This page contains details of evaluation projects that the BHFNC is involved with in the area of the workplace.

Well @ Work

Well @ Work is a joint programme led by the British Heart Foundation with funding from Active England (Sport England and Big Lottery Fund’s joint awards programme) and the Department of Health. It is a £1.5m, two-year programme to test ways of getting England’s workplaces healthier.

The Well @ Work programme aims to highlight ways of improving diet, increasing physical activity and reducing smoking and discover what changes in and around the workplace can effect positive differences in employees’ health and achieve a lasting improvement to their lifestyles.

Well @ Work will involve nine pilot research projects across the country to trial methods of ‘healthy interventions’ aimed at improving the health of employees at a variety of workplaces. The aim is to establish which changes made in and around the workplace positively influence employees’ lifestyles and improve their health and which do not.

No such project has ever been tried in the UK before and it is hoped the outcomes could influence public health policy.

Increasing physical activity will be a major focus, but projects will also be aimed at encouraging better diets, giving up smoking, reducing alcohol intake and other lifestyle changes. The methods will include everything from using pedometers to encourage more walking, to workplace awareness campaigns on smoking, physical activity, alcohol and diet. Attention will also be paid to the working environment and how this can influence employees’ health.

Some projects will involve single employers across a range of sites while other projects will involve multiple employers across a region or county.

The projects are also taking place in two phases - phase one beginning in June 2005 and phase two by September 2005.

The programme will be evaluated by the University of Loughborough throughout and a report produced at the end with recommendations. The regional projects will each be delivered by a regional partnership or collaboration, including representatives from Primary Care Trusts, local government, business forums and industry.

As well as being important nationally, the programme has a very strong local angle in the areas where the pilots are taking place, as the programme will involve local people and local employers in a national scheme.

For more information about the project, visit
www.bhf.org.uk/thinkfit/index.asp?SecID=1590&secondlevel=1593

If you have a general enquiry about the project, please send an email to
workplacehealth@bhf.org.uk