Canadian Occupational Safety

August/September 2013 9 While the standard is cur- rently voluntary, there is a general regard that legislators and regulators have towards these types of standards and they tend to creep into legislative requirements, said Cheryl Edwards, partner at Heenan Blaikie law fi rm in Toronto. But employers may be challenged by how to tackle the standard with the existing structures at a workplace. "People are saying, 'Do we actually start anew and create a whole new By COS staff S moking bans on all company property, both indoors and out- doors, should be a visible part of a comprehensive non-smoking policy in Canadian workplaces, according to a new Conference Board of Canada report. Additional measures, such as smoking cessation programs, would also help employees to quit smoking. Currently, 19 per cent of Canadian organizations ban smoking from their property altogether. "Implementing workplace smoking bans and enforcing these restrictions will help to reduce the likelihood of smoking and shi the organizational culture," said Karla orpe, director of leadership and human resources research at the Conference Board. "Employers can also do more than setting restrictions — they can play a key role in helping smokers to quit. ree-quarters of current smokers are employed and many want to quit. e most eff ective methods to help smokers quit are to couple access to medication with counselling and support," said orpe. " is can increase success rates by two to three-fold." Smoking bans are a visible sign of an organization's commitment to help pre- vent employees from smoking, but there are other aspects to a comprehensive smoking cessation program in Canadian workplaces. ese aspects include: Conducting health risk assessments About one-half (49 per cent) of employ- ers conduct health risk assessments (HRA) to gauge the risk factors, includ- ing smoking, among their employee population. An HRA helps determine the prevalence of smoking among the organization's workforce, and to what extent employees are receptive to quitting. Enhancing coverage under group benefi t plans e majority of organizations (73 per cent) cover prescription smoking ces- sation medications. But only 40 per cent is the support that's required to make sure the organization operates within a mentally healthy culture." To help employers establish this type of culture, the Mental Health Com- mission of Canada released a National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace in January. e standard provides a road map for employers, including identifying haz- ards, assessing and controlling risks, and implementing measurement and review systems. system or piggyback on our existing policies and procedures and try to make a whole respectful workplace system or psychological health and safety system that rolls in all of our policies?'" said Edwards. Before they even start adopting the By Amanda Silliker A s a police offi cer in Ontario, Brian Knowler was the fi rst responder to a serious collision nine years ago. e driver, Knowler's best friend from uni- versity, died in his arms while he was performing CPR. He buried the incident for about eight years but it came "roaring back" last year when a similar incident occurred, and Knowler was subsequently diag- nosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Now, he is a staff sergeant and he spends time trying to educate other offi cers about mental health. Knowler shared his story at a Cana- dian HR Reporter roundtable on mental health in the workplace, held in partner- ship with Sun Life, in Toronto. While mental health issues are becoming more prevalent in today's workplace, there is still a stigma around them, according to the panelists. "It isn't something that's black and white; it's not something employees can see," said Drew Sousa, manager of employee health services at the City of Mississauga in Ontario. "We're look- ing at trying to provide awareness and promotion and trying to get people to understand ' is could happen to you,' and that's the key message." To combat the stigma, employ- ers need to look at what kind of work environment they are encouraging. Employers need to establish a culture where employees respect and value each other, said Sue Brown, principal at Mercer in Toronto. "And whenever there's an indication that's not happening, action needs to be taken, so there's a zero tolerance for any conduct that is mentally injurious to anyone in the workplace and there Experts weigh in on workplace mental health at HR forum Smoking bans at work can help employees quit: Conference Board cover nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) such as patches, gum or lozenges. Many employers also impose yearly or lifetime maximum coverage limits on these programs. Since it o en takes more than one attempt to quit smok- ing, plans should be reviewed to ensure coverage is suffi cient to allow employees more than one try per year. Evaluating the effectiveness of smoking cessation programs e majority of organizations (79 per cent) do not evaluate their smoking cessa- tion programs. As a result, employers lack knowledge about whether smokers are participating and whether the programs are eff ective at helping employees quit. continued on page 10 Canadian HR Reporter hosts a discussion on psychologi- cal health and safety at work and what employers can do to help promote mental health.

• Cover