ACOEM honors American Express with prestigious health and safety award

American Express, the global financial services company headquartered in New York City, has been awarded the 2013 Corporate Health Achievement Award (CHAA) by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). American Express received the prestigious health and safety award for its overall success in delivering effective tools that foster a safe and healthy environment and encourage employee engagement and pride in the company. Additionally, its Healthy Living global wellness program features best-in-class resources, enhanced access to care, and a supportive work environment for all employees and their families. The program goals are to improve employee health and business productivity/performance, and to control long-term health and productivity costs. The CHAA was presented to American Express at the Opening Session of ACOEM's annual American Occupational Health Conference held Sunday, April 28, in Orlando, Fla. www.chaa.org/

Founded in 1850, American Express has a heritage built on service and is at the forefront of the travel, payments and service industries. With major offices in Fort Lauderdale, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix, and large offices in several international countries including the UK, Canada, India, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Mexico, and Argentina, the company has more than 63,500 employees globally.

The Corporate Health Achievement Award (CHAA) recognizes quality occupational and environmental health programs, identifies model programs and outstanding practices with measurable results and encourages organizational self-assessment and continuous improvement. Recipients of the annual award are judged on the strength of their health and safety programs for individual employees, their programs to protect the environment, their leadership and management, and for their efforts to create an overall work culture that stresses healthy lifestyles and safety consciousness. Only organizations with the most exemplary health and safety practices are considered for the award.

American Express was also specifically cited for its strong ergonomic program, which was seen as a model plan due to the extensive free web-based training that is available in five languages, and for its excellent compliance with regulatory standards. "The company's integrated data warehouse, which allows for ongoing research and analysis to assure that these offerings are consistent with employee needs, reflects a company leadership that understands and is responsive to the health and safety of its workforce," said David Turner MD, Examiner for the CHAA program.

"American Express' health and incentive programs were found to be well rounded, comprehensive, and available to all employees," said Fik Isaac, MD, Chair of the CHAA program. "The depth of programs American Express offers to its employees and the company's focus on safety and prevention of workplace injuries embodies the principles of the CHAA program."

"Here at American Express, we strive to create a working environmental that is not only safe and healthy, but takes into consideration employees' overall well being - this includes having behavioral health issues covered under the health benefits plan as studies have shown that stress is one of the highest risk factors for lost productivity," said Wayne N. Burton, MD, Chief Medical Officer at American Express.