Herding cats with designated tobacco & vapor areas

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Everett Lyons
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1 Herding cats with designated tobacco & vapor areas A multi-year adventure of clearing the air Doug Spohn Organizational Wellness Manager Dept. of Labor & Industries Healthy Worksite Summit Conference March 20-21, 2019 Lynnwood, WA 1 How to get everyone hopeful, scared, mad, glad and polarized 48 months of making enemies and friends because it s the right thing to do 2 1

2 L&I is a big ship. We are big and we are slow

3 Environmental Physical Emotional Intellectual Social Occupational 5 Now, back to the story How did we go beyond the law and create designated areas for tobacco and vapor use? 6 3

4 7 Moments from the 1900s: 1987 Washington state wellness program was created by the legislature L&I employees could smoke tobacco inside L&I office buildings L&I employees had to smoke outside due to an Executive Order by the Governor The state s Washington Wellness Program assisted L&I s wellness coordinator by providing smoking cessation resources. 8 4

5 Moments from the 2000s: 2005 State law pushed L&I smokers 25 from the office building doors L&I non-smoking employees began complaining to Doug Spohn L&I employee survey about smoking was administered Designated tobacco use areas were established L&I employees began vaping inside L&I office buildings L&I s first-ever tobacco and vapor use policy was created What did we do? Created and administered the employee smoking survey despite serious resistance from certain leaders. 67% response rate about 1,200 out of 1,800 in the HQ building. 2,000 written responses. Deliberately did NOT ask about going tobacco-free. 10 5

6 2012 What did we do? Analyzed the employee smoking survey. Three main outcome themes: Move the smoke far away from the doors. Make the change very easy to understand. Protect the smokers from the weather What did we do? Developed a plan partnered with Internal Safety & Health team. Emphasis was on second-hand smoke, not smokers. Found nice areas and covered areas for the smokers. The smokers were respected. Presented the plan, along with supporting data to the leadership team received an exuberant YES, LET S DO THIS! OK, one leader was disappointed and a few were still scared. 12 6

7 What we did next Communicate, communicate, communicate! Prepared the grounds signage & painted lines as much as the weather would allow. LAUNCH! Minimal issues except for the Walker-Reader

12 What did we do? (Inspired by indoor vaping in 2014) Stakeholders: employee virtual group, HR oversight group, employee unions. Created L&I s first-ever tobacco & vapor use policy also prohibited indoor use of vaping device chargers. Created a vapor-only covered area. Finished up all the signage and line painting coordinated with the weather. Communicate, communicate, communicate AGAIN! 24 12

13 PERCEIVED BARRIERS Green light Building & grounds Unions Design HOW WE BROKE THROUGH Data were provided. Peer pressure by executive leaders. Sensitivity to director bias. Natural architectural elements were used to delineate boundaries and signage. Visitor parking lot NOT tobacco-vapor free. Early and ongoing communication, a message of goodness for members. Wellness 360 provided project coordination, supported by Internal Safety & Health Team. 25 Money Employee/employee conflict Buyers remorse Facilities provided labor and materials; Wellness 360 provided consultation, coordination and communications. Wellness 360 provided ongoing examples of how to have awkward conversations. HR department prepped all HR staff. Positive employee testimonies shared with executive leaders

14 Key Takeaways Anything to do with smoking becomes emotional real quick. Focus on the physics of smoke, not smokers. Changing anything to do with smoking requires a thoughtful change management process. Vaping is not the same as e-cigarettes in the eyes of users in You ll need to continue nudging the new way, like a chiropractic adjustment. Close all loop holes if you can t, then lower your expectations. Expect unhappy people adopt an attitude of grace. Eventually, it ll become the new norm What are we doing now? Communicate, communicate, communicate FOREVER! Putting out fires emotional and real. Refreshing signage and painted ground lines. Promote tobacco cessation resources. Tobacco/vapor-free campus? 28 14

15 The final lesson: Don t give up the ship! Yes, we are big and we are slow, but we can change course. Just give us enough time and space. 29 Questions? Doug Spohn doug.spohn@lni.wa.gov 30 15

Tobacco Free Policy The time has come.. Alex de Jounge, RN, MSN, PHN Allan Hancock College Student Health Services, Coordinator

Tobacco Free Policy The time has come.. Alex de Jounge, RN, MSN, PHN Allan Hancock College Student Health Services, Coordinator What we know Tobacco kills 480,000 per year in US 50,000 deaths due to secondhand