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Press Release

Corporate Health Award 2009 presented for the first time3November 2009

Mental health problems on the rise – Corporate Health Management offers relief

Munich / Duesseldorf. On Tuesday evening, the first Corporate Health Award was presented at the Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg near Cologne. The award is given to companies demonstrating exemplary commitment to protecting the health and performance of their staff. TÜV SÜD was one of the initiators of the award, together with German business magazine Handelsblatt and the international market research organization EuPD Research. The health services company supports staff at almost 10,000 companies in Germany in the fields of occupational health and safety and corporate health management. One of its priorities is to combat psychological stress in the workplace.

A rapidly growing proportion of the workforce suffer from psychological stress at work, as several current studies have established. While the impacts may not always be as dramatic as in the most recent suicide series in France, psychological stress still leads to higher sickness absence, reduces productivity, has a detrimental effect on corporate climate – and thus proves very costly for companies. "Many people are under excessive mental stress in their workplaces", explained Gabriele Sommer, CEO of TÜV SÜD Life Service GmbH, in the run-up to the award ceremony. "Today one in three early retirements in Germany is on the grounds of mental ill-health. A survey among our occupational health experts revealed that psychological stress, mental ill-health and psychogenic disorders arenot restricted to major companies, but also becoming increasingly relevant in small and medium-sized enterprises".

A survey conducted among TÜV SÜD's occupational physicians indicated rising levels of psychological stress at small and medium-sized enterprises. Over 80 per cent of the company doctors surveyed reported a rise in the frequency of mental ill-health in the companies they supported. Fifteen per cent actually referred to a "pronounced rise". The rise in mental stress can be attributed – at least to some extent – to changes in our world of work: information overload, intensification of work and time pressure, high demands on mobility and flexibility, being constantly "on call" due to mobile phones, BlackBerries and other communication devices and, last but not least, the permanent worry of losing one's job are typical for the working life of many employees today.

"Due to these changes, attention is being focused on new occupational health and safety challenges, which also demand new programmes and strategies from small and medium-sized enterprises", emphasized Gabriele Sommer. "Traditional occupational health and safety has mainly consisted of the prevention of "classical" accidents or occupational health problems, including falls, injuries to the extremities or respiratory diseases. The increasing number of disorders and syndromes of psychogenic origin, however, call for new solutions such as can be supplied by customized corporate health management."

TÜV SÜD supports companies

TÜVSÜD Life Service provides occupational health and safety and corporate health management services to staff at almost 10,000 companies in Germany. Individual solutions for handling stress, encouraging work motivation, addressing dangers of addiction and dealing with over- and underchallenge are part of the package. The objective is to create workplace conditions which protect workforce health and safety. "Your staff will appreciate these measures by delivering improved performance", says Gabriele Sommer. "Sophisticated corporate health management can reduce the costs incurred by occupational accidents, one-sided and repetitive strain and illness, and can enable our experts to effectively cushion any slumps in performance caused by stress or over-challenge."

Further information about the Corporate Health Award is available at: .

Detailed dossiers addressing various subjects of Corporate Health Management are provided for media representatives on a monthly basis at .

Media Relations:

Heidi Atzler
TÜV SÜD AG
Corporate Communications -- PEOPLE
Westendstraße 199, 80686 München / Tel.+49 (0) 89 / 57 91 – 29 35
Fax+49 (0) 89 / 57 91 – 22 69

Internet

i TÜV SÜD Life Service GmbH is a company of TÜV SÜD Group, with approx. 470 staff operating at 100 locations and providing comprehensive consultancy and support in all fields of occupational medicine, occupational health and safety and occupational psychology. In addition, traffic psychologists and doctors help to enhance road safety and provide services including medical-psychological assessment (MPU).

TÜV SÜD is a leading international service organization catering to the strategic business segments INDUSTRY, MOBILITY and PEOPLE. Around 14,000 employees are represented at more than 600 locations throughout the world. Optimizing technology, systems and know-how, the interdisciplinary specialist teams act as process partners to strengthen their customers' competitiveness.