Tobacco, a challenge for businesses and states

April 28 is World Day for Safety and Health at Work, focusing on the prevention of workplace accidents and diseases.[1]An opportunity to take stock of the multiple impacts of smoking on work and on the health of employees.

Whether it's growing it or managing its consumption in the workplace, tobacco is still present in many forms in the workplace. An opinion piece published in China Daily provides an overview of these issues, both in China and elsewhere.[2].

Exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace

Through the secondhand smoke it releases, tobacco harms the quality of the work environment and undermines working conditions. While the December 2006 decree protects employees from tobacco smoke in France[3], this situation is far from universal, even if it is gradually improving: only 3% of the world's population was protected by comprehensive smoking ban legislation in public places in 2007, while today it is 21%. In private companies, these comprehensive protection measures concern up to 51% of workplaces, according to a report by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).[4]. Measures that are becoming easier to comply with, as the proportion of smokers in the population decreases. Globally, smokers represent only 18% of the population, with significant variations between countries, which therefore remains a minority of employees.

Legislation also continues to evolve to take into account new nicotine products: from April 30, vaping will also be banned in the workplace in Hong Kong.

Attacks on the safety and health of employees

In terms of safety, improperly extinguished cigarette butts remain one of the leading sources of fire, affecting all businesses, but especially those facing industrial risks. Tobacco use can also be a source of workplace accidents that can affect the operation of machinery or vehicles, due to moments of inattention caused by lighting, consuming, and extinguishing tobacco products.

The productivity of smoking employees is also lower than that of other employees, due to the many breaks and reduced concentration of smokers. Smokers' breaks can sometimes cause tension within work teams, which affects the work environment. Smokers also experience more sick leave and disability related to tobacco use, which significantly affects businesses.

The dangers of tobacco growing

Tobacco farming is a sector in itself that puts the health of its workers at risk. Working conditions on tobacco farms expose their workforce to multiple risks: green tobacco disease (caused by nicotine absorption through the skin), agricultural chemicals, respiratory disorders, and food shortages.

On the latter front, despite the tobacco industry's rhetoric and incentives, many countries have verified that tobacco cultivation is very unprofitable, especially for small producers. It also takes up vast areas of land that could be used for food production. This is the case, for example, in China, which has the largest tobacco farms but is forced to import a significant proportion of its food products. Tobacco growers in Yunnan province were able to record a 110% increase in their earnings by switching from tobacco cultivation to other crops. China, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Brazil are among the countries that have begun the transition to other crops on land previously used for tobacco.

Violations of human rights, particularly those of children

Tobacco plantations may finally be revealed as sites of human rights abuses, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Numerous studies and investigations have revealed that these farms frequently use child labor, in contradiction with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.[5]. Moreover, the working conditions imposed on small local farmers and their children sometimes amount, for example in Malawi, to forced labour.[6].

Four articles of the FCTC can be used to improve the situation of employees. These are Articles 8, which encourages the protection of the population against tobacco smoke; 9, which regulates tobacco products; 17, which encourages the transition from tobacco crops to other economically viable types of crops; and 18, which calls on tobacco growers and producers to respect . The preamble to the FCTC also refers to three human rights treaties (children, women, and ICESCR) that must be taken into account in the workplace.

Keywords: work, employees, companies, CCLAT, tobacco cultivation

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[1] World Day for Safety and Health at Work - April 28, United Nations, undated, accessed 28 April 2022.

[2] Mc Kay J, Anti-smoking measures give reason to celebrate, China Daily, published April 27, 2021, accessed April 28, 2022.

[3] According to Public Health France, 16% of employees are still exposed to passive smoking in their workplace, this proportion rising to 34% for manual workers. Exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace and at home between 2014 and 2018, Results of the Public Health France barometer, Public Health France, 2020.

[4] 2021 global progress report on implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Geneva, World Health Organization, 2022.

[5] The tobacco industry: an obstacle to the elimination of child labour, Generation Without Tobacco, published June 21, 2021, accessed April 28, 2022.

[6] Two tobacco giants accused of forced labor by Malawian farmers and children, Generation Without Tobacco, published May 20, 2021, accessed April 28, 2022.