The fact that smoking, especially cigarette smoking, can damage people's health is well-documented. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. It is a major cause of emphysema, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease.
Cigarette smoking also increases the total exposure to harmful chemicals that workers receive. More important, it can act in combination with workplace chemicals to raise the level of damaging health effects. In addition, harmful health effects can occur from smoking a cigarette that is contaminated with chemicals or other substances used or produced on the job. Nonsmokers may also develop health problems from breathing in smoke from co-workers' cigarettes.
Synergistic Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking and Chemical Exposures. When workers smoke and are exposed to other toxic substances on the job, they can experience far greater health damage than what might be expected from simply adding together the damage each contributing factor is capable of causing. The most dramatic example of greater health damage resulting from "combined" exposures involves smoking and asbestos. Asbestos workers who smoke more than a pack a day have up to 90 times the chance of dying of lung cancer compared with workers who neither smoke nor work with asbestos. Another substance that appears to act in this "combined" way with tobacco smoke is chloromethyl ether.
Cigarette Smoking Can Add to Health Damage Caused By Exposure to Toxic Agents. Scientists have concluded that chronic respiratory diseases develop when the lungs repeatedly experience the damaging effects of cigarette smoking, recurrent respiratory infections beginning in childhood, or long-term occupational and environmental exposures. Smoking adds to the harmful health effects which result from exposure to toxic chemicals in the workplace.
Chemicals in Cigarette Smoke are Also Found in the Workplace. Tobacco smoke contains hundreds of toxic substances, many of which are also found in the workplace. The following is a partial list of chemicals found in cigarette smoke that are commonly present in the workplace and can add to a worker's total exposure.
Acetone Lead Aldehydes (acetaldehyde. Methyl Chloride acrolein, formaldehyde) Arsenic Methyl Nitrate Benzene Nicotine Cadmium Nitrogen Dioxide Carbon Monoxide Nitrosamines Hydrogen Cyanide Phenol Hydrogen Sulfide Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (tars) Ketones
Workplace Chemicals Can Enter the Body When Contaminated Cigarettes are Smoked. Cigarettes may actually help to carry toxic substances into the body. As a person holds and smokes a cigarette, toxic substances may enter the body through breathing, taking them in through the mouth or skin absorption. Examples of workplace chemicals that can enter the body of workers smoking contaminated cigarettes include dusts, lead, mercury and formaldehyde. Additionally, pesticides used in treating tobacco during processing can enter the body by breathing them in and become 100% absorbed. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends that cigarettes not be kept on a person in the work area and that if a person must smoke their hands should be washed before smoking.
Burning Tobacco Can Transform Workplace Chemicals into More Toxic Substances. The heat generated by burning tobacco can transform workplace chemicals into more harmful substances. An example of this if Polymer Fume Fever. This is a disease caused by breathing fumes generated from heated teflon. The fumes can lead to permanent lung damage. Polymer fumes can enter the lungs as a worker smokes cigarettes contaminated by the work process or contact with the worker's hands. Another example of this type of "heat-generated" transformation is the conversion of chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as trichloroethylene, into highly toxic phosgene gas.
Workers Who Smoke Have More Accidents. Smokers have twice the accident rate of nonsmokers on the job. Suggestions about the reasons for this include loss of attention, the fact that a person's hands may be busy with the activity of smoking, irritation of the eyes and coughing. Higher carbon monoxide levels caused by smoking may lower alertness and reflex speed. Smoking can also contribute to fire and explosions in occupational settings where flammable and explosive chemicals are used.
What Can You Do To Prevent And/Or Decrease The Harmful Effects Caused By Smoking?
- Ask your employer to prohibit smoking in the workplace.
- Ask your employer to promote stop-smoking programs and incentive programs that encourage people to become nonsmokers. <>
- Do not use or carry tobacco products in a work area where you may be exposed to chemical substances.
- If you don't know if toxic substances are present, keep tobacco products out of the work area.
- If you must smoke, smoke only in designated areas that are well-ventilated and located away from work processes.
- Always wash your hands before smoking.
- Contact your local American Lung Association and ask about smoking cessation programs.
