Healthy workplace indicators in Thailand: phase 2 (a pilot study).
This study was a result of the second phase of a two-phase research project. In the previous phase, the draft of healthy workplace indicators was developed by means of literature review and soliciting of expert opinion. There were 46 indicators divided into 6 different groups. This phase of the project was a quantitative cross-sectional descriptive study which aimed at exploring the opinion of employers and occupational health officers (OHOs) of the enterprises towards the pilot set of healthy workplace indicators. The field data collection was conducted by means of a postal survey. Questionnaires were sent to 180 workplaces in Samutprakarn province. The response rates of employers and OHOs were 66.7 per cent (n = 120) and 68.3 per cent (n = 123), respectively. It was found that the majority of the enterprises had a workplace health promotion policy (59.3%), had health promotion activities (60.2%), did not have designated personnel responsible for health promotion (69.1%), had a health promotion budget (53.7%), were large scale enterprises (61.0%), and did not have a mother enterprise in foreign country (81.3%). In general, the mean scores of the opinions of employers and OHOs toward indicators in the appropriateness aspect were high. For the achievability aspect, there were 9 indicators which less than half of the employers thought they could achieve, and 10 indicators that less than half of the OHOs thought they could achieve. The opinion of employers and OHOs differed significantly in 4 indicators in the appropriateness aspect and 1 indicator in the achievability aspect. In conclusion, both the employers and OHOs considered most of these indicators appropriate for the enterprises and most indicators were achievable and useful as a guideline and evaluation tool for workplace health promotion.
Sithisarankul
Pornchai
P
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Punpeng
Twisuk
T
Boonchoo
Sujitra
S
Baikrai
Udomlak
U
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016272:Occupational Health; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013785:Thailand; D017132:Workplace