Making Your Workplace Smoke-Free

Across the nation, more and more communities, and even several states, have passed strict smoke-free air laws to protect workers from secondhand smoke. Providing employees with smoke-free air may help them quit. According to the Surgeon General, women who smoke are more likely than men to be motivated to quit by the smoke-free air policies at work. Different types of workplace smoking policies, and a checklist on how to develop and implement an effective policy in your workplace, are listed below. In general, eliminating or restricting smoking in the workplace improves air quality and is well accepted by both smokers and nonsmokers. Smoking policies range from total bans affecting all company premises to policies that offer only minimal concern for nonsmokers’ complaints, such as dividing common work areas and lunchrooms into smoking and nonsmoking sections.

• Total smoking ban - Smoking is prohibited on all company premises including outdoor property. This means that smoking is banned at all work stations and in all common areas like restrooms, lunchrooms, lobbies, and hallways. Many companies that put in place a total smoking ban also sponsor or subsidize smoking cessation programs.
  
  • Pros:
    • Smoke is eliminated from all work areas greatly reducing secondhand smoke exposure for all employees
    • Complies with all laws and ordinances
    • Employees may smoke less and may be encouraged to quit.
      
  • Cons:
    • Inconvenient for smokers
    • Heavy smokers may be tempted to take more breaks, potentially reducing productivity.
• Workstation smoking ban - Separately ventilated smoking areas are set up in areas away from common areas and work stations.
  
  • Pros:
    • Complies with most laws and ordinances
    • Reduces, but does not eliminate, employees’ exposure to secondhand smoke.
      
  • Cons:
    • May be expensive because smoking areas must be vented directly to the outside to
      comply with health and safety standards.Even with separate ventilation, tobacco smoke may not be totally eliminated from “nonsmoking” areas.
    • Heavy smokers may go to the smoking area at other times than designated breaks, reducing productivity.

For more information on workplace smoking policies, go to CDC: Work, Smoking and Health A NIOSH Scientific Workshop http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2002-148/pdfs/2002-148.pdf or call or call 1-800-35-NIOSH.

Making Your Workplace Smokefree; A Decision Maker’s Guide, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/research_data/environmental/etsguide.htm. (You can order a hard copy of the publication by writing: CDC Office on Smoking and Health Publications, Mail Stop K-50, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717.)

The American Lung Association offers help to employers in the form of employee survey forms, tips for increasing employee awareness, and written smoking policies. For information, contact the American Lung Association, Box 596-EB, New York, New York 10001 or visit their webs site at http://www.lungusa.org/.