reps, and there’s some pencil neck geek was telling me how I should look after myself by not risking farting to hard. The silly bugger looked like a strong gust of wind would snap him at the waist, I’ve seen more meat on a butchers biro.

It’s crap like this which makes people want to get out of the professions.

yep, education is a bad, bad thing.

Gees… first things first, this program is more likely to be voluntary, so if you like your lifestyle of being a fat ass greasy slob, they won’t make you change your unhealthy habits. Secondly, if it makes it easier for someone to take on a more healthy lifestyle, with the added bonus that you don’t have to pay gym membership or some expensive diet program, more power to them.

I would really like to do a health audit on all politicians and encourage (force)- through financial or other means- them to adopt my approach to ‘the proper lifestyle’.

Why wasn’t ACT Dept of Health choosen?

Is it because they didn’t want to be inflicted with the results of their own policy department?

Perish the thought that we would give grown adults with their own free will some advice on how to live healthier lives. You can’t make an informed decision without information, and once you make a decision to change your lifestyle it helps to have coaching or mentoring available to turn those lifestyle changes into habits.