As part of our current workplace initiative, His & Her Health, we have developed two, auto-run electronic presentations for employees who use a computer, or have access to one. Making these presentations available helps to address busy schedules and different styles of learning.

·  Stretching for the Office Workplace

·  Stretching for the Active Workplace

Description

Each electronic presentation is approximately five minutes in length. These presentations provide information and suggestions that focus on stretching at the workplace and how to take measures to protect yourself from a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD).

Distributing the Presentations

One person from your workplace should be responsible for distributing the presentations in three ways:

1.      Windsor-Essex County Health Unit Website

Provide the link to employees where they can find these two presentations. During the initiative (October 2007  – January 2008), employees can go to http://www.wechealthunit.org/workplace-health/latest-initiative/his-her-health to view the two presentations. Or, employees can go to www.wechealthunit.org/workplace-health and click on Initiatives and then Presentations on the left hand side.

2.      E-mail to Employees

E-mail each of the two presentations to your employees over a 3- or 4-week period (e.g., one every two weeks). This option is available to workplaces that have a moderately high-capacity computer system to accommodate the size of each presentation. Each of the electronic presentations is between 1.5 – 2.0 MB. If you are not sure about the size capacity of your email system, try emailing one of the presentations to a co-worker. Ask that person to open the file and view the presentation. If s/he has no problems, then email each presentation to all employees.

3.   Stand-Alone Workstation

You may choose to make these presentations available at a stand-alone workstation. The presentations can be accessed from the health unit website, as described in #2 above. Consider setting up a computer in an area where employees gather (e.g., lunch room) to allow access to the presentations for a specified period of time (e.g., show each presentation for one week).

Promoting the Presentations

We recommend that you send out one or more messages to employees (e-mail, voice mail, posted on a bulletin board, or on pay stubs) to encourage employees to view the presentations. Below is a sample message for your use. You can send parts of the message to remind employees to watch for the presentations, especially if the presentations are being shown individually over a period of time.

Sample Message

His & Her Health

Whether you work at a desk or computer, or work in a manufacturing job, it is important to take measures to protect yourself from a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD). There are several ways to help prevent MSDs, such as maintaining proper posture, strengthening muscles, and increasing flexibility through regular stretching.

To find out about how you can prevent MSDs, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit has developed two electronic presentations that focus on stretching in the workplace.

• Stretching For the Office Workplace

This presentation highlights performing stretches that are designed specifically for those who work in an office workplace.

•  Stretching For the Active Workplace

This presentation highlights performing stretches that are designed specifically for those who work in an active workplace.