Wellbeing at Work
Wellbeing is the state of complete physical, emotional, mental and social health and not just the absence of disease or injury.
Information for students relating to Health and Wellbeing is provided by Student Support Services
Staff members at University of Canterbury have a responsibility for taking reasonable care for their own health, safety and wellbeing.
University of Canterbury supports the wellbeing of all employees as set out in the Wellbeing Implementation Plan 2020 – 2024. The Health and Safety team takes an overview of a number of assessment and monitoring processes to support staff maintain their wellbeing at work.
The assessment and monitoring processes are further detailed in the following protocols: Ergonomic Assessment; Health Monitoring; Prevention of Stress and Workplace Fatigue.
Occurrence of pain or discomfort is preventable by ensuring good workplace set-up from the outset. Check out the SafetyHub ergonomics videos here to see if your workstation may be causing you pain or discomfort.
If staff are experiencing discomfort this is useful to check. Self-assessment is shown to be an effective strategy for prevention of discomfort pain and injury.
Discomfort and pain thought to be related to workplace activity or work-station set-up should be recorded immediately as an Incident in Assura. The Health and Safety team will contact you and arrange for an workstation assessor to contact you.
The assessor will complete an assessment, provide advice and make recommendations.
The university uses trained workstation assessors from the UC Rec Centre to complete these assessments.
The requirement for health monitoring is determined by the risk of exposure. This is the residual risk that remains after controls are put in place. If it is determined that the residual risk associated with an occupation requires health monitoring then this should be identified at the stage of making an offer to an employee. New employees who will work in positions with residual risk of exposure will undergo baseline testing.
Dependent on the exposure and residual risk health monitoring can include any of the following: lung-function, chest x-rays, hearing, skin, and eye testing. The schedule of testing, the setting up of appointments and receiving reports is all co-ordinated by the Health and Safety team.
In some work groups, existing employees will be monitored because of a history of potential past exposures. New employees to those work groups may not require testing because the ongoing risk of exposure has been eliminated. So just because one worker in a group undergoes monitoring, does not mean that all employees in that group require monitoring.
Decisions on the occupational groups that require ongoing monitoring are made in conjunction with College or Department management, and the Health and Safety team.
Any queries regarding health monitoring should be directed to the Health and Safety Team
The University of Canterbury strives to provide a supportive working environment that maintains and promotes the health of all its employees. The University offers more than just a job and provides a range of benefits to staff. These are further detailed on the People & Culture intranet site (staff only)
Maintaining a healthy workplace is not just about the absence of illness and injury. University of Canterbury offers a number of opportunities and programmes aimed at developing and maintaining a healthy balanced life and a healthy workplace.
Staff and Managers who require further assistance or guidance should contact the Health and Safety Team or their HR Advisor
The University also offers EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) which provides short-term intervention counselling for a range of personal and work-related issues.
University of Canterbury is committed to ensure where possible, that staff suffering from injury or illness make an early, safe, and sustainable, return to work.
The Protocol: Rehabilitation sets out that commitment along with the processes and responsibilities.
Successful rehabilitation may rely on a formal rehabilitation plan and will involve the staff member, their manager, and their HR Business Partner.
Rehabilitation planning relies on timely exchange of information with health professionals. Information about employee duties for this purpose can be recorded on the Job Information for Rehabilitation Consultation form. This includes a consent for the collection and release of information.
Any employees or managers requiring a rehabilitation plan should contact their HR Business Partner.