Networks related to preventive substance abuse work
-
Pakka stands for the national operating model for the reduction of alcohol, tobacco and gambling-related harm. The Pakka operating model involves local activities geared towards influencing the community, in particular, in order to reduce the harm caused by substance abuse. The City of Kuopio joined Pakka by decision of the City Board and Council in March 2013. In Kuopio, the Pakka operating model is coordinated by the Service Area for Wellbeing Promotion, an activation unit for civic engagement, where the person in charge is the Coordinator of Preventive Substance Use. In Kuopio, the implementation of Pakka is steered by the Board for the Promotion of Wellbeing (municipal body required by law) and the supply and demand working groups.
At the national level, the development of Pakka is steered by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. The aim of the operating model is to reduce young people’s and adults’ use of intoxicants across Finland, to increase the age at the which use of intoxicants begins and to reduce the harmful effects of intoxicants. In Kuopio, the Pakka operating model is applied to all age groups.
-
Nicotine-free Kuopio
The main objective of the national Smoke-Free Municipality project has been to make smoke-free operating culture a commonly used operating model across Finland: all municipal organisations in Finland and other publicly funded organisations, such as central government, tax administration, the police, the Defence Forces, the judiciary, social funds, state companies and state enterprises, will become smoke-free employers by 2030 and comply with a smoke-free operating culture.
In Kuopio, the decision to switch to a non-smoking policy has been made by the City Council and the City Board. The municipality of Kuopio has been a smoke-free municipality since 2009. Measures of the Smoke-free Kuopio initiative focus strongly on the wellbeing of municipal residents and preventive measures in different service areas. The non-smoking policy of the municipality requires preparation and multi-professional cooperation. It is necessary to plan for the practical measures that are required for being smoke-free and how its implementation is monitored and evaluated.
The workplace is smoke-free when:
- Smoking is prohibited in all indoor spaces at the workplace, as required by the Tobacco Act.
- There are no smoking rooms at the workplace, and any smoking areas have been placed inconspicuously outside the building, far enough away from the building so that smoke doesn’t carry over into any smoke-free indoor spaces.
- Smoking is prohibited during working hours and smoking outside official breaks is not counted towards working hours.
- No new smoking facilities are built and no smoking rooms are available in buildings and workspaces owned or managed by the company.
- All official receptions and other events organised by the workplace are smoke-free.
- Tobacco products are not sold at the workplace.
- Staff members who smoke are given support to quit smoking.
- Appropriate signs indicating that the workplace is a no-smoking zone are placed in various places, such as at the front door.
- Job advertisements mention that the workplace is smoke-free.
- The City of Kuopio’s multidisciplinary security working group
-