No Smoking at Work Please!
The 31st May is “World No Tobacco Day”, a day that hopes to embrace and make people aware of the dangers associated with smoking. The effects it can have on your body, but also on others, such as passive smoking (second-hand smoke) or even air pollution and the effects and problems with people’s long term health in respects to smoking. This will look at both personal and business, how this can affect you.
Smoking has a massive impact on people’s health and the environment that we live in. Lung Cancer is the biggest killer, killing around 30,000 people a year. Now this figure, doesn’t take into consideration of other exposures, including Asbestos! Asbestos is likely to be in buildings that were constructed before the year 2000. Your job may involve drilling, smashing, repairing, installing equipment into such buildings and be exposing yourself to asbestos.
The risks of dying from lung cancer due to smoking and/or asbestos exposure were considered by Hammond et al [ ‘Asbestos Exposure, Cigarette Smoking and Death Rates’ by E C Hammond, I J Selloff, H Sideman; Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979, pages 473 to 490.] Table 8, summarised as the following:
You could potentially be over 53 times more at risk of contracting lung cancer, if you smoke and if you are exposed to Asbestos at the same time.
Other illnesses such as Chronic Respiratory Disease, commonly known as COPD is another problem caused by smoking. If you have been smoking at a young age then you may have put yourself at risk from stalling or reducing in physical development in lungs, or it could possibly accelerate lung diseases such Asthma. To compare the damage with smoking, COPD’s can also be associated with heavy exposure to Chemicals or Hazardous Substances .
“Substances hazardous to health” means any substance (including any preparation) which can be:-
Very toxic.
Toxic.
Harmful.
Corrosive.
Irritant.
Oxidising.
So, imagine the damage that smoking tobacco can cause to your own body!
The Aim of this years “World No Tobacco Day” is to lower the exposure of both second hand smoke (or passive smoke) and reduce the number of people smoking tobacco. Providing details of the serious effects surrounding smoking tobacco and providing advice on trying to stop smoking tobacco.
