Health, safety and wellness

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Protecting the health, safety and wellness (HSW) of our employees is a natural extension of our commitment to making HP among the best places to work in the world. We have a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for our people, and we recognize that employees are most productive when they are healthy.

Because we believe work-related injuries and illnesses are preventable, we take a proactive, systemic approach to reduce the risk of occurrence. Our wellness programs raise awareness of health issues such as ergonomics and infectious diseases and encourage employees to adopt healthy lifestyles. Our safety programs are designed to minimize hazards and are tailored to specific work environments.

We implement our HSW programs as part of a comprehensive environmental, health and safety (EHS) management system that meets or exceeds applicable regulatory requirements globally. The system is aligned with the internationally recognized Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series standard OHSAS 18001 as well as the ANSI Z10 (American National Standard), OSHA VPP (U.S. Dept of Labor) and ILO-OSH 2001 standards. Four HP sites in Ireland, Scotland, Singapore and the United States are registered to OHSAS 18001.

	Health and wellness

HP raises awareness of health and wellness issues through web-based educational materials, travel health advice and various health-promotion activities. We provide on-site fitness centers at many large locations. Employees without access to an HP fitness center receive discounts of up to 60 percent at their local gym, small subsidies for fitness center membership, or “flexi-credits” that can be used for a variety of benefits that may include health assessments, depending on the country.

We offer U.S. employees health assessments with follow-up by a personal health advisor, and we reward participation with a $300 credit toward health insurance premiums. About 82 percent of U.S. employees took advantage of this in 2007. Our long-term goal is to use the aggregated results of these assessments for targeted health education programs. 

HP provides Employee Assistance Programs in 18 countries across the Americas, Asia and Europe. These programs offer counseling and referrals to employees and their dependents who are experiencing personal or family problems.

	Health, safety and wellness training and communications

We include basic HSW information in new employee orientation. All employees are required to take an annual online refresher course, and completion is included as an objective in employee development plans. We also provide training tailored to an employee’s specific job-related hazards. All HSW training is provided in local languages.   

We offer an online ergonomics training program to reduce the risk of related injuries and illnesses related to workplace design (see below).

Our environment, health and safety intranet site includes resources and key information for employees, including:

• Self-audits. This set of tools helps sites to assess how well employees are managing the health and safety risks in relation to the EHS standards.
• Chemical management. This system enables employees to search for material safety data sheets that provide information about how to handle chemicals safely.
• Emergency preparedness. We provide information on planning, prevention, response and recovery for emergencies and disasters.

	Infectious diseases

HP recognizes that infectious diseases present a serious risk to our employees in some countries. We provide medical benefits so that our employees can have adequate protection against infectious diseases.

We also raise awareness among our employees so that they can take necessary precautions. For example, in 2007 we created an intranet health advisory on MRSA infections (a bacterial infection sometimes referred to as a “superbug”). This advisory emphasizes the importance of hand hygiene in preventing infection.

We have also created an employee intranet advisory about hepatitis B, which addresses modes of transmission, preventive measures and vaccination recommendations. We now include a hepatitis B policy statement in our nondiscrimination policy. Health checks are never conducted as a condition of employment.

For employees traveling to high-risk countries, we give advice regarding necessary immunizations.
 

Pandemic flu preparedness

Since 2005, HP has taken the threat of a flu pandemic seriously. We’ve conducted simulations to assess how an outbreak of flu or other infectious diseases could affect HP, and we’ve developed contingency plans to protect HP employees and minimize business disruption. Our employee communication programs stress the importance of hygiene in preventing virus transmission, and our Company Preparedness and Resiliency, and Avian Flu internal websites are designed to raise employee awareness. In 2007 we launched online training on flu preparedness in eight languages.

As new developments arise and we obtain new information, we regularly assess our contingency plans.