Should Women’s Heart Health Be Considered a Safety Risk?

Physical health is always a concern for EHS professionals. However, a major risk that is flying under the radar is women’s heart health.

Nearly six in ten women will have some type of cardiovascular disease in the next 25 years, according to the American Heart Association.

The percentage of women aged 22 to 44 with some form of cardiovascular condition is projected to climb to nearly one‑third, compared with less than one-quarter today, according to a February 2026 report in Circulation.

Those numbers are quite shocking, and I would venture to say that most people would be surprised to hear how prevalent heart disease is in women.

Heart Health as Risk Factor

Given the breadth of this issue, I would advocate that EHS professionals need to focus attention on this issue and place it squarely in the category of risks that workers need to be aware of and trained in. 

We train workers on how not to get their arms caught in machines. Why not train them to recognize symptoms of heart disease that could lead to heart attacks on the job?

While it might seem odd to compare the two, as one is immediate while the other takes time to develop, mitigating risk doesn’t need to be measured via a timeline.

While EHS professionals undertake training workers for daily hazards, health risks are often relegated to employee assistance programs (EAPs) due to the fact that they are chronic conditions.

What’s important about paying particular attention to women’s heart health is the fact that it often goes unrecognized and therefore is not seen to have the potential to be an immediate concern.

Build on Current Safety Training

Why not tap into existing safety training? “Employers can take the lead in awareness and education for women’s heart health, as they can add this information to health and safety programs they already have. There are no additional costs,” explains Ellen Kelsay, CEO of the Business Group on Health.

The form of communication is essential to making an impact. Why not use regularly scheduled tool talks to raise awareness of this risk? Supervisors can point to programs, either internal or external, that address the issue.

Awareness, the first step in solving any issues, is a particular concern around women’s heart health, as it doesn’t present the same as heart disease in men. For men, severe chest pain, shortness of breath and pain in the shoulder or arm are the most common symptoms.

“Women’s symptoms can include heart racing, shortness of breath, anxiety, fatigue and even sleep disturbances,” says Kelsay. “And for women, sadly, sometimes those things can contribute to other things.”

Education Programs Are Out There

Similar to how safety professionals have created internal champions in the area of mental health, let’s do this with heart health.

One program that provides heart health champions free of charge to companies is called WomenHeart at Work. A champion can come to your location and share their experiences, which has been a successful tactic in creating awareness of issues. They can  provide educational and advocacy tools through the umbrella organization WomenHeart, whose sponsors include Medtronic, Bayer, Amgen, Lilly, Johnson and Johnson and others.  

This type of education is not a stretch goal. “We’ve seen workplaces evolve really nicely in terms of addressing stigma when talking about mental health. Managers have been trained to deal with employees who come to them with a mental or behavioral issue,” says Kelsey. “We can do the same when it comes to women’s health."

Employers are, in aggregate, the largest purchasers of healthcare in the US, according to the Business Group on Health. So let’s encourage them to use this power to turn the tide on women’s heart health.