Training begins for prison Workplace Champions

Workplace Champion training commenced this week for prison site staff as part of the staff support package for the lead up to the smoking ban in prisons in July next year.

The first of six one-day training sessions, run by The Quit Group, took place at Rimutaka Prison last Wednesday. The training is part of the implementation of the Quit@work programme, where staff at each prison site can volunteer to be trained as ‘Workplace Champions’ to lead smoking cessation and support staff and prisoners who wish to give up smoking before the ban takes effect.

“The Department wants to provide a safe and healthy workplace for employees by becoming smoke free, and in order to get the best results there needs to be good preparation, support and sufficient lead in time,” says Assistant General Manager Prison Services Brendan Anstiss.

“From July next year, staff will not be allowed to bring cigarettes and tobacco related items onto the prison sites. While staff who want to continue to smoke can do so in designated areas, we are encouraging staff to take up smoking cessation.

“To this end, we are providing staff with a smoking cessation support package which includes free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) patches and lozenges to assist prison site staff who want to give up smoking, as well as regular scheduled staff clinics and Workplace Champions to assist staff who have any questions about quitting.”

Approximately 80 ‘Workplace Champion’ volunteers for all 20 prison sites have been identified. Twelve staff members from Rimutaka, Arohata, Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, Wanganui and Manawatu prisons attended the course yesterday.

The session provided a chance for the Workplace Champions to discuss issues around promoting the smokefree message in the workplace, how to provide support to colleagues who want help to quit and the challenges they may face in a prison environment, where 67.1 percent of prisoners smoke.

Most of the volunteers at Wednesday’s training session had been smokers for more than 30 years before quitting. Several said they weren’t concerned about the ban.

“I’ve listened to people saying that we won’t be able to successfully implement the smoking ban and there will be prisoner riots. I don’t believe it,” Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison Residential Manager Bill Lowe said.

Manawatu Prison Residential Manager, Nigel Tristram, believes the ban will be beneficial. He already has a smokefree unit of 38 prisoners and is working on making another unit of 60 prisoners smokefree in the coming months.

A survey about staff smoking habits has just been completed to find out if staff need any additional services or have any good ideas about how best to support them in the lead-up to the ban. Survey results suggest that around 29 per cent of prison site staff are smokers and about half of these respondents would like help to quit.
ENDS

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