The Scottish Centre for Health Working Lives was established in 2005 as part of NHS Health Scotland and integrated the work of Scotland’s Health at Work, Safe and Healthy Working and the business and employability strands of Scotland Against Drugs (SAD) into a single organisation.

The Centre is responsible for the implementation of Healthy Working Lives a plan for action: the Scottish Government’s strategy for improving the health of the working age population in Scotland.

Engaging employers will be critical to the success of the strategy, and so the Centre has staff based throughout Scotland who provide free and confidential advice to employers of all sizes on all aspects of improving and ensuring health and well-being in the workplace. They can offer advice, guidance and tools on:

• Health and safety legislation
• Occupational health issues
• Health promotion in the workplace

Full details of the services provided by the Centre can be found at www.healthyworkinglives.com

The Centre also runs the Healthy Working Lives Award Programme, which recognises and rewards good practice in the development of healthy workplaces. The awards programme has three levels – Bronze, Silver and Gold – and covers a wide range of health related topics, including the health and safety needs of staff, health promotion, reducing sickness absence, and mental health and well-being.

The Silver and Gold awards include employability as an optional criterion for employers to work towards. This resources aims to provide Healthy Working Lives Advisors with information, advice and resources that will enable them to effectively support employers who are undertaking this option within the Silver and Gold Awards.