Results of a workplace health campaign: what can be achieved?

Background: Effective health promotion in the workplace is now essential because of the rising health-related costs for businesses, the increasing pressure arising from international competition, prolonged working lives, and the aging of the work force. The basic problem of prevention campaigns is that the target groups are too rarely reached and sustainable benefits too rarely achieved. In 2011, we carried out a broad-based health and fitness campaign to assess how many personnel could be motivated to participate in a model study under nearly ideal conditions.