Smoking high among northern mine workers: study

The study revealed there are a high percentage of smokers at mine sites with more than half of the surveyed workforce self-reporting as current smokers and more than three-quarters reporting previous smoking behaviours. Those surveyed identified this as their biggest concern.

Sierzycki said this statistics goes hand-in-hand with the smoking rate across northern Saskatchewan.

According to the study, more than 44 per cent of northern Saskatchewan residents aged 20-34 are smokers, this is 13 per cent more than the same age group compared to the province as a whole.

“What we need to concentrate (on) is continuing working on the cessation aspects, which mine sites are doing. Mine sites do have nurses onsite that are providing services that perhaps individuals may not be receiving in their first nation or municipality across the north,” he said.

The key is to bring more awareness to the programs being offered, which are often overlooked, he added.

At the time of the study, it reported “Most survey respondents had not tried to quit or had not quit smoking.”

“We discovered ‘cold turkey’ seemed to be the main way people were succeeding (to stop) smoking, however at the same time the mine site do have comprehensive packages as well as a lot of services … and people are comfortable using that, so they’re going to play a significant role in people quitting smoking and of course it is a long-term goal to have as many northern (smoke) free as possible,” he said.

He said some possible reasons why people don’t utilize the services available include not following through on prescription refills or trying to use personal will alone to quit.

Cancer was the second highest concern of workers, but Sierzycki said prevention of smoking will stop many of the concerns of cancer expressed by staff.

“So if we work on cessation of smoking than we can work on the rates themselves of cancer and I think that’s where some of the fear may be coming from,” he said. “Prevention is crucial in all aspect … and I think if we do a preventative measure and continue to work on some of the programs that are in place including the industry, community and employees we will mitigate those rates.”

Where they’re doing well

One of the highlights from the study was the culture of safety.

Sierzycki said all the special training staff gets such as the Emergency Response Team training, is being taken home to their communities and shared.

In addition, the access to health services is beneficial, he said.

“The mine sites are providing a health service that perhaps other industries are not. At the same there’s a void in communities with Areva and Cameco filling that void for northern communities and first nations that perhaps employees aren’t feeling as comfortable going to their primary care health physician or nurse or don’t have the access too,” he said, adding this needs to be addressed on multiple levels to improve proper access to health services.

According to Sierzycki, the next step is to disseminate the study on a community level as well as on industry level, so everyone knows what’s working and what needs to be improved upon. More studies may also happen into the future.

The CVMPP has been in place since 1998, but this is the first study of this type which looks at what health programs are being provided to employees.

Some changes that have come as a result of studies from the CVMPP include a cellphone tower for better communication with families.

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84

by Sarah Stone

Smoking high among northern mine workers: study

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