Healthy Workplaces - Smoking

Smoking not only reduces your life expectancy but your quality of life as well. Smoking is one of the largest preventable diseases and is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of around 19,000 Australians per year.

Quitting at any age has health benefits, with the largest reduction in health risks in those who quit the earliest yet many Australians remain unaware of the extent of the impact smoking has on the body. Thinking about quitting?

Smoking

Quitting smoking is never easy but did you realise that if you seek support and assistance you are likely to be more than FIVE TIMES as successful as those who undertake the challenge themselves?

Quitting smoking can be one of the most difficult, yet rewarding things a person can do. Most smokers say they would like to quit, and may have tried at least once. Some are successful the first time, but many other people try a number of times before they finally give up for good.

• Have you considered having information available ready to give to staff encouraging them to break the habit?  
• Quitting tips & tactics
• Get real - use this calculator to work out the true cost of smoking
• Encourage employees to talk to their GP about quitting smoking
• Encourage employees to join a FREE quit smoking program or possibly subsidise the cost to employees of nicotine replacement therapy.  For tips on how to support your team, without nagging 
• My Quit Buddy App - Consider recommending this app to your employees - it's a useful tool to help them in their goal to quit
• Consider encouraging your staff to access the following website for a blow by blow description of what damage smoking does to each area of your body

Does Second Hand Smoke Affect the Health of Non-Smokers?

There is substantial evidence that second-hand smoke is a serious health threat. Studies suggest that even brief exposure to second-hand smoke can be harmful and that regular exposure increases the risk of respiratory problems, heart disease, heart attacks, and cancer.

As part of your overall workplace health and safety control measures you should consider the effects your smoking workers have on the health of your non-smoking workers.

Cost of Smoking

Aside from increased health benefits to employees should they quit smoking there are huge financial gains to be had. This handy guide can show just how much it costs a smoker each year and when thought about in this way, can assist make the decision to quit even easier - what else could all that money be used on? The Costs

Assistance is Available - Quitline & Workplace Quit Smoking Program

www.quit.org.au is a website which can help your staff make the necessary change today. It conveys messages of reasons to quit, preparing to quit, staying quit and managing set backs. Here they can also access real life stories from those who have tried and succeeded.

Encourage your staff to contact the Quitline today on 13 78 48 who can provide counselling, support via text messages and help establish a plan to quit using Quitcoach.

Workplace Quit Smoking Program is a free program available for Queensland workplaces supporting the workers of blue collar industries wanting to quit smoking and combines counselling with nicotine replacement therapies.

If you are serious about improving productivity, decreasing absenteeism, decreasing rates of illness and injury and reducing exposure of tobacco smoke to non-smoking employees then visit the website and register your workplace today!

Some of the above information is reproduced from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/,  www.quitnow.gov.au,  https://www.abs.gov.au/ and https://www.health.gov.au/ 

Page last updated 27/02/2023