Christine is a fifty-six-year-old woman who is the top administrator in the HR department at a large steel distribution company. To decrease the costs related to work related injuries, increasing absenteeism, poor employee work performance, excessive sick days, and employee alcohol abuse and alcoholism, Christine and the other members of top management created numerous programs that made the work environment considerably more safe, healthy, and more productive.

For instance, fifteen years ago Christine and the other members of top management initiated an Employee's Assistance Program so that all the employees had access to top shelf therapy for their personal problems that could adversely affect their health, work performance, and their personal well-being.

As another illustration, nearly seven-and-a-half years ago Christine and the other VIPs built a forward-looking exercise and workout room complete with scales, exercise charts, weights, mirrors, many different types of exercise equipment, and a professional trainer during business hours.

As another example, about two-and-a-half years ago, Christine and the other company executives launched a "Weight-Watchers" class that currently meets every Tuesday and Thursday at noon until 1:00 PM. In addition, the company administrators signed up a weight-loss healthcare professional to run the program.

In the last ten months, in a joint venture with the Employee's Assistance Program, Christine and the other company administrators initiated an "Anger Management" class for employees who want to learn how to better control their temper.

In the last two months, Christine and the other company leaders implemented an alcohol and drug testing program that is related to their drug and alcohol abuse prevention program. In actual fact, Christine is the primary person in the company responsible for getting the message out to all the employees about the drug and alcohol abuse prevention program as well as the drug and alcohol testing program.

Another relatively recent enhancement to the drug and alcohol abuse prevention program is a class entitled "Alcohol Statistics and Facts." The reasoning behind this alcohol statistics facts class is that quite a few people do not appreciate the full impact of the results of alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction without first hearing about some of the alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics and facts that are available. As a consequence, one of the goals of this class is to provide a range of alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction facts and statistics in order to help workers gain a better understanding of the many of issues that are associated with excessive and hazardous drinking and how they can prevent these issues from happening.

Most recently Christine and the other VIPs, via observations from employees, initiated a class that centers directly on acute drinking entitled "What is Alcoholism"? This class meets every Friday morning an hour before work and focuses predominantly on the differences between alcohol abuse and alcoholism, on some of the essential differences between statistics on alcohol abuse and statistics on alcoholism, and on the different kinds of rehab that are available for people who have alcohol drinking problems such as individuals who drink in an irresponsible manner.

Although every one of these health and preventative maintenance programs was anything but easy on the pocketbook, upper management personnel believe that they are many thousands of dollars ahead by providing all of their workers with a healthy, safe, and more productive work atmosphere.