BUILT - Union Yes Tobacco No
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Built
The following are links to all of the items in this collection:
Documents
- BUILT: Toxics...Tobacco & Your Kids
- BUILT - Union Yes Tobacco No
- BUILT: Tobacco-Free Construction Worksites: A Labor-Management Guide
- BUILT - Construction Workers' Guide
- BUILT Instructor's Manual
- BUILT: Toxics & Tobacco on the Job - Protecting Your Health: Construction Workers' Guide
- BUILT: Quitting Tobacco - The Next Step: Employer's Toolbox for Building a Cessation Program
Summary Statement
A brochure discussing the impact of smoking on health, finances, families and retirement. Part of a collection. Click on the 'collection' button to access the other items.
Construction workers
deserve the truth about tobacco. That’s why the State Building and
Construction Trades Council of California started the BUILT project.
For decades, the tobacco industry has hidden the facts about the addictive
nature of nicotine and the deadly effects of tobacco use. Our goal is
to provide accurate information about tobacco to our members and their
families— and help them quit if they choose to.
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- Cigarettes contain many common poisons, including some of the same chemicals found in rat poison, toilet bowl cleaner and embalming fluid. 3
- Workers have a right to a hazard- free workplace, including protection from secondhand smoke. Made up of over 4,000 chemicals, secondhand smoke is considered a cancer- causing chemical by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 4
- Even though the tobacco industry covered up the facts for decades, we now know that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine or heroin. 5
- Smoking is directly responsible for 87% of lung cancer cases. 6
- Tobacco smoke damages your lungs so they can’t protect you from other hazardous substances you’re exposed to on the job. 7
Tobacco affects your retirement…and costs money
- Tobacco use can shorten your retirement. Those hard- earned retirement years can’t be enjoyed if you are suffering from tobacco- related illnesses.
- Tobacco affects all members’ retirement benefits. More money can go into wages and pensions if it doesn’t have to be used for health care costs for tobacco- related illness. When Health and Welfare funds have to pay large claims, this is a direct cost to every member who participates in the fund.
- Heavy smokers can begin to get seriously ill in their fifties or even younger; this means that the union health and welfare funds have to foot the bill for their health care costs. Non- smokers are generally healthier until age 70, so their costs are “shifted” to Medicare.
- Smoking one pack
of cigarettes a day for one year costs more than $1,000.
THE BUILT PROGRAM
BUILT is an educational program that provides a service to union
members through:
- Local Unions who can distribute educational materials to their members
- Health and Welfare Trust Funds , who can provide information about tobacco and the benefits of quitting smoking to members and their families
- Joint Apprenticeship Training Committees , who can include information about tobacco and toxic hazards in their health and safety training
- Labor- Management
Committees , who can develop voluntary worksite tobacco policies.
BUILT can help your union
- By sharing BUILT
resources with your membership, you’ll provide a valuable service
to members and their families and strengthen the union’s commitment
to protecting their lives.
Contact BUILT for additional resources:
- Speakers for union/ committee meetings
- Literature/ information about the health effects of tobacco, secondhand smoke and the workplace smoking law
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Chewing
Tobacco Chewing tobacco puts many harmful chemicals into your body, including arsenic, cyanide, lead and benzene. 9 Smokeless tobacco delivers more than twice the dose of nicotine than does cigarettes. It’s as hard to quit using smokeless tobacco as it is to quit smoking. |
Secondhand Smoke Secondhand
smoke hurts kids by causing respiratory problems. You don’t
want to bring lead dust home and you don’t want to bring tobacco
home, either.
10
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What's the Law? California
law prohibits smoking in indoor workplaces.‘ Indoor’ means
4 walls and a ceiling. It doesn’t matter whether there are
windows, louvers or sliding doors that open. |
Building
Trades Workers Building trades workers and their children smoke and chew tobacco at a higher rate than the general U. S. population. 14
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1,
2, 5, 6:
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U. S. Surgeon General, 1964, 1985. 1988. 1967. |
3.
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U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1989. |
4,
7
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NIOSH, 1991, 1979. |
8.
9:
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American Academy of Otolaryngology, 2000. |
10.11:
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U. S. EPA, Office of Research and Development, December 1992. |
12:
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Glantz, Stanton and Parmley, William W., “Passive Smoking and Heart Disease; Epidemiology, Physiology and Biochemistry,” 1991. |
13.
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U. S. OSHA, “Secondhand Smoke: Is it a Hazard?” January 1995. |
14.
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Nelson DE, Emont SL, Brackbill RM, Cameron LL, Peddicord J, Fiore M (1994), “Cigarette Smoking Prevalence by Occupation in the United States: A Comparison Between 1978 to 1980 and 1987 to 1990.” JOM 36( 5): 516- 525. |
This material was made possible by funds from the Tobacco Tax Health Protection Act of 1988- Proposition 99, through the California Department of Health Services (contract #99- 85070) |
California Smokers’
Helpline
Free and confidential telephone counseling for quitting.
CALL TODAY!
When asked how you heard about the program, please credit BUILT, or give
your union’s name and local number.
English
1- 800- NO- BUTTS
(1- 800- 662- 8887)
Spanish
1- 800- 45- NO- FUME
(1- 800- 456- 6386)
Mandarin & Cantonese
1- 800- 400- 0866
Vietnamese
1- 800- 778- 8440
Korean
1- 800- 556- 5564
TDD/ TTY
1- 800- 933- 4TDD
(1- 800- 933- 4833)
Chewing Tobacco
1- 800- 844- CHEW
(1- 800- 844- 2439)