Tag Archives: Health

General Safety Issues, Uncategorized

HOW SECONDHAND SMOKE AFFECTS US

It is an individual’s choice whether to smoke or not.  However, exposing non-smokers and children to environmental tobacco smoke, (ETS), is a different concern.  ETS are particles emitted from a burning cigarette, pipe, or cigar and smoke exhaled by a smoker.  Did you know that secondhand smoke has been classified as a known human carcinogen by the United States Environmental Protection Agency?  This rating is used only for substances proven to cause cancer in humans.

Non-smokers: The following statistics (in the U.S. alone), from the American Cancer Society, are caused by second-hand smoke:

  • About 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults occur annually.
  • Each year an estimated 46,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers.
  • Secondhand smoke causes breathing problems in non-smokers, such as coughing, chest discomfort and reduced lung function.
  • In children under 18 months, there are approximately 150,000 to 300,000 lung infections (pneumonia and bronchitis), resulting in 7,500 to 15,000 hospital stays annually.
  • Asthma attacks in children with asthma range from 200,000 to 1 million each year.

If your workplace doesn’t have a policy that protects non-smokers from exposure to ETS, try to get it to start one.  Either ban smoking indoors or designate a separately ventilated room that nonsmokers do not have to enter while performing their job responsibilities.

If you are a smoker, think about the effect this has on your body, as well as your family or friends.  Small children are unable to breathe fresh air while they are around smoke.  They are trapped while riding in a closed car with someone smoking.  Advice from many smokers is “if you haven’t started smoking – don’t!  It’s expensive and a hard habit to break.”  Think about it.  Everyone has the right to choose to smoke or not, just as in any other habit, but most of the time when they start smoking, they aren’t thinking about how it will play out in their health or the health of others later on.

General Safety Issues

NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH

Now that we are more than mid-way through National Nutrition Month, it’s important that we mention the significance of good nutrition for the country’s work force.  Basic common sense tells us that we need to eat healthy to stay healthy, but with the temptation of fast food and convenience of take-out and pre-packaged meals, it’s pretty easy to take the wrong path.

Younger employees think they are immune to problems caused by improper nutrition, but when they reach their 40s and 50s, they will understand what good nourishment is all about.

Good nutrition provides these benefits:

  • Energy for work and play
  • Healthy weight maintenance
  • Healthy aging
  • Preventing disease

We all need to realize that for good nutrition, we should have a meal plan that provides 45% to 65% of calories from carbohydrates; 10% to 35% of daily calories from protein; less than 10% of daily calories from saturated fat, (most should come from unsaturated fat), and 10 grams of dietary fiber for every 1,000 calories consumed daily.  Nutritionists also advise the correct intake of calories for women/men depending on age, and job demands.

Encourage your employees to have these healthy eating habits:

  • Get most of calories from low-fat, low-sugar foods
  • Avoid fads or crash diets
  • Eat three meals per day – don’t skip meals
  • Eat reasonable portions – (don’t be guilty of “supersizing”)
  • Watch what they are eating when dining out – some restaurants are caloric minefields!
  • Refuel every four to five hours
  • Consume healthy carbs (high fiber nutrition bars, low fat cottage cheese or Greek yogurt)
  • When snacking, or eating a full meal, it’s a good idea to stop when one is 80% full.  Chances are, in 20 to 30 minutes, they will feel satisfied.

To have a healthy workforce, companies could regularly incorporate nutrition programs into their safety programs.  It is to everyone’s benefit to eat healthy and exercise daily.  The results of consuming too many unhealthy foods over a period of time can result in obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and many other diseases that can shorten one’s life span.