Johnson & Johnson's Health and Wellness Program
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THE HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAM contd....
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 Administration (OSHA)[26] framed rules and
regulations for ergonomics.
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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
conditioning[27] 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. |
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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
(Refer Exhibit V). 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.”[28]
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.”[28]
The Safe Fleet team was responsible for implementing several measures like
training new drivers, reducing cases of high-risk driving and hiring field
safety coordinators. Drivers were educated about the causes of the
accidents, the preventive strategies to be undertaken and advantages of safe
driving. The drivers were also trained to keep their vehicles in good
running condition as per the vehicle maintenance plan, which was also a part
of the Safe Fleet Program.
J&J also installed a high-risk driver detection system, which enabled it to
identify the drivers who drove recklessly and faced a greater risk of
accidents. Explaining the problems in implementing the program, Seykens
said, “One of the first obstacles encountered was the different mentality of
people at our different sites. Each region having its own philosophy and
cultural values, it wasn't immediately obvious how a common denominator
could be found.”[28]
After implementing the Safe Fleet Program, the number of accidents reduced
significantly. According to Michael N. Ferrera, Manager, Safe Fleet, the
crash rate in 2001 came down to 3.93 crashes per million miles, which
depicted a 30% fall since the launch of the program.
ERGONOMICS INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAM
THE BENEFITS REAPED
TABLE III - J&J HEALTHY PEOPLE 2005 TARGETS
EXHIBIT I - CHAA'S CRITERIA AND POINT WEIGHTING OVERVIEW
EXHIBIT II - BENEFITS OF HWP REAPED BY OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
EXHIBIT V - THE 16-POINT SAFE FLEET PROGRAM
ADDITIONAL READINGS AND REFERENCES
[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.
2010, ICMR (IBS Center for Management Research).All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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