Arogya World Participates in OCCUCON 2017

The Indian Association of Occupational Health (OCCUCON), held its 67th Annual National Conference February 8-11 in New Delhi. Attended by over 500 participants, OCCUCON 2017 focused on occupational health and safety in India and was inaugurated by Dr. Sowmya Swaminathan, Secretary Department of Health Research and Director General ICMR. We are proud to have OCCUCON aa a partner of Arogya’s Healthy Workplace program.

Arogya World Founder and CEO Nalini Saligram, one of OCCUCON’s featured speakers, spoke about how Arogya World’s Healthy Workplace recognition program is shaping company culture, making companies more encouraging of employee health, and building a network for employers to tap for learning best practices in NCD prevention and workplace wellness. Usha Chander, also of Arogya World, presented a paper about Arogya World’s new Platinum level award initiative and shared the data showing health improvement over the past three years in all the Platinum companies.

Nalini Saligram and Usha Chander at OCCUCON

The conference provided an excellent networking opportunity for all practicing occupational health physicians, academicians, workplace health ergonomics and safety specialists, along with Human Resource Managers and others. Attendees discussed current practices and identified areas for improvement, explored innovative solutions, and showed a promising move toward implementing a calculated approach to measuring productivity in employee health and wellness programs.

Notable scientific sessions shared newly published research by Reliance India and Siemens’ intervention about strategies for tackling the Vitamin D deficiency among their employees, including sun cafes and supplements. Other sessions of note: Indigo’s crew resource management, checklist culture and line oriented safety audit; Toyota Kirloskar’s endeavor to reduce health care costs and ensure business continuity by implementing control measures, evaluating the outcome and measuring the ROI; the presentation on assessing and managing the risks associated with shift work by Amara sleep clinic; the eye-opening discussion about the influence of climate change on occupational health; and the closing session on happiness at work, which increases emotional competency and confidence among employees.