Active and Passive Tobacco Smoke Exposures: A Construction Workplace Health Assessment Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE: Despite high smoking rates, there has been limited development of tobacco assessment and smoking cessation outreach strategies targeting construction workers. We report the prevalence of active and passive tobacco smoke exposure from a convenience sample of construction workers visiting a lunch truck at the construction site.

METHODS: A workplace tobacco smoke assessment was undertaken with a convenience sample of 54 workers (91% are of Hispanic ethnicity) employed at two large construction sites. A questionnaire preloaded onto handheld devices was used to record questionnaire data. Salivary and hair samples for cotinine and nicotine assays were collected (reflecting short- and long-term smoke exposure, respectively). A telephone callback survey was administered 2 weeks after the site visit to assess use of smoking cessation resources provided during the assessment.

RESULTS: Thirty-five percent of construction workers were self-reported never smokers, 28% former smokers, 37% current smokers. Thirty-seven percent of never smokers and 40% of former smokers had biological samples suggesting passive tobacco smoke exposure (cutoff >3.0ng/mL for saliva and >0.23ng/mg for hair). Among smokers, 60% reported planning to stop smoking in 30 days, 95% reviewed the smoking cessation materials 2 weeks after the site visit, and 85% shared and discussed those materials with family members.

CONCLUSION: We found evidence of passive tobacco smoke among never and former smokers, as well as interest among current smokers for cessation resources. Workplace smoke cessation strategies that reduce tobacco use and exposure via innovative engagement methods (e.g. lunch truck) are needed.