Problem Solving Assignment

Problem Solving Assignment

Introduction

The purpose of writing this report is to basically present an overview to the readers about the nutrition health of employees in a workplace. The author highlighted the case study of a company named 'Rafter and Rafferty Agricultural' that located in Rocklea, Brisbane. The company main business is to manufacture mowers and farm machinery having almost around 200 employees. Among these 200 employees most of them involved in equipment operation, heavy lifting, assembly and administrative roles.

Employees' health always been crucial aspect of the office environment and this issue remain the most important priority of the management by reducing and minimizing losses through employee sickness. Therefore, to give employees a better healthy working environment, the organization assessed the nutrition health of the employees through Nutrition Care Process framework.

Assessment

A nutritious diet provides the basis for health promotion and disease prevention, making it an important part of employee health policy. Good nutrition or optimal nutrition is achieved when a person eats a varied diet containing all the nutrients in sufficient amounts as determined by dietary reference values. Essentially this enables a person to develop, to grow or to maintain the body and its stores for later use and thus allows for natural variation for health and disease prevention. Under-nutrition occurs when individuals consume fewer nutrients than the body requires, resulting in a nutritional deficit. It is most common in poverty and in those with increased nutritional requirements. In contrast over-nutrition occurs when a person consumes an excessive amount of nutrients. Significant levels of illness and mortality have been linked to dietary habits such as a low intake of fresh fruit and vegetables, fibber and the consumption of excessive amounts of energy. Higher energy intake over that utilized is the fundamental cause of overweight and obesity. The prevalence of obesity has trebled in the UK and Australia since the 1990s, to the point where now nearly two-thirds of men and over half of women are either overweight or obese.

To maintain healthy employees most of the organizations have developed nutrition standards for major nutrients to act as a yardstick of adequacy when assessing diets of employees groups. People eat food not nutrients so dietary guidelines provide recommendations that promote healthy eating habits. These are based on food groups such as fats, sugars, etc. but also include recommendations for physical activity. Like many countries, the UK has developed these into visual models which can be used with populations. Since not all foods fit into one category neatly the food guides emphasize the need for variety and balance, and provide a range of daily servings. The Australian government has recently adopted the Balance of Good Health model to the Eat Well plate and the USA has adapted its food pyramid to include physical activity more overtly (Levete, 2006).

Nutritional epidemiology is the scientific basis upon which employee health nutrition is built. It is the study of diet-related diseases in the population and is informed by a complex set of principles which enable ...