What is Happy Heart at Work? 
The Irish Heart Foundation’s Happy Heart at Work is designed to assist any individual or working group with responsibility for health or welfare, to plan implement and maintain a healthy lifestyle programme for employees in the workplace.
Happy Heart at Work was developed over a two-year period from 1990-1992 and has been independently evaluated by the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG, 2001). This evaluation showed that Happy Heart at Work is a well-designed, flexible programme with materials of the highest quality. Read the full report here in PDF format
Happy Heart at Work looks at the key lifestyle behaviours associated with maintaining heart health and consists of five programmes:
Click here to view our Happy Heart at Work Brochure
Who Can Implement Happy Heart at Work
Happy Heart at Work will assist any individual with responsibility for health or welfare programmes (e.g. the Human Resource Manager, Occupational Health Nurse or the Health & Safety Officer) to plan, implement and maintain a healthy lifestyle programme in their workplace.
It can be undertaken and delivered by non-medical employees and will complement and enhance any occupational health initiatives.
The Happy Heart at Work review reveals that success of health promotion initiatives in the workplace depend on full management support. The appointment of a co-ordinator within the company to implement Happy Heart at Work and the establishment of a steering committee, which is representative of the company's workforce and management is fundamental to sustainability of the programme.
Despite a substantial decrease in the rate of premature death from coronary heart disease in the 1980's, Ireland still has the highest rate in Europe of premature death from cardiovascular disease - twice the EU average. In 2000, 26% of all deaths in those under 65 were due to heart attack, stroke and other diseases of the circulation.
High Cost
Apart from the personal tragedy caused by ill-health and premature death due to heart attack and stroke, there are high costs to industry. These relate to working days lost and overall loss of skilled and experienced employees.
In addition to improving the health of employees, there is now clear evidence that comprehensive approaches to health promotion in the workplace, including activities that focus on the individual and those addressing the work environment which are supported by management and employee consultation can improve productivity and therefore have a positive economic impact for the company (1).
(1) Report for the European Commission by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (2000).
Prevention is the key
Research and experiences in many other countries have shown that for many people lifestyle changes can reduce the risk or delay the onset of heart related diseases.
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