Smoking

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Creating a smoke-free workplace protects the health of all workers. Smoking and second-hand smoke is a leading risk factor for many chronic diseases.

Apart from the legal duty to protect the health of your employees and particularly protecting them from second-hand smoke, there are many benefits to addressing smoking, including:

• Reduced risk of litigation
• Improved productivity of a healthy staff and reduced operational costs
• Annual healthcare costs for employees who receive health premiums are lower
• Potential for reduced insurance costs
• Reduced risk of fire and accidents, which leads to lower fire and accident insurance premiums
• Reduction in cleaning costs and maintenance costs
• Improved reputation in the public and as a recruitment asset when viewed as a responsible employer and one that cares for the environment
• Contribution to society in tackling an important issue. Tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death in the world today.

Here are some quick resources to get you started:

While these resources are helpful to get you started, it’s very important to carefully plan your workplace wellbeing activities. Research shows that all activities that target the individual employee, should be coupled with activities at the level of the organisation. In other words, you should always take measures to create a supportive organisational environment alongside lifestyle-focussed supports for your employees. We’ve included detailed advice on how best to plan your activities at both these levels.