Johnson & Johnson's Health and Wellness Program

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Ergonomics Injury Prevention Program J&J was among the very few companies to have taken adequate measures to minimize the occurrence of musculoskeletal problems among its employees, before the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration26 (OSHA) framed rules and regulations for ergonomics. The company introduced a voluntary program, 'JOBFIT' for its employees in the US and Puerto Rico to prevent musculoskeletal problems. The program focused on maintaining fitness levels of employees and provided them with an opportunity to participate in personalized conditioning27 and stress management sessions. JOBFIT was primarily aimed at new recruits, employees who transferred to the US and Puerto Rico, employees in high-risk jobs, and those who had joined the job back after temporary disability. Once the program was implemented, it was found that employees in six out of seven facilities were able to do their jobs better and the company reported fewer cases of insurance claims, injury, sickness, stress or absence in this area.

Safe Fleet Program

In a survey conducted by J&J in 1995, it was found that road accidents involving company's drivers were one of the major reasons for increasing number of deaths and injuries. J&J incurred an additional average cost of $1500 on each such accident. Roger Seykens, Director, Safety and Industrial Hygiene for Europe, Africa and Middle East, said, "We were obviously aiming for a major reduction in costs. But the main thing was to institute an active policy for preserving the health of our employees."²⁸ To overcome this problem, in January 1997, J&J introduced the 'Safe Fleet Program' - a safety conscious driving program in countries where J&J owned its largest fleets that is Benelux, France, Germany, South Africa, Spain and the UK. The program consisted of 16 parameters segregated into four phases. Teams were formed to train new recruits consisting of 7 to 8 people from different departments including training, safety, and fleet coordination in all the countries. Explaining the difficulty in forming teams during the initial phase of the program Seykens said, "In fact, forming these teams was the first headache. Was one going to bring people together by company, activity, franchise or country? The combinations were multiple. We finally opted for setting up one team per country, without taking into account the activities of the various companies." Each team was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that safe driving became a part of the work culture in the organization. Elaborating on this thought, Seykens said, "Each team tried to ensure that safe driving becomes a genuine cultural value. It must also seek to make safe-driving an every day element and part of the program of activities. It must also ensure permanent support for drivers. Finally, it is responsible for the application of a program as well as measuring its results."

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26] OSHA's objective is to safeguard lives, prevent injuries and protect the health of workers in the US. Almost every employee working in the US comes under the purview of OSHA, with a few exceptions like miners, transportation workers, government employees and entrepreneurs.
27] Personalized conditioning involves both physical and mental conditioning as well as some dietary considerations. Physical conditioning is achieved by proper nutrition and physical exercises such as weightlifting, running, pylometrics and speed enhancement methods. Mental conditioning is achieved by meditation, yoga and so on. A strict regimen for diet was required to be followed by the employees at the workplace.
28] In an article titled "2fleet.com - Johnson & Johnson Safe Fleet," posted on www.fleetlogistics.com.

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