WHM in Switzerland: a big network of actors

The IP WHM coordinates the activities of the various actors with the aim of promoting an institutional exchange and cooperation on workplace health management (WHM) issues. The focus areas of the IP are exchange and networking, dissemination of knowledge and identification of new topics. The objective is to provide companies in Switzerland with optimum support in their efforts to create a health-promoting environment at work.

The IP WHM is active in a number of working groups. One of them is the “Stakeholders” working group. It has produced an overview of all the actors involved in WHM to provide interested parties with a better idea of how health protection and promotion work. The overview assigns actors to one of three fields. Those involved in “workplace health management”, for example, offer stress management courses for employees, ensure that the food served in employee restaurants is wholesome, or develop programmes for tobacco control in the workplace. In “occupational health and safety”, the actors work to prevent occupational accidents and diseases, for example by requiring protective equipment to be worn. Protection of mental health also falls into this category. The aim of “absence management and reintegration” is to reintegrate employees who have had an accident or been ill into the workforce and to protect their health. While the activities pursued in “absence management and reintegration” are in some cases mandatory and defined in the Accident Insurance Act and the Invalidity Insurance Act, many measures in the other fields are undertaken on a voluntary basis.