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{ the dental team } by Jodi Schafer, SPHR Vaping in the Workplace:


E-Cigarettes and Your Smoking/Tobacco Policy We have a ‘No Smoking’ policy in our handbook that addresses tobacco use in the workplace, but it doesn’t ad- dress electronic cigarettes or other tobacco-free devices. I have an employee who has started using an e-cig in the break room. He claims he’s trying to quit smoking and that an occasional puff on his e-cig is helping to curb his cravings. Because vaping doesn’t give off the same toxic (and smelly) second-hand smoke that tobacco products do, he claims there is no harm being done and that he should be allowed to continue it. I don’t want to railroad his attempts to quit smoking, but I am not comfortable with allowing this in my practice. I think it sends the wrong message, and I’m not convinced the vapors given off by e-cigs are completely harmless. Do I have to allow this?


N


o. You do not have to allow the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or e-


cigs) in your workplace. Just be- cause something is legal, doesn’t mean you have to tolerate it in your place of business. Take alcohol for example, it is legal but I know very few employers that would condone its use while inside the office building or on the clock. While this answers your specific question, there is another piece to consider, and that is how best to communicate your thoughts on this subject to your employee.


You could simply amend your ‘No Smoking’ policy to include e-cigarettes and hope he gets the message, but you and I both know that is probably not the best approach. Updating your handbook language without first having a face-to-face conversa- tion with your vaping employee will publicly shame/embarrass/ anger him when his co-workers read this revised policy and know who it was meant for. So, before you put pen to paper, ask


22 focus | SEP/OCT 2016 | ISSUE 5


to speak with your em- ployee alone and discuss the situation.


Begin by thanking your employee for bringing this to your attention. Let him know that he wasn’t doing anything wrong as your existing policies didn’t spe- cifically address e-cigarettes. However, his actions have prompted you to think through how best to address the use of e-cigs at work. Discuss any research you may have done on these devices. Start with some of the perceived benefits of using e-cigs as compared to traditional tobacco products (i.e., potential smoking cessation aid, tobacco-free, odor-free vapor, etc.). Then proceed with your concerns about allowing its use in the office during the workday. You want to show a balanced approach to this issue if you hope to gain buy-in from this employee. This may seem like an empty exercise, but if you want employees to follow the rules you make, then they need to un- derstand the ‘why’ behind them.


One of the ‘whys’ you’ve already identified is the unknown health risks associated with the chemi- cal vapors given off by e-cigs. Ac- cording to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “testing of some e-cigarette products found the vapor to contain known carcino- gens and toxic chemicals (such as formaldehyde and acetalde- hyde), as well as potentially toxic metal nanoparticles from the vaporizing mechanism.” While e-cigarettes are often promoted as safer alternatives to tradi- tional cigarettes, little is actually known yet about the health risks of using these devices long-term.


You have reason to be concerned about their safety. While you


wish to support your employee in his smoking cessation efforts, you don’t want to do so at the risk of harming those around him. Furthermore, from an oral health perspective, you are concerned about the negative perception of smoking (tobacco or otherwise) in the workplace. Discussing these reasons with your vaping employee prior to updating your handbook lan- guage will result in a good dia- logue and increase the efficacy of your decision. f


Jodi Schafer, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is owner/ general partner of Human Resource Management Services, LLC. Visit hrmservices.biz.


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