Smoking: the doctor, a key player in a company "non-smoking"
,
The occupational physician is a key
partner in the approach taken by companies who wish to be applied ban smoking
on their premises, and must as such be involved at both the individual and
collective level.
An ideology for smoking employees!
Director of TEST-Basse-Normandie
program, Dr. Beatrice Master, tobaccologist in Caen, speaking at the press
conference organized by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare to present its website *
Business Assistance seeking information and receive advice to enforce the Evin
law on banning smoking in workplaces.
The specialist recalled on this
occasion the main mission of the occupational physician, which is to avoid the
deterioration of the health of workers due to their working conditions, in
which fits perfectly with the implementation of "No Tobacco" in
business.
Tobacco smoke, with some 4,000
chemicals, has been classified as "major carcinogenic workplaces" by
the International Labour Office (ILO). The occupational physician must
therefore educate staff about the dangers of smoking (active and passive) and
the benefits of stopping, continued Dr. Master.
This awareness is as much of a
personal nature, during medical visits that collective order, the organization
of information days staff and visits to workplaces.
If "a business without tobacco
is not a business without smoking, but a company where no one is exposed to
tobacco smoke and where we take care of the health of employees," the
incentive to stop Tobacco is one of the tasks of the occupational physician.
"The occupational physician is
not only to protect employees from passive smoking, but also to help smokers to
engage employees more rapidly approach a stop," said the smoking
addiction.
For his part, "the
entrepreneur's interest to help employees stop smoking," if only for the
direct and indirect costs that they have on the company. According to an
American study, the smoking ban within the company can reduce absenteeism up to
23%, reduce the duration of sick leaves and make it more attractive.
So with the help of the occupational
physician must initiate a business process to become "smoke-free".
This process includes several steps, including personal information and helps
stop the process. The physician can advise smokers to use NRT, the cost can be
borne wholly or in part by the company.
5-6000 deaths per year
Passive smoking causes 5-6000 deaths
per year, has recalled its Emmanuelle Béguinot, Director of the NCTC (National
Committee for the Fight against smoking) side. Exposure to cigarette smoke
leads to risks similar to those faced by smokers cardiovascular disease,
increases the risk of respiratory diseases and aggravates breast cancer in
premenopausal women.
"It is therefore not just a
problem of nuisance, but a health issue."
In the European context, where many
countries have committed against smoking in public places, and with a French
population clearly supports this approach, "the ban on smoking in public
places appears to be inevitable," said Director the NCTC, which while
cautioning against "fake good" ideas are smokers exceptions and
effective differential envisaged in bars and nightclubs.
"We want simple, providing protection for
people everywhere," she concluded.
Author: Mohammad
Mohammad is the founder of STC Network which offers Web Services and Online Business Solutions to clients around the globe. Read More →