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During the 1980's workplace safety and health concerns were widespread in the United States, and it was noted that there was an economic incentive for the employers in promoting health and safety in the organisation. The promotion of health and safety and related activities resulted in a decrease of absentees due to sickness and health concerns, and also reduced the occurrence of workplace accidents. It was identified that this increased the productivity and performance levels of the employees and the whole organisation (Ilo.org, 2014). However the importance given to workplace health and safety has not been patchy in other areas and regions of the world. The initiatives taken for promoting workplace health and safety in other regions of the world have been mostly poorly evaluated.
The issues and problems related to health and safety in the workplace are not usually seen as the domain of the managers of the organisation. Even though most managers agree and regard health and safety as good initiaitves, they are not entirely clear of the benefits these initiatives can have on an organisational level, as there was no cocnrete economic evidence hinting towards the impact health and safety promoting activities can have on the organisation's performance. The concept of workplace health and safety is now considered a real issue by most organisations, but while developing and promoting the initiatives for the actual issue, it is seen that the development deviates towards general health education and promotional activities and issues.
According to a study and research by Carol Wilkinson, Principal Lecturer and Faculty of Social and Life Science in the Department of Psychology and Health of University of Lincoln and Humberside, after interviewing health and safety, and management specialists, it was identified that most managers considered health promotion as providing information, flyers and leaflets on health related issues (Wilkinson, 1999).
