21 May 2012
University of South Australia organisational behaviour expert Professor Peter Chen will share his knowledge on how human sustainability can be improved to build a healthy workplace at a public lecture at City West Campus this week.
Prof Chen, who is Chair in Management at the International Graduate School of Business, will present his lecture, ‘Building a healthy workplace’ as part of UniSA’s Knowledge Works public lecture series.
Prof Chen says occupational health, either physical or psychological, has long been a concern for employees and organisations.
“Workers’ health, safety and well-being undoubtedly have immense impacts on themselves, their families, colleagues, working environments and beyond,” Prof Chen says.
“I will use this lecture to show why human sustainability is not focused, and how we can improve human sustainability to build a healthy workplace.”
He will talk about different approaches to a healthy workplace, including:
- Engineering strategies such as prevention through design and hierarchical control.
- Organisational strategies such as job design, leadership development, and safety and health culture creation.
- Government, insurance, and business practices of focusing on leading indicators, and surveillance.
In order to understand how to effectively build a healthy workplace, Prof Chen has taken multidisciplinary perspectives over many years of research, including epidemiology, engineering, legal system, psychology, and management, to explore the driving forces in building a healthy workplace and human sustainability.
His research aims to demonstrate that there are more efficient options available if people are open to different approaches and ideas in pursuing healthier, safer and secure lives.
Prof Chen’s lecture will be held on Thursday May 24 at 6pm in the Bradley Forum, Level 5 Hawke Building, UniSA City West Campus. To register go to www.unisa.edu.au/knowledgeworks
Contact for interview: Prof Peter Chen office (08) 8302 7003
Media contact: Kelly Stone office 8302 0963 mobile 0417 861 832 email Kelly.stone@unisa.edu.au
