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The Lombardy Workplace Health Promotion Network – Italy

Summary

The Lombardy Workplace Health Promotion Network (WHP) involves 284 workplaces, employing 139.186 persons in November 2014. It is a public-private network, carried out by building partnerships and collaboration with all workplace main stakeholders: associations of enterprises, trade unions and the regional health system. The development of this Italian pilot project started in 2011 in Bergamo, by identifying and selecting good practices, and by experimenting the feasibility and effectiveness in two mid-sized companies before extending the project to other companies. A system of accreditation was later defined. Member companies should implement good practice activities over three years and four new activities every year to maintain the “Workplace Health Promotion Site”- logo. The areas of good practice are: nutrition, tobacco, physical activity, road safety, alcohol and substances, and well-being. The results were surprising in terms of network and adhesion. The WHP Network expanded on a regional scale during 2013 and is made up of companies (“Workplaces”) which recognize the value of corporate social responsibility and undertake to be an “environment conducive to health” systematizing, with the scientific support of Health Local Unit where necessary, evidence-based actions of different nature: informational (smoking cessation, healthy eating, etc.), organizational (canteens, snack vending machines, agreements with gyms, stairs health programmes, walking / biking from home to work, smoke-free environment, baby pit-stop, etc.) and collaboration with others in the local community (Associations, etc.).

The “Lombardy WHP Network” programme is inserted in the Regional Prevention Plan for 2010-2013 and 2014-2018, in the National prevention Plan 2014-2018 and fits into the strategies of EUROPEAN INNOVATION PARTNERSHIP on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA). At the end of 2014 we can count the adherence of 284 companies to the network and a total of 139,186 employees are involved. From 2013 to 2014 the regional increase was equal to 103% in relation to the number of companies and 132% in relation to the number of employees. The chosen interventions and strategies influence multiple levels of the organization including the individual employee and the organization as a whole. The evidence based actions are continuously updated according to the literature data. The one year Bergamo impact evaluation showed that after 12 months there was a reduction in some important risk factors for chronic diseases in workers participating in the programme, particularly for fruit and vegetable intake and smoking cessation.

 

Additional information: https://retewhplombardia.org/

(last accessed in March 2017)

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Life Cycle Stages: The Young Old (50-65 yrs) | Work Life | 
Main Settings: workplace | 
Specific Topics: nutrition | physical activity | substance abuse | 

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