Renfrewshire Association for Mental Health
Renfrewshire Association for Mental Health (RAMH) was founded in 1979 and seeks to help the recovery of people with mental health issues in its area and promote their general wellbeing. It has 128 employees across nine offices.
In recent years, as non-smoking staff became more aware of the risks of passive smoking, the organisation decided it needed to adopt a policy to lessen the amount of cigarette smoke in RAMH offices.
The organisation used National No Smoking Day in 2003 as a catalyst to bring in a no-smoking policy that applies to all enclosed parts of its premises.
Susan Gordon, Information and Education Worker at RAMH, commented:
“Although RAMH was keen to ban smoking to help alleviate health risks, they were mindful of the difficulties a ban would pose for those employees who smoked. In order to address this issue, staff were given several months notice ahead of the policy being introduced and smoking cessation workshops were started in the workplace at lunchtimes.”
It was also written into the RAMH policy on non-smoking that employees who were having particular difficulty in giving up smoking and who were committed to trying to give up, could take a little time off work each week to seek cessation help.
To begin with a shelter was made available in the organisation’s car park for staff to use when smoking outside but this practice has now been abandoned and RAMH is 100 per cent smoke-free.
New RAMH staff are now advised about the no-smoking policy when they join and information is included in the New Employees Handbook.
Asked to give advice to companies and organisations who might be considering introducing a smoking ban, Susan Gordon said:
“I think it is important to give employees as much notice as possible. In our case staff were given several months notice which helped them to adjust and prepare. I also think it is important to have smoking cessation support and to understand that it is difficult for heavy smokers. We had workshops and we made nicotine replacement patches available and that certainly helped the process. Creating a working group, including members of staff who smoke, can also be important in involving smokers in the decision-making process.”
In recognition of the continuing efforts of staff in implementing the no-smoking policy, and offering support to staff who wish to give up smoking, RAMH was recently awarded a Scotland’s Health at Work Bronze Award for developing a policy that treats all employees in a consistent manner, protects staff from passive smoking, ensures all employees understand the policy, and promotes cessation support.