Obesity in the Workplace: Impact, Outcomes, and Recommendations.

Objective: To conduct a comprehensive literature review to develop recommendations for managing obesity among workers to improve health outcomes and to explore the impact of obesity on health costs to determine whether a case can be made for surgical interventions and insurance coverage.

Methods: We searched PubMed from 2011 to 2016, and CINAHL, Scopus, and Cochrane Registry of Clinical Trials for interventions addressing obesity in the workplace.

Results: A total of 1419 articles were screened, resulting in 275 articles being included.

Using Electronic Health Records and Clinical Decision Support to Provide Return-to-Work Guidance for Primary Care Practitioners for Patients With Low Back Pain.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the process by which a group of subject matter experts in the area of return to work developed a resource tool to provide clinical decision support (CDS) for primary care clinicians.

Methods: A common musculoskeletal disorder, low back pain (LBP), was selected, pertinent literature reviewed, and specific recommendations for action in the clinical setting developed.

Results: Primary care practitioners (PCPs) are routinely expected to create work activity prescriptions.

Marijuana in the Workplace: Guidance for Occupational Health Professionals and Employers: Joint Guidance Statement of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Employers are often put in a difficult position trying to accommodate state laws that allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes while enforcing federal rules or company drug-use policies based on federal law. To ensure workplace safety as well as compliance with state and federal legislation, employers should review state laws on discrimination against marijuana users and ensure that policies enacted are consistent with the state’s antidiscrimination statutes. Although it appears that in most states that allow medical marijuana use, employers can continue enforcing policies banning or restricting the use of marijuana, this approach may change on the basis of future court decisions.

Medical evacuations from oil rigs off the Gulf Coast of the United States from 2008 to 2012: reasons and cost implications.

Objective: To identify reasons for air medical evacuations from oil rigs/platforms.

Methods: Retrospective review of data of medical calls from 102 rigs/platforms in the US Gulf Coast from 2008 through 2012 with specific analysis of medevacs.

Results: On average, 1609 total calls per year relating to illness or injury on the 102 oil rigs/platforms with 4% to 7% requiring medical air evacuation.

The link between workforce health and safety and the health of the bottom line: tracking market performance of companies that nurture a "culture of health".

Objective: To test the hypothesis that comprehensive efforts to reduce a workforce's health and safety risks can be associated with a company's stock market performance.

Methods: Stock market performance of Corporate Health Achievement Award winners was tracked under four different scenarios using simulation and past market performance.

Results: A portfolio of companies recognized as award winning for their approach to the health and safety of their workforce outperformed the market.