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SMOKING IN THE WORKPLACE
Because of the amount of time spent there, the workplace is usually the most important area outside the home to be smokefree. Attitudes in the business world have been evolving--the Wall Street Journal reported in October that a recent survey of about 140 of the country's 1,000 largest companies found that "85% insist on a smokefree workplace." According to a Gallup poll, 94 percent of Americans, smokers and nonsmokers, now believe companies should either ban smoking totally in the workplace or restrict to separately ventilated areas.
Since the 1993 report by the U.S. EPA classifying ETS a Class A carcinogen, many employers have acted to protect workers from ETS. A recent study by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) found that 81.6 percent of U.S. employers curently have an official policy restricting smoking. Nearly half, or 46 percent, of workers surveyed had smokefree policies in their workplaces. Approximately 83 million American workers now have some protection from ETS exposure while they work, and more than 40 million work in designated smoke-free environments.
The simple separation of smokers from nonsmokers within the same airspace may reduce, but it does not eliminate, the exposure of nonsmokers to ETS--smoke spreads. In the NCI study of over 100,000 employees working indoors, blue-collar and service industry workers were found to have the lowest rates of smokefree workplaces. Food service operators had the lowest rates of all occupations surveyed--only 21 percent said their workplaces had a smokefree policy in place. White collar employees were more than one and a half times as likely as service industry workers, and almost twice as likely as blue-collar workers, to be covered by a smokefree policy where they worked.
Of special concern is the exposure of young people, many of whom work in bars and restaurants where they are constantly exposed to ETS. Data from the NCI show that workers in the 15-to-19-year age range are significantly less likely to work in smoke-free workplaces and are significantly less likely to work where there are any restrictions on smoking.
Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard, not a nuisance. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that there are up to 700 cases of lung cancer per year and between 2,000 and 13,000 deaths from heart disease per year among nonsmoking U.S. workers exposed to ETS in the workplace. Considered over a working lifetime, this translates into an excess lung cancer rate in the workplace of 1 per 1,000 and between 7 and 16 cases of heart disease per 1,000.
Smoking in the workplace is expensive in dollars as well as human health and quality of life. Smoking cost the U.S. 97.2 billion dollars in health care costs and lost productivity in 1993. These costs include $50 billion dollars to care for people with smoking-related disease (more than $186 million in Rhode Island). Tobacco takes a tremendous toll on the workforce. Smoking employees have 34% more absences from work, are 29% more likely to have industrial accidents, and are 40% more likely to suffer occupational injuries. Smoking slows the mending of bones, and is associated with a higher incidence of lower back pain, the number one cause of worker's compensation costs. Health care costs and direct costs to employers find their way back to individual Americans in the costs of products, services and insurance. Smoking causes excessive housecleaning costs from tobacco litter and the accumulation of film from tobacco smoke pollution. Computer equipment, furniture, carpets and other office furnishings last longer in a smokefree environment. Worksite smoking is a fire risk. This, coupled with the impact on employee health, causes many corporate insurers to recognize a smokefree environment as a positive underwriting consideration. While difficult to measure, over time, reduced respiratory and other health complaints are expected to result in fewer claims and improved loss rations, with a bottom line impact on costs. The employer faces liability if smoking is allowed in the workplace. Workers have been awarded unemployment, disability and worker's compensation benefits for illness and loss of work due to exposure to secondhand smoke.
If you are a business person, what can you do?
* Make your workplace smokefree (make an executive decision, in conjunction with employee input on how to implement the policy). Issue a policy statement giving the rationale and timing. A smokefree workplace policy statement is not about smokers, it is about smoke, and protecting employees from the hazards of secondhand smoke.
* Provide worksite programs and incentives to help your employees quit tobacco.
* Make sure your benefit package provides for cessation services.
* Divest your pension plans and 401Ks of tobacco industry investments.
* Support health and other organizations and coalitions working for tobacco control, including working with your local Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force.
* Testify for local ordinances providing smokefree public areas, workplaces and restaurants, and preventing the unlawful sale of tobacco to children.
Report WORKPLACE smoking complaints to:
Office of Environmental Health Risk Assessment, RI Dept. of Health (401) 222-3424
Coming soon: confidential complaint form to the RI Dept. of Health
Read Rhode Island Smoking in Workplace law (Chapter 23 - 20.7)