A woman that I work with has a coughing problem. She is a smoker. It is so bad it is affecting others. Advice?

It is disgusting. Should we go to HR? Above her head? There is no where else around here to move. Myself and the other people that I work with are tempted to leave. My co-workers and I don't know what to do. Please help.A woman that I work with has a coughing problem. She is a smoker. It is so bad it is affecting others. Advice?
Just let her be. So she coughs. Would you mind if people kept coming up to you, because you sneezed, or coughed a few times? My guess is it would. So just leave her alone. It's just coughing. It's not a natural disaster. A woman that I work with has a coughing problem. She is a smoker. It is so bad it is affecting others. Advice?
You may need to gently bring to to her attention at first. Just say something like ';It's sounds like you're getting a bad cold';. Then she may admit that she needs to do something about the coughing because others are noticing it. If this doesn't help, sit an abby note on her chair or desk letter her know that she needs to fix this problem. If this doesn't work, you and some co-workers may try telling the manager about hygenic concerns. The manager then may either call a meeting to address these issues to everyone without singling out the coughing employee or contact her alone to discuss. At that point, she will have no choice but to do something about it to save her job.
It depends. If her actual smoking is bothering you (she comes in from a break and the smoke overwhelms you, she smokes in places she shouldn't be, ect) then yes - you need to do something about it. I would suggest going above her head and going to HR. I'm not trying to generalize, but many smokers are kinda offended when they're ';picked on'; directly. We already have so many laws that restrict them, that they don't want any more of their rights taken away.





Now, if it's her coughing, then I would just go to her and say something casually. Ask her if she's sick. Or during one of her coughing spells ask her if she's okay. Let her know that it's bothering you (the cough complaint would offend her less than a smoking one - so it would be better to go to her about it). Act like you think she's coughing because she's sick and say in a friendly tone, ';Wow - maybe you should get that checked out.'; If all else fails on that, well, you need to go to HR. This problem isn't worth losing your job over!