On the understanding of health in the workplace—An outline of problems

Abstract

Working conditions that maintain and promote health and the ability to work are an essential element in the prevention of work-related illnesses and a decisive factor in ensuring participation in working life. The COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching consequences, accelerated climate change and digitalization are huge challenges for health and health protection in the world of work as well. They require a deeper reflection of the professional understanding and the conceptual framework that underlie the term health, beyond current considerations. With this objective, thought-provoking impulses for a contemporary understanding of health, for health protection in the world of work, priorities for the protection needs of employees and suggestions for related research are presented for discussion. Based on the physical, mental and social dimensions of health and their manifold relations to the world of work, the article provides innovative impulses for the development and prioritization of questions for scientific studies on the protection and promotion of health in the workplace and for evaluating the significance and quality of the results of these studies for modern preventive occupational health and safety, which contribute both to the humane design of work and to the relief of the social security systems. In accordance with the Public Health Strategy for Germany, social inequality of health is highlighted as a relevant structural feature.