A Review of the Health Impact of Smoking Control at the Workplace

A sample of staff working in the Australian Public Service (n = 2113) were surveyed two to four weeks before a mandated total ban on workplace smoking was introduced, and again five to six months later. Among the 391 smokers on whom complete data were available, the workplace smoking bans were associated with reduced rates of smoking, particularly among heavier smokers where the reduction in consumption was over 25 percent.

We evaluated the effectiveness of a worksite smoking cessation/reduction program both with and without formal competition for monetary prizes in five worksites (n = 107). A greater percentage of eligible smokers participated in the competition (88 per cent) than the non-competition (53 per cent) condition. Treatment outcome among participants was generally equivalent across conditions, but at a six-month follow-up, nonabstinent subjects in the competition condition had lower levels of carbon monoxide than subjects in the non-competition condition. On a worksite-wide basis, a higher percentage of employees quit smoking in the competition condition (16 per cent) compared to the non-competition (7 per cent).