The Environmental Assessment Tool (EAT)
The Environmental Assessment Tool (EAT) assesses the physical and social environment of a worksite in terms of its support of obesity prevention efforts. The EAT was developed as a part of this National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) research initiative to study the impacts of innovative workplace interventions that emphasize environmental approaches or a combination of environmental and individual approaches to prevent obesity among workers.
EAT is a useful instrument used before interventions begin for auditing or assessing the characteristics of work environments that have the potential to facilitate healthy eating and exercise behaviors among workers that, in turn, may influence their absenteeism and medical expenditures. The EAT can also be used to monitor changes over time.
Leading By Example Questionnaire (LBE)
Leading by Example is a tool created by CEOs, for CEOs. Management support is critical to the success of workplace health promotion programming. The business and governmental chief executives who are contributors to this call to action recognize that growth and, in some cases, the very sustainability of their organizations is linked to employee health as health care costs become an increasingly heavy burden to bear. LBE assesses the level of organizational support and management engagement in health promotion. The four sections of the questionnaire include: (1) Business alignment with health promotion objectives; (2) Awareness of links between health and worker productivity; (3) Worksite support for health promotion; and (4) Leadership support for health promotion. The questionnaire can also be used as a valuable tool for tracking and monitoring changes in management support for worksite health interventions or health-related activities.
Healthy Cupboards
Well-chosen snacks are an important part of a healthy lifestyle. A Healthy Cupboard is a shared effort by the company or department and the employees. The supervisor or department lends support by providing space and amenities e.g. small refrigerators, microwaves, storage cupboards, etc. Health Services provides the resources and education to define healthy snacks; and more often then not, these snacks are very inexpensive compared to unhealthy options such as chips or candy bars. Employees get engaged by learning what healthy snacks are and "pooling" their dollars to buy the healthy snacks and store them in a convenient place within their work area to ensure they are readily available. Employees encourage and support each other to snack healthy. This is a small, but effective example of building healthy culture at the worksite and the power of peer support. Dow has been creative at promoting a supportive environment that will enable employees to snack healthy and inexpensively. It is all about convenience — having healthy foods readily available, and engaging the employees themselves to provide healthy snacks within their work groups and departments. Healthy Cupboards were implemented as part of a study intervention, but will remain part of Dow's culture.
