This document discusses new avenues for making work more attractive and profitable. It begins by outlining the scope and objectives, which are to emphasize emerging trends in occupational health that offer opportunities to generate well-being and positive development. It then discusses prejudices against occupational health, its unsuspected dimensions addressing broader environmental and social impacts, and the political paradox of growing risk fears but lack of support for professionals. New avenues proposed include new actors in a participative approach and urgent need for values like meaning, respect, and ethics. The concepts of salutogenesis and factors that make work attractive are also introduced.

1. 1
Michel Guillemin
Chem Ing. – PhD
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Postgraduate studies
Professor
Occupational Hygiene Director
Teaching
Institut de Santé
au Travail
In 1998 : Yant Award
In 2012 : Lifetime Achievement Award
International recognition :
Roundtable : “Return to Work : Heading to the Future” – June 24th 2014

2. 2
The Association is non-profit-making and is politically
independent and denominationally neutral.
Its purpose is to promote an expanded vision of work
where spiritual values involved in the mental and social health
and well-being of individuals are affirmed.
It has been created at the end of 2013 in order to
organize the First International Conference on Work and
Spirituality at the University of Lausanne in September 2014

3. Are there new avenues to make work more
attractive and profitable ?
Michel P. Guillemin
Professor Emeritus
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Roundtable : «Return to Work : Heading to the Future
June 24th , 2014 – Geneva, Switzerland

4. Are there new avenues to make work more
attractive and profitable ?
OUTLINE
I. Scope and objectives
II. Occupational Health
 Prejudice and unsuspected dimensions
III. New avenues
 New actors
 Urgent need of values
IV. Conclusion

5. Are there new avenues to make work more
attractive and profitable ?
SCOPE
Occupational Health in the global framework of our Society.
 Focus on the so-called “developed countries”
OBJECTIVES
To emphasize the emerging trends in the field of
Occupational Health which offer new opportunities to make
work an instrument to generate well-being and promote
positive development of individuals and of society

6. OUTLINE
I. Scope and objectives
II. Occupational Health
 Prejudice against Occupational Health
 Its unsuspected dimensions
 The political paradox
III. New avenues
 New actors
 Urgent need of values
IV. Conclusion

7. Environ.
Health
Education - Communication
OH
Occupational Health is interfacing with other
important domains and is almost invisible
The only visible part is the health and safety rules and legal requirements
OH
Enterprises
Management
Lack of visibility (I)
7

8. Etymology of the French word
« travail » :
tripalium (latin) = torture instrument
Ancient Greek : ponos = work
Modern Greek : ponos = suffering
In the Bible, Adam is driven out of
the Garden of Eden : «Soil is now
damned because of you ! In the
suffering you will live on it every
day of your life. »
The cultural influence
Lack of visibility (II)
8

9. The social components
 Depreciation of the disciplines related to Occupational Health !
 To take care of Occupational Health is working against
economy and industry !  David Cameron - January 2012 ….
 Prevention and health & safety are not sciences but only good
sense
 Prevention is too expensive for the SMEs !
 Etc.
9
The administrative barriers
between domains
The limits of the social
insurance system
The prejudices !
and also
Occupational Health is trapped in a ghetto !
Lack of visibility (III)
“…waging war against the
excessive health and safety
culture that has become an
albatross around the neck of
British business.”

10. 0
50
100
150
200
250
Billion $
Illnesses
Injuries
Economic Burden of Occupational Injury and Illness
in the United States
Reference : JP Leigh, The Milbank Quarterly 89: 728-772 (2011)
Total of
occupationally related
diseases : a hudge
part is hidden
Officially recognized
occupational diseases = peak
of the iceberg
4 – 10 % of
occupational
contribution
5 – 20 % of occupational
contribution for
cardiovascular diseases
15 % of
occupational
contribution
«Ignored» scientific and economic evidences (I)
10

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Obvious links between the occupational and the
general environment
3. Major accidents are quite often related to a failure in the occupational risk
management : Seveso (1976), Bhopal (1984) et AZF-Toulouse (2001), etc.
1. Emissions from the workplaces in air, water or soil, as well as transport of
wastes and toxic chemicals illustrate clearly the relationships between the
occupational and the general environment.
IndustryAgriculture
2. Indoor air is both an occupational and a public health problem.
This is why the scope of Occupational Health
is extended to the general environment
Annals of Occupational Hygiene – Jan. 2009
Vineyards
Agriculture
«Ignored» scientific and economic evidences (II)

12. Recent studies prove that for
the investment of
The benefit is at least of 3 $ and
can reach 10 $, or even 30 $
Numerous publications on the cost-benefit ratio of prevention
A booklet issued by the WHO and
theTNO (NL)
1
«Ignored» scientific and economic evidences (III)
12

13. The growing fear of risks
Agents
 Chemicals  REACH and indoor air quality
 Nanomaterials  Nanoparticles and nanotubes of carbon
 Electro-smog  Electro-magnetic fields from multiple sources
 Biohazards  Genetically modified organisms – viruses – endotoxins...
 Psychosocial problems  A continuous increase
Effects
 Cancer
 Cardiovascular diseases
 Musculoskeletal diseases
 Mental health
 ...
Main topics of concern :
The political paradox (I)
13

14. The actual political paradox
There is a growing fear of the risks (perceived risks
by the population) but there is no support to the
professionals able to deal with and to control
these risks
European examples of these last years :
 Sweden : closure of the National Institute for Working Life (2007)
 Switzerland : closure of the Institute for Work physiology and
Ergonomics at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich
 Italy : dissolution of the National Institute into the National Insurance
Company
 France : dissolution of a dedicated Agency into a non specific one
 United Kingdom : strong decrease in the enforcement of OH&S laws
 Etc.
14

15. Source: Prof. G. Ahonen, adaptation J. Takala - 2014
Imbalance between the costs of inadequate working
conditions and the allocation of resources to improve
health (Europe)

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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Work intensity (UE 15)
Repetitive mouvements
Very tight deadlines
The challenge of psychosocial hazards
Three relevant stress factors recorded in the European Surveys of the
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Percent

17. OUTLINE
I. Scope and objectives
II. Occupational Health
 Prejudice against Occupational Health
 Its unsuspected dimensions
 The political paradox
III. New avenues
 New actors
 Urgent need of values
 Salutogenesis
 Factors that make work attractive
IV. Conclusion

18. Societal and cultural changes
have to be taken into account
3. Emerging new values
1. Misuse of management standards
 When quality means only “profits”  “restrictive” indicators
 Forgetting the “human dimensions”
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2. Unethical conducts are increasing
 The “delay game”
 Denial of scientific evidences  chrysotile and mesothelioma
 Unfair business  risky jobs exportation
 Conflicts of interest; whistleblowers, etc…
This drifting away of moral conduct by some important stakeholders and
“experts” should be considered as an alert !

19. New actors in Occupational Health
- Participative approach -
Economists
Management
Human
resources
Insurances
Stakeholders -
politicians
Health
psychologists
Lawyers
The leader with
heart
Sociologists
19
Social partners

20. HOW TO CONTROL THE PSYCHOSOCIAL
PROBLEMS ?
Solutions do exist
at different levels
At the political level
 Social partners’ awareness and commitment
At the level of the work organization
 Education and training of managers and application of the scientific
knowledge (good validated models do exist)
At the individual levels
 Meaning of work – Ethics - Stress reduction techniques, etc.
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21. The meaning of work
The respect of the human being
 Age and painful tasks
 Work life balance
 Vulnerable populations and readjusting- reintegration
 …..
 The “human” management
 Managers’ education (impact of working conditions on business)
 Empathy about workers’ health problems
 The “citizenship” of enterprises
The sustainable development
The fair trade
 Social responsibility  ISO 26’000
Equity and solidarity
 ....
The emerging values
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Disabled, injured, unemployed, …

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This science focuses
on factors that support
human health and well-
being, rather than on
factors that cause
diseases
The Whitehall study has
detected such factors at
the workplace
 We have not only to fight
against the negative factors
but also to promote the
positive ones !
The science which develops good
health
Michael Marmot
Antonovsky – 1987
Sense of coherence

23. The Whitehall study has detected factors
that improve health (and productivity) at the
workplace
Michael Marmot
23
 Autonomy and support at work
 Social environment, organization and salary
 « Subjective social status»
 « Effort – reward » balance
 Work organization and management
 Psychosocial environment
These are the salutogenic factors
relevant for the Return to Work
Private support (Family, Friends, etc.)
Health status (Subjective, Objective)
Work values (Meaning, Equity, …)

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Occupational Health shall become visible !
Social and public health problems related to work must be
emphasized
Environ.
Health
Education - Communication
OH
Enterprises
Management
Occupational
Safety and
Health

25. BOHS - Cardiff - April - 2012 25
The new generation is
sensitised to ecology
Work is beautiful, useful, important
and can be done safely
They are the workers and
the stakeholders of
tomorrow
But not to work and the
working environment

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TO DARE A DREAM
OF A BETTER SOCIETY
IS A STEP TOWARDS
ITS CONSTRUCTION !