HEALTH PROMOTION ON POLICIES PROHIBITING TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL USE IN WORKPLACE
HEALTH PROMOTION ON
POLICIES PROHIBITING TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL USE IN WORKPLACE
Table of Contents
Introduction
The
strategies that usually comprises of several programs regarding tobacco and
alcohol control includes campaigns of mass media, smoke-free policies and laws,
increasing the tobacco and alcohol prices and many more. The government should
include several measures such as the total ban of tobacco and alcohol,
restriction of smoking on the public places, bold health warnings on the
tobacco products and many more. Workplace policies generally promote the
culture of better health and at several workplace smoking are banned within
their campuses and buildings. The consumption of cigarettes and alcohol at the
workplace has several negative impacts on health for the organisation and also
for several individuals those who are working there. In addition, several
issues arise from the negative impact of health such as reduced performances
and many more instances regarding sick leaves. Other issues are labour
conflicts, problems on image of the organisation, damage of the products or the
equipment and several work accidents. Hence the health promotion should be done
on prohibiting the use of alcohol and tobacco in the workplaces.
Discussion
Research
has shown that smoking restrictions and bans are an important and effective
strategy by implementing some policies in the workplace. In order to reduce
exposure of smoke, a preventable policy implementation is needed for any
workplace. Smoking restrictions to prevent smoking in the workplace and indoors
can reduce negative environment in the workplace and enhance healthy workflow
among employees. On the other hand, tobacco ban can prevent tobacco use
properly anywhere dependent on the company ground rule (Payne et al. 2018). Yet smoking bans are way
more effective according to the research due to the reason for its lower the
exposure of environmental tobacco smoking within the office. Approximately 72%
of employees in any workplace in the world smoke in order to reduce the metal
pressure and tension that employees get in the office. Tobacco reduced policy
should be connected with cessation campaigns of tobacco and all other related
tobacco referral programs hence a tobacco free environment can be created in the
workplace that can protect every employee in the office.
In
order to create development in the workplace and promote good cultural health
within the organisation, implementations and interventions of positive policy
are significant. Before implementing anything a well-structured evaluation plan
should be created and developed in the meantime. Once the company evaluates and
analyses its policy thoroughly then the policies can be implemented in the
workplace according to the nature of the workplace, worker productivity along
with health outcomes and organisational change. Tobacco use is one of the
leading reasons for multiple cancers, stroke, heart disease, pulmonary disease
and others (Foster et al. 2018).
Tobacco use can affect the productivity of the employees along with increasing
the use of disability leave and also increases health care costs for the
company among workers. Studies have shown that tobacco use costs approximately
$96.8 billion each year apart from that it is also the reason for lost productivity
due to the premature death and sickness.
Research
has also shown that people that smoke use 4 more extra sick days per year
rather than the employees that do not smoke at all and for that in men and
women medical expenses can be higher such as $15,800 and $17,500 respectively
rather than employees that do not smoke. “The introduction to process evaluation in
tobacco use prevention and control” published in 2008 by CDC (Centres
for Disease Control and Prevention) refers to an engaging evaluation framework
that includes engaging stakeholders, credible evidence, analysed programs and
others. It can emphasise the process of implementation hence everyone can
understand whether the policy or program is working for that specific company
or not. Policies that are decided to be implemented as prevention should be practical,
ethical and political (Cletus et al. 2018).
For instance, in the corporate world there is a lot of pressure and workloads
for the employees and in order to reduce that majority of employee smoke and
choose other options to release all the metal pressure they are getting from
their workplace.
In
the UK, the policy implementation happens based on the company and its people's
diversity, belonging and inclusion in order to help with the practice of being
more open about cultural diversity. Along with that, by using behavioural
psychology to help the companies bake diversity into their work culture. Also in the UK, they focused on leadership
and wellbeing specifically in the post pandemic world in order to reduce all
the stress from the environment of the office in work culture there should be
values, positive attitudes and belief systems that can reduced stress and
pressure along with that it can prohibited the habit of smoking.
In
a workplace, leadership in the strategic organisational management and
directions can influence a positive environment in the workplace. Positive
workplace can improve teamwork, reduce workload, raise the morale of the
employee, increase efficiency and productivity of the employee and keep busy
hence every employee engaged in the work.
Also, job satisfaction and work performance can all be enhanced due to this
and it helps to create a positive workplace environment and reduces stress
among the employees hence they cannot think of smoke breaks during office hours
(Glick et al. 2018). To promote
healthy and good workplace culture in the organisation there needs to be established
clear ethics for the organisation along with that foster more communication and
collaboration, create a positive work environment, and reward the employees by
giving goals. Moreover, a healthy and positive work culture is
important for fostering pride and ownership among employees hence employees can
work hard and not take that much pressure to pursue some bad habits such as
tobacco use.
In
countries such as the UK, the state’s role is significant regarding health
care. It is also a political discussion for the matter of fact. Health care
policy theory contributes to healthcare promotion in several ways and it has a
relation between theory and health promotion on the work culture. On this day,
every health promotion is related to the government statements that can be
considered as policy and its importance according to the workplace and work
culture. A theory should be clear, logical along with that it should be
interrelated to the culture of health promotion and flexible according to the
nature of the organisation in order to promote health (Calathi and Heise,
2019). There is a huge difference between “policy theories” and “theories
of the policy process”, though both can be related to the promotion for
health yet there are differences. Good theory regarding the political process
should explain and refer to the perceptions and goals.
Along
with that it should be interconnected with events and actions along with that
it should include several stakeholders in the process to get the specific
outcomes out of that policy. Policy examines the effectiveness and consistency
of some policy theory that can be proved in improving health promotion
(Stormacq et al. 2019). Theories of
the policy process in a certain manner such as, it look at the parameters of
policy theory that can determine the structure of the theory. In countries like
the UK, the concept of policy can be extensive and it is not used in health
science writing that frequently. Although policy can be referred to as, the
expressed intent that any government needs to allocate several resources
according to the organisation's capacities to mitigate identified issues within
a certain amount of time frame according to the organisation's work culture.
Policy theory can directly contribute to the health promotion based on the
evaluation of the policy theory and selected organisation of implementing that
theory (Rhodes et al. 2019). Health
promotion is political due to like any of other resources, it goes under an
economic system of neo-liberal category along with that it is political due to
its social determination that can be dependent on several political actions. Moreover,
it depends on citizenship, health policies and determinants and it has a
major contribution to the health promotion in a compatible manner.
As
a venue for treatments that results in health promotion of alcohol consumption,
the workplace has advantages. Such initiatives have the ability to reach a wide
range of audiences and communities that would otherwise be excluded from
preventative efforts, benefiting both the employee and the business. The
workplace has advantages as a context for interventions that lead to primary
alcohol misuse prevention. Well-designed workplace initiatives for health
promotion of alcohol misuse are the exception rather than the rule. Recent
reports, on the other hand, reveal that some promising strategies are now being
widely deployed (Knox et al. 2019).
Health education, social health promotion, including 'brief intervention' tactics, including Web-based feedback
treatments, are all focused on modifying individual behaviour, as are
environmental treatments, which seek to lower possible risks by changing the
working atmosphere. Alcohol, particularly heavy drinking, has been shown to
increase the chances of unemployment and absenteeism in the United Kingdom.
Alcohol,
particularly episodic heavy drinking, is also being associated with a greater
risk of reaching the destination late at work and leaving early, as well as
disciplinary suspension, resulting in lost productive output; a higher
financial performance due to premature death; discipline issues or reduced
performance from using alcohol; inappropriate behaviour in disciplinary
proceedings; theft and other violence; poor co-worker relations and low company
morale; and poor co-worker relations and low company morale. In many offices in
the UK, through lifestyle campaigns awareness related to alcohol abuse can be
prevented (Drewnowski, 2020). Recent surveys from various offices in the UK
reveal that some promising strategies are being designed and implemented.
Public health, health and social promotion, and short-term treatment tactics,
including Web-based feedback treatments, are all focused on modifying
individual behaviour, as are environmental treatments, which seek to lower
health risks by altering the work environment. Employers can utilise lifestyle
campaigns to urge employees to minimise stress, improve diet and exercise, and
avoid harmful behaviours including drinking, smoking, and using other drugs.
In
the UK, a study among many offices has found that through different health
promotions usage of alcohol in workplaces slowly decreasing. After the
programme, all respondents described positive reductions in stress levels and
healthy eating habits. All of the adjustments in stress measures, as well as a
few of the improvements in healthy food, were sustained after eight months.
Importantly, regardless of whether or not the substance misuse prevention
programme was present, participants in both groups exhibited similar,
significant improvement (Syed et al. 2020).
Well-developed policies for primarily preventing alcohol abuse in the workplace
are more than just implementing some rules. Through campaigns workers and
employees can encourage each other to reduce stress and improve in the area of
exercise and nutrition better. It can reduce the risk of smoking, drinking or
other drug use in the workplace. Study shows that policies that prevent this
kind of abuse should always be related with the stress- management program and
nutrition management program within the organisation (Edwards and Kotera,
2020). Also, by social health promotion, brief intervention with personal
assessment, alcohol education and prescribed treatment for each and every
person that are going through it by a professional doctor can be proved
helpful.
Alcohol
and smoking are having the negative impact on safety and health within the business
of any organisation and these impacts also affect profitability and
productivity of that organisation. On the other hand, smoking should be fully
banned in several enclosed public places and also within the workplaces of the
UK (Malick, 2018). Apart from that, the government officials should also ensure
that the employees and also the customers within the workplace will be
maintaining the rules and regulations. In addition, alcohol and tobacco can
also pose the serious risk for the safety of the workplace. Apart from that, it
is particularly for the workers or the employees who are totally involved
within the task such as driving any vehicle or operating any of the machines.
Hence, the actual part of the safety and health duties are required and several
suitable policies for the benefits regarding the workplace policies of alcohol
and smoking.
The
smoking policy and the alcohol policy within the workplace can be much more
helpful for the employees and the managers for dealing with any of the issues that
might arise regarding the health conditions (Mikkelsen et al. 2019). However, it will also be helpful in meeting the legal
responsibilities for ensuring safety, welfare and health of several employees.
The smoking policy is the written policy that shows the meeting of legal
requirements and the actual benefit of having the smoking policy made clear to
both customers and employees within the workplace. On the other hand, the
alcohol policy within the UK should be totally cleared out regarding the procedures
and rules and it deals with several issues that are related to alcohol and
drugs (Pei et al. 2019). Apart from
that, this policy also includes the staff training and that is also in the
correct procedures and processes in handling the incidents regarding the health
conditions of the colleagues.
The
alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking are totally correlated with each
other, and the main use of the alcohol and tobacco exacerbates overall health
risks that are associated with single use of the product. On the other hand,
the policies other policy is also having a negative impact within the drinking
behaviour. Therefore, the UK government should implement several policies to
make smoke-free bars and give potential attention to the smokers that are also
consuming alcohol (Nau et al. 2021).
Apart from that, the overall changes within the process of alcohol consumption
are statistically indistinguishable and the implementation regarding the
policies. In addition, the policies of smoke free were totally associated with
the less reduction of the alcohol amount that is typically consumed by several
people. These people are classified as the hazardous drinkers and also with
small reductions within the frequency regarding the alcohol consumption that is
among the heavy smokers. Therefore, the policy options in prohibiting the
smoking and alcohol consumption includes banning of smoking habits within the
workplace in the UK. It results in protecting non-smoking people from harmful
effects (Esser and Jernigan, 2018). Alcohol consumption should also be banned
in the workplace of the UK as it destroys the work culture; it also reduces the
profitability and productivity of the work.
The
role and the place regarding the health promotion drive the effective and
sustainable public health delivery. It also conceptualised the health promotion
from the multi-professional and multifaceted perspectives that hinged within
the empowerment regarding the individuals and communities. The community plays
an active role in adopting the consistent behaviour regarding the main goals
for good health. The health promotion is
much more critical for achieving the health goals regarding good health and it
equally reflects the promotion of the health theories (Bagnall et al. 2019). Furthermore, for promoting
the health sector, the UK government is trying to develop the e-learning
process for increasing the skills and confidence of the healthcare
professionals for prohibiting the tobacco and alcohol consumption. It also includes the challenges of the health
promotion and also the strategies regarding the health promotion within the UK.
Apart from that, the health promotion is having the umbrella term that covers
the overlapping fields regarding the health prevention, health education and
also protecting the public by social engineering. In addition, it also includes
the fiscal measures, institutional policies and legislations that entail the
combination regarding the practises and the theory (Wardle et al. 2019). Furthermore, it forms the broader range of several
experts such as behavioural scientists, medical practitioners and
educationists.
The
health promotion for prohibiting the consumption of tobacco and alcohol focuses
on the health services and it recognises several facts with contemporary health
problems that are avoidable or preventable by lifestyle changes (Doherty et al. 2019). On the other hand, the
modern technology is having the mixed blessings that bring both the risks and
the benefits regarding health. Apart from that, the medical technology is also
having the phase regarding the diminishing demands that is by losing connection
and efficacy to the ordinary people. The UK government is giving information to
people for improving their health, also with capabilities and skills which are
involved in changing the environmental and social conditions affecting the
health. The factors regarding the non-medical phases are having the better
nutrition and these are improving the living conditions of several people and
measures of public health. It contributes to longevity and health sector more
than the medical measures that the doctor can cure and also cause disease and
it also increases the public desire for attaining better quality of life.
Challenges
regarding the health promotions illustrate that it is much more important in
recognising health promotion and better intention that can actually generate
the negative and counterproductive effects for management. Therefore, the
negative outcome also occurs at that time when it is professionally
disempowering, and paternalistic decisions of health policy related to the
health outcomes. In addition, these are much more relevant for sustaining the
community development and they are not totally based on the resources that are
related with the social reality regarding the community (Selvey et al. 2018). On the other hand, the
health professionals and experts unintentionally betray the priorities of
health communities that are by assuming overall knowledge regarding the health
situations and also the requirements of several people. The critical shortfall
regarding the activities of health promotion and also the processes for
adopting the pathogenic paradigm is preferable instead of emphasising the
protective mechanisms.
The
health promotion includes several challenges, and they are as follows,
●
Rudimentary elaboration and
poor definition regarding the outcomes of the expected health
●
Ambiguous elaboration
regarding the conditions and factors that is to be targeted for the health
promotions
●
Ambiguity of the guidelines
and policies of the health promotion
●
Inadequate capacity for
implementation, evaluation and development of the programs related to health
promotion
●
Collaboration of the
underdeveloped sectors
●
Lower political commitment
and will for the programmes of health promotion with the resource mismanagement
and institutional corruption
The
above challenges are having several implications for the health promotion
regarding the prohibition of consumption of alcohol and tobacco in the UK. The
health promotion is all about the health interests and requirements of several
people.
The
Health Belief Model (HBM) is the theoretical model that is found useful for
guiding both strategies and health promotion regarding the prohibition of
consumption of alcohol and tobacco in the UK. The HBM is utilised in health
promotion and there are mostly five segments related to action that can help to
identify the decision-making points for facilitating the utilised knowledge in
the health intervention (Lau et al.
2020). The segments are such as collecting information; clearing the terms for
the consequences regarding the health issue with its associated risks for
facilitating the clear apprehension of the severity. It also includes the provision
of the required assistance and demonstration. The HBM is also much more useful
for several people in understanding their behaviour response regarding the
consumption of alcohol and tobacco in the UK.
Smoking
is a totally leading cause for the preventable illness and also for premature
death while it killed around 64,000 people in the UK in the year
2019. Furthermore, the data of the US also indicates that each and every death
caused by the habit of smoking, at least 30 of the smokers are living that is
with smoking related illness (Hallingberg et
al. 2019). In the UK, from the year 2019 to 2020, around 506,100
people were admitted to hospital due to the smoking related illness that is 1400
each day. Stopping the smoking habits, any time is considered as the health benefits
that include the people with the pre-existing disease related to smoking
habits. The service of secondary care includes less complications, decreased
infections, lower doses of drugs, higher survival rates and many more. In
addition, smoking is not the lifestyle choice of several people, but it needs treatment
to quit smoking habits. Hence, the main ambition of the government of the UK is
to achieve a society that is smoke free within the year 2030.
Conclusion
Tobacco
use and alcohol abuse in the workplace is one of the biggest problems in the
UK. There are some realistic policies that can help with this issue that every
organisation has to deal with in the UK. By providing training about
tobacco and alcohol abuses in the workplace can prove helpful to the team and
employees of the organisations. Also, one of the most practical recommendations
will be implementing policies that firstly deal with stress management of the
employees in the workplace and give suggestions or a healthy alternative
perspective to their daily drug abuse.
Due to the stress and tension of the office, the majority of employees
smoke and use alcohol to be delusional and forget about the stress hence
implementing some policies that can deal with that firstly along with
motivating and giving rewards to the employees can be proof helpful. In this
study, there are critical discussions and analyses about the effectiveness of
healthy work culture along with policy development, contribution of policy
theory and intervention of alcohol use in the workplace in a compatible manner.
Reference list
Bagnall,
A.M., Radley, D., Jones, R., Gately, P., Nobles, J., Van Dijk, M., Blackshaw,
J., Montel, S. and Sahota, P., 2019. Whole systems approaches to obesity and
other complex public health challenges: a systematic review. BMC Public
Health, 19(1), pp.1-14.
Cislaghi,
B. and Heise, L., 2019. Using social norms theory for health promotion in
low-income countries. Health promotion
international, 34(3), pp.616-623.
Cletus,
H.E., Mahmood, N.A., Umar, A. and Ibrahim, A.D., 2018. Prospects and challenges
of workplace diversity in modern day organizations: A critical review. HOLISTICA–Journal of Business and Public Administration,
9(2), pp.35-52.
Doherty,
T.M., Del Giudice, G. and Maggi, S., 2019. Adult vaccination as part of a
healthy lifestyle: moving from medical intervention to health promotion. Annals
of medicine, 51(2), pp.128-140.
Drewnowski,
A., 2020. Impact of nutrition interventions and dietary nutrient density on
productivity in the workplace. Nutrition
reviews, 78(3), pp.215-224.
Edwards,
A.M. and Kotera, Y., 2020. Mental health in the UK police force: A qualitative
investigation into the stigma with mental illness. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, pp.1-19.
Esser,
M.B. and Jernigan, D.H., 2018. Policy approaches for regulating alcohol
marketing in a global context: a public health perspective. Annual
review of public health, 39, pp.385-401.
Foster,
K., Cuzzillo, C. and Furness, T., 2018. Strengthening mental health nurses'
resilience through a workplace resilience programme: A qualitative inquiry. Journal of psychiatric and mental health
nursing, 25(5-6), pp.338-348.
Glick,
P., Berdahl, J.L. and Alonso, N.M., 2018. Development and validation of the
masculinity contest culture scale. Journal
of Social Issues, 74(3),
pp.449-476.
Hallingberg,
B., Angel, L., Brown, R., Copeland, L., Gray, L., Van Godwin, J. and Moore, G.,
2021. Changes in childhood experimentation with, and exposure to, tobacco and
e-cigarettes and perceived smoking norms: a repeated cross-sectional study of
10–11 year olds’ in Wales. BMC public health, 21(1),
pp.1-17.
Knox,
J., Hasin, D.S., Larson, F.R. and Kranzler, H.R., 2019. Prevention, screening,
and treatment for heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(12),
pp.1054-1067.
Lau,
J., Lim, T.Z., Wong, G.J. and Tan, K.K., 2020. The health belief model and
colorectal cancer screening in the general population: A systematic
review. Preventive medicine reports, 20.
Malick,
R., 2018. Prevention of substance use disorders in the community and
workplace. Indian journal of psychiatry, 60(Suppl 4),
p.S559.
Mikkelsen,
B., Williams, J., Rakovac, I., Wickramasinghe, K., Hennis, A., Shin, H.R.,
Farmer, M., Weber, M., Berdzuli, N., Borges, C. and Huber, M., 2019. Life
course approach to prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. Bmj, 364.
Nau,
T., Smith, B.J., Bauman, A. and Bellew, B., 2021. Legal strategies to improve
physical activity in populations. Bulletin of the World Health
Organization, 99(8), p.593.
Payne,
J., Cluff, L., Lang, J., Matson-Koffman, D. and Morgan-Lopez, A., 2018.
Elements of a workplace culture of health, perceived organizational support for
health, and lifestyle risk. American
Journal of Health Promotion, 32(7),
pp.1555-1567.
Pei,
J., Carlson, E., Tremblay, M. and Poth, C., 2019. Exploring the contributions
and suitability of relational and community‐centered fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
(FASD) prevention work in First Nation communities. Birth defects
research, 111(12), pp.835-847.
Rhodes,
R.E., McEwan, D. and Rebar, A.L., 2019. Theories of physical activity behaviour
change: A history and synthesis of approaches. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 42, pp.100-109.
Selvey,
L.A., Lobo, R.C., McCausland, K.L., Donovan, B., Bates, J. and Hallett, J.,
2018. Challenges facing Asian sex workers in Western Australia: implications
for health promotion and support services. Frontiers in Public Health, 6,
p.171.
Stormacq,
C., Van den Broucke, S. and Wosinski, J., 2019. Does health literacy mediate
the relationship between socioeconomic status and health disparities?
Integrative review. Health promotion
international, 34(5), pp.e1-e17.
Syed,
S., Ashwick, R., Schlosser, M., Jones, R., Rowe, S. and Billings, J., 2020.
Global prevalence and risk factors for mental health problems in police
personnel: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Occupational and environmental medicine, 77(11), pp.737-747.
Wardle,
H., Reith, G., Langham, E. and Rogers, R.D., 2019. Gambling and public health:
we need policy action to prevent harm. Bmj, 365.
Comments
Post a Comment