Creating Healthy Enterprises: the Workplace Health Action Plan in China

On October 21, 2019, the “Notice on promoting the healthy enterprises” and “Specification of Healthy Enterprise Construction (trial)” were issued jointly by the National Patriotic Health Campaign Committee Office and six other government partners. As one of the objectives and tasks of the occupational health protection action (2019–2030), this multisectoral “Healthy Enterprise” Action Plan (HEAP) serves as the first “healthy cell” project carried out at the national level as an indispensable part of the Healthy China Initiative and the Healthy City Movement. It is of great significance to recognize the importance of the burden of disease linked to the exposure of occupational risks and the ability to identify the main areas of concern. This article interprets the process of how the healthy workplace or healthy enterprise was originated and evolved; how the theory was introduced and developed in China; and how the 4 main action indicators toward healthier and safer workplaces were formulated including the following: 1) developing the health policy system; 2) building healthy working environments; 3) providing health services; and 4) creating healthy culture. It concludes that the national “healthy enterprise” policy is a specific workplace-based public health practice in the field of occupational health and contributes to build a preventive culture in the context of the Healthy China Initiative. It aims to explore and summarize workplace health promotion models, methods, and experience suitable for China and to disseminate them across China.