Fulton Hogan is a major civil contracting company, providing a broad range of products and services to customers in roads, quarrying, civil contracting, rail, infrastructure maintenance and land development sectors.
Motivations for a smokefree workplace
Fulton Hogan believes their staff are their biggest asset, and there are long term benefits to be gained for both the business and its employees by providing a healthy and supportive working environment.
A staff survey showed that Fulton Hogan had a number of staff across the Bay of Plenty region that were seeking support in becoming smokefree and improving their general levels of wellbeing.
The Process
Fulton Hogan worked with their WorkWell advisor to develop a number of options they could implement to support staff to become smokefree, and to reduce exposure to second hand smoke for non-smoking staff. The first step was to review the current smokefree policy. Fulton Hogan has an overarching smokefree policy which applies to all their staff and sites across New Zealand. The Bay of Plenty management team decided to develop a regional policy that extends on from the national policy, recognising the direction they’re taking with WorkWell.
Fulton Hogan then ensured all sites and vehicles had clear and visible smokefree signage in line with the company’s smokefree policy, as well as ensuring designated smoking areas were in appropriate locations.
After creating a smokefree work environment, Fulton Hogan promoted support options available to staff who were interested in becoming smokefree. Cessation providers, local to each site, were identified and met with staff wishing to quit smoking, starting them on their quit journey. Staff were able to receive unlimited coaching and support to give them the best chance of successfully becoming smokefree. The Quitline was also promoted to staff to utilise if they chose to.
Good communication was key to the success of Fulton Hogan’s smokefree initiative. Staff were regularly consulted with and received updates through the Fulton Hogan Bay of Plenty Newsletter. Further to this, Fulton Hogan met with temping agencies to inform them of the organization’s preference of employing non-smoking temporary staff.
Challenges
With multiple sites across the greater Bay of Plenty region, finding support services to cater for the needs of their staff in all locations proved to be a challenge. Fulton Hogan was able to address this by consulting with their WorkWell advisor and the WorkWell Provider Directory. For sites in areas where there was limited local support available, employees were directed to the nationally available FREE service Quitline.
The placement of one designated smoking area raised concerns with some staff members due to its proximity to the vegetable gardens. Following further review this location was changed and suited everyone’s needs.
The Whole of Organisation Approach
Fulton Hogan used a “whole of organisation” approach to promote and support staff to be smokefree. Evidence shows that implementing health and wellbeing initiatives that address the organisational, environmental and individual levels of the workplace are most effective.
Organisational
- Smokefree policy
- Preference for temping agencies to provide non-smoking temporary staff
Environmental
- Smokefree signage visible and at all sites and in all vehicles
Individual
- Cessation support for those staff who wish to quit smoking