NOTICE TO REPORTERS:  Following is information that will be released
at a
10 a.m. press conference in Virginia Beach on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
For more information on the survey findings, contact Thomas
Guterbock at (804) 924-6516.


							EMBARGOED
UNTIL 11 A.M.
							WEDNESDAY,
NOV. 16, 1994


MOST VIRGINIA WORKSITES ARE KEEPING PACE WITH NATION 
IN OFFERING EMPLOYEES PROGRAMS THAT PROMOTE GOOD HEALTH

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 16 -- Most private Virginia
businesses offer employees health-related programs and environments
where smoking is restricted, according to survey results released
today by the Virginia Department of Health and the Center for Survey
Research at the University of Virginia.
	Approximately 78 percent of worksites offered employees at
least one educational activity designed to promote health awareness
within the past 12 months.  The findings are based on 885 phone
interviews conducted this spring and represent 1,005 private
Virginia businesses of 50 or more employees.
	The most commonly offered program was on first aid and
injury prevention, which was held at 61 percent of the worksites.
The least likely program to be offered was on weight management,
which was held at 22 percent of the workplaces.
	Larger businesses were much more likely to offer
health-promotion programs.  Of those with at least 750 employees, 98
percent offered at least one health-promotion program, defined as an
educational, organizational and environmental activity designed to
improve employeesÕ health and reduce health-related expenditures.
	Approximately 58 percent of the sites offered programs
designed to assess employeesÕ health risks and screen for such
factors as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.  Larger
businesses were more prone to offer such programs; worksites with
750 or more employees offered preventive programs 97 percent of the
time.  The most common were flu shots and blood pressure screening,
offered at approximately 25 percent of the sites, and the least
common was cancer screening, offered at 8.5 percent of the
workplaces.
	Seventy-six percent of the businesses surveyed have a
written policy restricting smoking.  Size was also found to be a
factor in sites having health-related policies:  of worksites with
750 or more employees, 83.5 percent reported that they have a
no-smoking policy.
	Approximately 84 percent reported a formal drug policy,
approximately 80 percent have a written alcohol policy, 22.5 percent
have a seat belt policy, and only 14.5 percent have a policy
pertaining to HIV/AIDS.
	ÒThis is the first large-scale study of what health-related
programs are being offered by private Virginia businesses,Ó said
Thomas M. Guterbock, director of the U.Va. Center for Survey
Research.
	He noted that national objectives set by the federal
government in 1991 called for 85 percent of the worksites with 50 or
more employees to offer health-promotion programs by the year 2000.
ÒThis is the first reliable data that shows how much progress
thereÕs been in Virginia worksites,Ó Guterbock said.
	Approximately 21 percent of the workplaces surveyed include
health programs in their regular budget, and 20 percent have an
in-house committee responsible for planning such programs.
Corporate management plans the programs at 38 percent of the
worksites; local management at 34 percent, and human services
personnel at 38 percent.  Most sites (77 percent) offered
health-related programs to all their employees, and most were
offered free.
	Nearly all--97.5 percent--of the worksites surveyed offered
some type of health insurance coverage to their employees; at most
sites (83 percent) insurance covers preventive medical care such as
physical exams, pap smears and mammograms.
	ÒVirginia looks much like the rest of the country in what
health programming is being offered to employees,Ó said Guterbock.
In comparing the centerÕs survey with a 1992 national survey
conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Virginia worksites are about equally as likely to offer
injury-prevention, first-aid and nutrition-education programs as the
rest of the nation.  Virginia sites are slightly more likely to
offer medical self-care programs and slightly less likely to offer
smoking cessation, exercise and stress-management programs.
	Virginia businesses are equally likely as the nation as a
whole to offer health-risk appraisals, slightly more likely to offer
flu shots and not as likely to provide glucose, blood pressure,
cholesterol and cancer screenings.
	More Virginia workplaces (76 percent) reported having a
formal policy restricting smoking than sites in the nation as a
whole (59 percent).
###
November 16, 1994
	FOR A COPY of the survey report, contact the U.Va. News
Office at (804) 924-7116 or Guterbock.  For additional information,
contact Carol Stanley in the Virginia Department of Health, Office
of Health Promotion/Chronic Disease Prevention, at (804) 786-3551.
Charts showing health-related programs in private Virginia
businesses are attached.