Initiative tackles worksite smoking;

double standard for construction sites?

One participant in this month’s FACET focus group was Darko Berisavac, a former A-DES collaborator when he worked with the Tobacco Free Sports program. Now he’s with the Tobacco Free Workplace Initiative trying to halt smoking on the job, be it offices, outdoors, or wherever workers punch a clock.

One particular challenge is construction sites, where tradesmen traditionally have puffed to their heart’s content. By all indications, they continue to do so despite uniform No Smoking on the Job regulations that are largely ignored.

The problem is not only in BC. “Cigarette Blamed for Fatal Blaze Near Ground Zero” blared the headline in August of 2007, after two firemen died battling a high-rise fire in New York City. The New York Times reported, “Cigarette smoking, although forbidden, was ‘rampant’ throughout the Deutsche Bank building during a delicate demolition project that involved the participation of three private contractors and the oversight of several city and state agencies.”

In a follow-up, investigative story, the Times found construction workers who talked – off the record – about lighting up and how they cram extra smokes during breaks to feed their habits. The piece went on to say:

“It is not only the law, but also a standard industry practice for general contractors to forbid smoking at construction sites. Rules, of course, get broken, and as more than one foreman said, ‘If the bosses in the office are really so keen on stopping smoking, they can climb out on beams 50 stories up and tell the ironworkers up there to extinguish their smokes themselves’ …

“Neither the Fire Department nor the city’s Buildings Department enforces the no-smoking rules, officials said, which means it is generally left up to contractors to enforce them. At the four construction sites visited for this article, officials said they had no plans to put in place additional rules, saying that the current rules would suffice.”

As for the larger question of why construction workers seem to smoke so much, the Times investigation said laborers provided “a host of reasons. There was, of course, stress – ‘You’re living on the edge all day,’ one ironworker said – but there was also the notion that construction workers are not easily won over by relentless antismoking campaigns. ‘You’re not dealing with brain surgeons here,’ another ironworker said, though other workers involved in putting up buildings, like engineers, will rarely smoke.”

The topic of workplace smoking came up during the FACET focus session because new fathers tend to rationalize their habit by saying, “I don’t smoke at home,” thereby minimizing the dangers of secondhand smoke to a baby ­– or a poor role model to a growing child.

After the session, one participant said she sees firsthand that construction workers appear exempt from the rules that affect others. “I work on campus where they’re building, and everyone else is smoking in the designated areas,” she said, “but not the construction crew. They’re smoking wherever they please whenever they want.”

Berisavac said the workplace initiative, being conducted in conjunction with the Canadian Cancer Society, is a two-year project that began 16 months ago. Its ultimate success in getting workers to quit will be gauged only after all program results are gathered, correlated and assessed, he said.

The drive to curb smoking on the job is largely twofold. First, it means working with companies and employers to get them behind the effort; second, it means working with employees themselves to help give them the tools, motivation and support to give up smoking.

The effort is part of the larger BC Healthy Living Alliance Initiative. For more information go to: www.bchealthyliving.ca/node/109