Dealing with second-hand smoke

Second-hand smoke is just as deadly as smoking a cigarette. People in good health can actually develop lung disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and other medical conditions because of their exposure to second-hand smoke. There are 2 types of second-hand smoke; side-stream smoke and mainstream smoke. Side-stream smoke will come from the cigarette and the mainstream smoke is the smoke that the person exhales. Both types of smoke are dangerous and will hurt people.

Sadly, people that work with someone that smokes and they are around them often have a 17 percent increase of developing cancer. People that inhale second-hand smoke will have 10 years removed from their life expectancy and many of them die from complications related to second-hand smoke.

Most every state requires employers to provide a smoke-free workplace. These employers also provide an area for employees to smoke. The smoking area needs to be at least 20 feet away from the main entrance of the building and it should be away from vents. A lot of people will smoke right next to the building and the ventilation system actually pumps this air right into the building, causing all the employees to breath-in second-hand smoke.

Second-hand smoke does more than cause dangerous problems like cancer, it can also impact your workers by giving them headaches. The smell of cigarette smoke is enough to trigger a headache for some workers, causing them to struggle to perform their job duties. This obviously lowers the production value of this employee and you aren't making as much money. You will then need to pay for the sick leave this employee must take off work because of the headache and pay another employee to take their place. Although smokers try to mask the smell of cigarette smoke, the smell will stick to them. They will bring the smell into the office and cause other employees to have problems focusing on their work.

One way you can help your employees in the office is to purchase air purifiers. The air purifiers will help to reduce the intensity of the cigarette smoke smell and it may prevent headaches from occurring. Air purifiers can help, but they are not the solution to preventing second-hand smoke. The solution is to convince your employees to give up smoking altogether.

Smoke-free policies should state all the health hazards the come along with smoking and the benefits for everyone if one person quits smoking. The smoke-free policy should inspire people to stop smoking and it should install fear in some of the employees that see nothing wrong with smoking. This fear can come from punishment they will face if they are caught violating the policy in any way. Another way to convince employees to quit smoking is to offer a wellness program. The wellness program should have an incentive for the employees that quit smoking and start improving their health.

Wellness programs are effective and they help to reduce the health insurance costs for the employer and the employees. Since the smoking employees are the reason why the health care costs are higher, it is natural to expect these individuals to pay more money to receive health care. If you want to start charging them more money, make sure you let them know before you start taking money from their paychecks. Give your employees time to actually make an effort to quit smoking so you can establish a smoke-free workplace and prevent second-hand smoke in your office.

You may even consider partnering with another company to sponsor a run or walk for lung cancer. Get your employees to participate in the run or walk and to encourage their families to participate in it as well. If an employee can get the support of their family members to quit smoking, it will be easier for them to give up the habit.