Monthly highlight: November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month

On average, 73 Canadians will be diagnosed with lung cancer every day. Excluding non-melanoma skin cancers, it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada and the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month across Canada, and this serves as a good time to think about how you can support lung health in your workplace and to reflect on and review your workplace smoking policy.

A good tobacco-free policy has 2 main components: provides a tobacco-free work environment and support for employees who want to quit. If your workplace doesn’t have a smoking policy, make sure to include employees, management, unions, smokers and non-smokers in your process. They are important stakeholders that can provide input on what is realistic for your policy efforts. Once you establish your policy, or if you already have a policy in place, November can be a great time to think about ways you can provide support to employees who are looking to improve their lung health by quitting smoking. Using your internal communication streams, make sure all employees are aware of the support provided to them through your employee assistance program or community resources such as QuitNow.ca.

For more information on Lung Cancer Awareness Month, visit Lung Cancer Canada. Learn more about the risks and signs of lung cancer and share this information with your employees: What is Lung Cancer.