Center for Policy Alternatives
CPA - Header Photo

Smoke-Free Workplaces

Exposure to secondhand smoke is common in workplaces.
Millions of Americans are exposed to secondhand smoke (also called involuntary smoking, environmental tobacco smoke and passive smoking) while at work. It is still commonplace for offices to be filled with tobacco smoke. Only 43 percent of workers are protected by 100 percent smoke-free workplace policies. Additionally, just 28 percent of restaurant waitstaff and 13 percent of bartenders are covered by such policies.1
Exposure to secondhand smoke is extremely dangerous to nonsmokers.
The scientific evidence on the danger of secondhand smoke is clear, convincing and overwhelming. Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States.2 Every year in this country, secondhand smoke kills about 65,000 nonsmokers from heart disease or lung cancer.3 For every eight smokers killed, one nonsmoker is killed.
People of color are exposed to higher levels of secondhand smoke on the job.
People of color are disproportionately employed in jobs that have high rates of exposure to secondhand smoke, such as food service, laborer and factory jobs. African American workers are subjected to substantially more secondhand tobacco smoke than white workers.4 Latinos and Native Americans have the highest rates of occupational exposure to secondhand smoke.5
Smoke-free workplace laws help smokers quit.
Smoke-free workplaces encourage smokers to try to quit, increase the number of successful attempts to quit, and reduce the number of cigarettes that continuing smokers consume.6 A study published in the journal Tobacco Control found that “requiring all workplaces to be smoke-free would reduce smoking prevalence by ten percent. Workplace bans have their greatest impact on groups with the highest smoking rates.”7
Smoke-free workplaces save employers money.
Employers bear direct and indirect costs as a result of employees’ smoking, including absenteeism, decreased productivity, increased early retirement, higher healthcare costs, higher life insurance premiums, higher maintenance and cleaning costs, higher risk of fire damage, explosions and other accidents, and higher fire insurance premiums. A 1995 study estimated that when smokers quit, their employers save approximately $3,191 per smoker per year.8 Cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke result in $92 billion in productivity losses each year.9
Fears in the hospitality industry that smoking bans may damage business are unfounded.
A 2003 report in Tobacco Control provides a comprehensive review of all available studies on the economic impact of smoke-free workplace laws, and concludes that “[a]ll of the best designed studies report no impact or a positive impact of smoke-free restaurant and bar laws on sales or employment. Policymakers can act to protect workers and patrons from the toxins in secondhand smoke confident in rejecting industry claims that there will be an adverse economic impact.”10 In fact, one year after a strong smoke-free workplace law took effect, an official New York City study found that, “... business receipts for restaurants and bars have increased, employment has risen, virtually all establishments are complying with the law, and the number of new liquor licenses issued has increased—all signs that New York City bars and restaurants are prospering.”11
Ventilation is not a solution to secondhand smoke.
Even the newest ventilation technologies under ideal conditions cannot remove secondhand smoke and its toxic elements from the air. Studies show that the only way to eliminate the health risks associated with indoor smoking exposure is to ban smoking.12
Thirteen states have banned smoking in nearly all workplaces.
In 2006, Arkansas, Colorado, and Utah enacted smoke-free workplace laws. Also in 2006, voters in three states (AZ, NV, OH) passed ballot initiatives that ban smoking in all indoor public areas. Thirteen states (AZ, CA, CT, CO, DE, ME, MA, NV, NY, OH, RI, VT, WA) and the District of Columbia now ban smoking in nearly all indoor workplaces, including restaurants and bars. Nine states (AR, FL, GA, ID, LA, MT, ND, SD, UT) now ban workplace smoking in restaurants, but not in bars. Montana’s and Utah’s laws will cover bars in 2009. Hundreds of cities and counties have their own smoke-free workplace laws. In all, more than 100 million Americans live in jurisdictions that require smoke-free workplaces.

This policy brief relies in large part on information from Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Endnotes
  1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke,” June 27, 2006.
  2. National Cancer Institute, “Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: The Report of the California Environmental Protection Agency,” Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 10, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, NIH Pub. No. 99-4645, 1999.
  3. Ibid.
  4. U.S. Census Bureau, “Current Population Survey,” 2005.
  5. Karen Gerlach et al., “Workplace Smoking Policies in the United States: Results from the California Tobacco Surveys, 1990-1999,” University of California, San Diego, 2001.
  6. “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke.”
  7. Matthew Farrelly et al., “The impact of workplace smoking bans: results from a national survey,” Tobacco Control, 1999.
  8. (The figure of $3,191 is expressed in 2005 U.S. dollars adjusted for inflation from the original 1995 estimate of $2,565.) Canadian Conference Board, “Smoking and the bottom line: costs of smoking in the workplace,” 1997.
  9. Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, “Business Costs in Smoke-filled Environments,” October 2005.
  10. Michelle Scollo et al., “Review of the quality of studies on the economic effects of smoke-free policies on the hospitality industry,” Tobacco Control, 2003.
  11. New York City Department of Finance, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Department of Small Business Services, and Economic Development Corporation, “The State of Smoke-Free New York City: A One-Year Review,” March 2004.
  12. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc., “Environmental Tobacco Smoke,” June 2005.
Updates