Health Management Audit
The aim of iHMQ is to improve health in the workplace by combining the principles of health promotion, management and quality.
One of the building blocks of this approach is that of a company health audit. The audit is suitable for organisations who consider employee health and well being to be important and who wish to develop this further by creating a health management system which is fully integrated in quality and business processes.
There is clear evidence that companies which promote employee health and well being and organise work in a healthy way benefit through higher levels of productivity and performance. The health management audit and the developments which stem from it are important elements in this process.
Goal and ambition
Underpinning the audit process are the goals and ambitions of the organisation – how far does the organisation want to go? The first stage of the process is the ‘preliminary audit’. This enables the identification of baseline information on the state of health management within the organisation, together with the strengths and weaknesses of the approach.
Once the baseline position has been identified, a set of goals and a work plan – in line with the Quality Criteria for Health Management – are agreed with the company and a commitment is made to achieve these goals. The formal audit is undertaken once these goals have been achieved; normally this takes around six months.
The process
A steering group for employee health management should be established to drive the process forward. The group should be a multidisciplinary team consisting of the key players in the employee health management process from across all levels of the company, including representatives of the board of directors, the senior management team, human resource management, finance, the works council and staff representatives, health and safety officers, those responsible for quality systems and the providers of occupational health services. This group will represent the company in the formal audit process.
Support can be obtained from work2health in the development of the organisational practices and procedures together with the documentation necessary for the audit process.
Once this has been completed (most organisations will already have several elements of the process in place), auditors from iHMQ will undertake the formal audit and will be joined by an independent international auditor. The use of the international auditor leads to a greater degree of objectivity, more effective benchmarking and greater exchange of practical international experience.
Model of Good Practice
The organisation will be awarded the Model of Good Practice Certificate once it has demonstrated through the audit process that it has achieved the goals for employee health management established as a result of the preliminary audit.
Publicity
One of the goals of iHMQ is to enable the sharing of excellent practice on employee health management. Those organisations who have been certified as models of good practice will be promoted through a variety of types of media and will be presented with their awards at a high profile health management conference.
The next steps
Find out more about iHMQ and the audit process by eMailing us
or by visiting the iHMQ website
Health at Work-
work2health - an international consultancy promoting health and well-being at a societal, organisational and individual level