Study Finds Correlation Between Healthy and Safe

Workforces and Stock Market Performance

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new study sponsored by UL's Integrated Health and Safety
Institute
(IHSI) and published in this month's issue of the Journal of
Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM), adds to the growing
evidence that a healthy and safe workforce correlates with a company's
performance and its ability to provide positive returns to shareholders.

Lead author Raymond Fabius, MD, co-founder

of HealthNEXT, and colleagues
studied the stock market performance of
companies that had applied for
or received the American College of
Occupational and Environmental
Medicine's (ACOEM) Corporate Health
Achievement Award (CHAA), which
annually recognizes the healthiest and safest organizations in North
America. To be considered for the CHAA, organizations must be engaged in
measurable efforts to reduce health and safety risks among their
employees.
The authors tracked the stock market performance of 17 CHAA applicants
and recipients recognized for excellence in their health and/or safety
programs using six investment modeling scenarios. The study's results
suggest that employers that invest significantly in health and safety
programming are likely to have superior financial performance in the
marketplace. Over the study's 13-year period, the hypothetical
investment returns for CHAA companies were significantly higher than

average S&P 500 returns - as much as triple in some of the scenarios. In

the best-performing scenario, the CHAA companies achieved a 333% return,
compared to an S&P return of 105% during the same period. In the
lowest-performing scenario, the CHAA companies achieved a 204% return,
compared to an S&P return of 105% during the same period.
"The CHAA study supplements the growing body of research establishing
correlation between a true culture of health, safety and well-being for
workers and an organization's competitive advantage in the marketplace,"
said Todd Hohn, IHSI's global director. "UL's Integrated Health and
Safety Institute aims to continue building on this research to encourage
mainstream adoption of integrated health and safety programs to improve
the effectiveness and economic benefit of both programs."
UL's IHSI is publishing a standard for integrating health and safety in
the workplace to offer organizations the guidance necessary to fully
integrate their health and safety programs, maximizing employees' health
and productivity, while improving both programs' effectiveness and
reducing costs. This standard and the CHAA study build on UL and ACOEM's
development of a framework for integrated health and safety and the
introduction of an Integrated Health and Safety Index, published in
JOEM's May 2015 issue.
The CHAA study, titled "Tracking the Market Performance of Companies
That Integrate a Culture of Health and Safety: An Assessment of
Corporate Health Achievement Award Applicants," is one of three studies
featured in a special section of the January issue of JOEM highlighting
the impact health and safety programs may have on a company's investment
value. The

Health Project and the Health

Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) conducted two additional
studies pulling from different populations and used slightly differing
methodologies and timeframes. The Health Project and HERO studies also
support the finding that financially sound, high-performing companies
invest in employee health and safety.
View the CHAA study in the January 2016 issue of JOEM at
http://journals.lww.com/joem/Abstract/2016/01000/Tracking_the_Market_Performance_of_Companie
s_That.2.aspx.

About UL's Integrated Health and Safety Institute

Founded in June 2015, UL's Integrated Health and Safety Institute (IHSI)
is the first private sector not-for-profit institute dedicated to
advancing the integration of workplace health and safety programs. IHSI
provides world-class research, guidance, standards, and education to
assist employers in integrating their health, safety and worker
well-being initiatives.
About UL
UL is a premier global independent safety science company that has
championed progress for more than 120 years. Its nearly 11,000
professionals are guided by the UL mission to promote safe working and
living environments for all people via two distinct entities:
Underwriters Laboratories Inc., a 501(c)3 public charity, and UL LLC. UL
uses research and standards to continually advance and meet
ever-evolving safety needs. We partner with businesses, manufacturers,
trade associations and international regulatory authorities to bring
solutions to a more complex global supply chain. For more information,

visit http://www.UL.com.
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