Monday, January 10, 2011

Advantages of Nicotine Test at Workplace

Many studies have been provided by the World Health Organization stating that about 5 million people are dying a year due to cigarette smoking. Even-though many individuals still have been addicted to smoking. It is a common addiction seen among many employees. This results in various problems at workplace that includes loss of productivity and rise of health expenses. To erase these situations, many offices implement ban on smoking. Also some companies conduct nicotine tests at workplace to discourage smoking cigarettes in offices.

Safety:
Smoking is one such problem that effects the addicted person and also those near to them. Thus if one employee is addicted to smoking, the employees working near the premises of him may also be effected badly due to tobacco inhalation. The secondhand smoke includes all the chemicals which are present in cigarettes and its smoke. This may cause respiratory diseases and lung cancer in non-smokers. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. National Toxicology Program, and U.S. General Surgeon it has been identified that secondhand smoke is a cancer-causing agent. So a regular nicotine test must be conducted at work places to protect the health of non-smokers.

Organizational efficiency:
Some employees do have the habit of smoking in workplaces many times a day. This wastes a lot of time. A nicotine test conducted at offices to prevent smoking cigarettes at workplace and during breaks. This may increase the time that the staff and workers can spend to complete their tasks and responsibilities.

Employee Welfare:
Nicotine testing at workplaces helps in finding tobacco addicted people. Proper treatment and counseling should be given to such employees as it is the responsibility of a company to maintain the values and welfare of employees. Regular smoking tests and further consequences may help the smokers quit tobacco usage. The companies may take help of certain support groups consultancies to prevent their staff from smoking.

Reputation Risk:
Some organizations such as police force and the prison services have special respect. Such organizations do conduct the nicotine tests to prevent the loss of their reputation.

However, certain employees feel that nicotine tests conducted at workplace is an invasion of privacy.

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