Smokers impact productivity, study says

Companies benefit from smoke-cessation
programs, study authors say.

A recent report from the Conference Board of Canada claims that employees who smoke have a strongly detrimental effect on their companies’ bottom line.

Smoking Cessation and the Workplace: Benefits of Workplace Programs, which was released on Oct. 29, is the third and last in a series of briefings by the Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care (CASHC) — a program run by the Conference Board — on how smoking affects the work environment.

Among the report’s revelations: a combination of decreased productivity and increased absenteeism resulted in an average yearly loss of $4,256 per daily smoker in Canada in 2012, a figure that is way up from the calculated $3,396 in 2005.

“The research is mostly health-focused, but we also looked at productivity losses, because we were trying to argue that it is in the best interests of the employers to actually do something about this,” explained study co-author Fares Bounajm, an economist with CASHC.

“They do actually have a lot to benefit from this. But the other major goal is obviously to reduce smoking.”

The study analyzed four different categories of costs attributed to smoking employees, putting dollar values on the losses.

Daily smokers increase absenteeism rates

Productivity loss, attributed mostly to unsanctioned smoke breaks, accounted for an average cost of $3,842 per daily smoker in 2012, with an additional $414 lost per daily smoker due to absenteeism. Daily smokers also tend to take about two-and-a-half more sick days a year than nonsmokers do, the study added.

“In a typical Canadian firm with 100 employees, 14 daily smokers and 15 former daily smokers who recently quit, this represents an annual productivity loss of nearly $60,000,” the study said. “The figure can be significantly higher in industries where smoking rates are typically well above average.”

In terms of costs that have a more indirect effect on employers, the Canadian economy lost about $7.1 billion in productivity in 2010 due to people who could not work because of chronic conditions resulting from smoking, including lung and bladder cancer, leukemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease.

An additional $4.3 billion in long-term economic losses was due to the calculated 26,681 premature deaths attributable to the habit that same year.

Bounajm said that while employers shouldn’t necessarily be seen as responsible for helping their employees quit smoking, they do have a strong financial motivation to establish workplace smoking-cessation programs.

“Smokers do cost their employers money, and we know that a lot of the employees would like to quit,” he said.

“This could be a win-win situation for both the employers and many of the smokers that do want to quit, because the employers can implement a workplace cessation program, and by doing so, they can get a good return on their investment, because they can lower their productivity losses due to smoking. At the same time, the employees benefit because they become healthier and they achieve their goal of quitting smoking.”

Bounajm added that employers could add cessation aids to their company benefits plans. “We know that there are two types of aids that do work. We know that counseling works. We know that certain cessation aids work. And we know that combining them together actually works the best.”

The report estimated that an effective workplace cessation program could cause the prevalence rate of daily smokers in an average Canadian company to decrease by 35 per cent by 2025.

Source: OHS Canada

Keep indoor air healthy to boost productivity

Even with a ban on indoor smoking, smokers bring carconogenic particles and odors back indoors. Workers are also exposed to other indoor air contaminants in most workplaces, including allergens and dust, chemicals, fumes and odors as well as viruses, bacteria and mold.

A well-placed industrial-strength air cleaner can help provide cleaner and more breathable air, while removing potentially toxic indoor air contaminants.

Electrocorp's air cleaners remove airborne chemicals, gases and odors with a deep-bed activated carbon air filter, particles, allergens and dust with the best HEPA filters and biological contaminants with optional UV germicidal filtration.

Contact Electrocorp for more information and a free IAQ consultation.

Paid sick leave reduces spread of flu

photo: freedigitalphotos.net

Allowing all employees access to paid sick days would reduce influenza infections in the workplace, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health modeling experts.

The researchers simulated an influenza epidemic in Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County and found that universal access to paid sick days would reduce flu cases in the workplace by nearly 6 percent and estimated it to be more effective for small, compared to large, workplaces. The results are reported in the online version of the American Journal of Public Health and will be in the August print issue.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people with flu stay home for 24 hours after their fever breaks," said lead author Supriya Kumar, Ph.D., M.P.H., a post-doctoral associate in Pitt Public Health's Department of Epidemiology. "However, not everyone is able to follow these guidelines. Many more workers in small workplaces than in large ones lack access to paid sick days and hence find it difficult to stay home when ill. Our simulations show that allowing all workers access to paid sick days would reduce illness because fewer workers get the flu over the course of the season if employees are able to stay home and keep the virus from being transmitted to their co-workers."

In addition to investigating the impact of universal access to paid sick days, Dr. Kumar and her colleagues looked at an alternative intervention they termed "flu days," in which all employees had access to one or two paid days to stay home from work and recover from the flu. The idea behind flu days is that they encourage employees to stay home longer than they currently do, thus reducing the potential for them to transmit illness to colleagues at work.

Giving employees one flu day resulted in more than a 25 percent decrease in influenza infections due to workplace transmission. A two flu-day policy resulted in a nearly 40 percent decrease. The researchers found that flu days were more effective for larger workplaces, defined as having 500 or more employees.

"These findings make a strong case for paid sick days," said Dr. Kumar. "Future research should examine the economic impacts of paid sick-day policies."
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Cleaner indoor air is associated with a decrease in absenteeism and an increase in workplace productivity and job satisfaction. Contact an Electrocorp Air Quality Expert to learn more about our industrial air cleaners.

Toxic fumes affect unlikely companies

Chemical fumes exposure can lead
to headaches, nausea and shortness of breath

Indoor air quality has become increasingly important in the workplace as companies have come to understand how poor indoor ventilation can affect work performance.

Over the past two weeks, three American companies have been hit with various chemical scares leading to several employees falling sick. 

A contractor for the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico cleaned the handrails in the caves one night.  When employees arrived at work the next day, the product’s fumes were still so powerful that employees fell ill, leading to the closure of the caves for two days. 

In Florida, a mortgage company had to evacuate its 12 employees from the offices after people started complaining of headaches and scratchy throats. The culprit? Cleaning products. A Tampa HAZMAT team determined that the chemicals for the cleaning products were mixed at too concentrated a level.

In Hawaii, a United States Postal Service employee was sent to the hospital after experiencing shortness of breath and nausea. He had handled a parcel which contained a chemical that had leaked through the box. Tests indicated the chemical is often used to make cleaning products. 

Source: The Associated Press, Fox 13, HawaiiNewsNow

Protecting your employees

Even companies that do not produce chemicals use them for regular cleaning. When dealing with closed spaces, it is particularly important to have good ventilation.  Putting your employees at risk leads to more work-related absenteeism and possible serious injury.

The first thing companies should invest in is a different selection of cleaning agents. Cleaning products are made with various chemicals, such as xylene, toluene and phenol and side effects can range from headaches to death. Using more green products will help avoid workplace chemical exposure.

Having an air cleaner in areas where chemicals are mixed or used is strongly suggested. For situations such as in the Carlsbad Caverns, an air cleaner should be left on overnight after chemical application. Office kitchens, where chemicals might be mixed, should also have an air cleaner to help mitigate chemical fumes as well as kitchen odors.  

The 5000 series is ideal for office spaces

Electrocorp’s 5000 series contains an 18 pound carbon filter, a medical-grade HEPA filter and its wheels make it easily maneuverable. Check out our air cleaners for offices for more details.

Would you like to speak to one of our IAQ experts? Call us toll free at 1-866-667-0297 or write us on our website.

Have you had a chemical scare at work? Share your stories with us!

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Working when sick – why do we do it?

Montreal researchers study the phenomenon of “presenteeism”

Going to work when sick is not always
the most productive option, study shows.

It’s a familiar sight once the temperatures drop and the official “cold” season starts: Workplaces filled with employees sporting runny noses, a hacking cough or horrible congestion.

The question is, why do people go to work when they are sick? Are they insecure about their jobs or are they workplace troopers?

A new study from Concordia University in Montreal, published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, has found that presenteeism, i.e. attending work when ill, isn't always a productive option.

While some workers seem to be able to overcome their symptoms and be fully functional, others tend to be present solely in person, but not in true form.

Caregivers, educators and team workers often present when sick

Caregivers and people working in early education, for example, report higher rates of presenteeism compared to people from other fields.

"Often, a person might feel socially obligated to attend work despite illness," says study author Gary Johns, a management professor at Concordia's John Molson School of Business, "while other employees feel organizational pressure to attend work despite medical discomfort."

The study followed 444 people for 6 months, and the participants reported an average of three presenteeism days as opposed to 1.8 absenteeism days due to illness.

Presenteeism was elevated among workers engaged in interdependent projects or teamwork. Those who were insecure about their jobs also engaged in more presenteeism.

What is the true cost of working
when ill?

The study author says that many organizations and businesses could spend more attention to the cost of presenteeism.

"Estimating the cost of absenteeism is more tangible than counting the impact of presenteeism," says Johns. "Yet a worker's absence — or presence — during illness can have both costs and benefits for constituents."

The importance of indoor air quality at the workplace

Poor IAQ can have a detrimental effect on workers’ well-being, productivity and health.

Electrocorp air cleaners offer an affordable and low maintenance solution to stagnant, inadequately ventilated office air.

The air cleaners can be easily integrated into an existing ventilation system, or used as stand-alone room air purifiers.

The air cleaners remove the widest range of indoor air pollutants such as bacteria, viruses, odors, chemicals, molds, particles and dust by drawing the air through the deepest carbon bed filters, a medical-grade HEPA or Micro-HEPA and other filters.

For enhanced protection from contaminants such as bacteria and viruses, the air cleaners can be equipped with UV germicidal filtration.

For more information and options, contact Electrocorp.