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END
THE UNHEALTHY LOOPHOLES
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Despite welcome changes,
serious "black holes" remain in most Australian states and
territories
-
leaving thousands of workers and patrons at serious health risk from secondhand
smoke.
Remaining
problems include:
NORTHERN
OVER-EXPOSURE: Little progress towards smokefree workplaces in the
Northern Territory, where pubs, clubs and many other workplaces are still
full of toxic smoke, even in totally enclosed areas.
PREMIUM
RUSSIAN ROULETTE: Exemptions for premium / "high roller" /
"inner sanctum" gaming rooms from indoor smokefree requirements in
NSW, Queensland, Victoria and WA - enshrining these very unhealthy
workplaces.
PARTLY
ENCLOSED PERIL: The continuation in most states and territories of
unhealthy and unsafe crowded smoky areas - partly or even mostly enclosed - where thousands
of bar staff, food service staff, gaming supervisors, musicians and other
entertainers, cleaners, technicians and other employees are required to
work.
SMOKY
POKIES: The exacerbation of the problem by some jurisdictions allowing
gaming machines to flood back into smoky areas.
PRIVATE
WORKPLACE FREE-FOR-ALL: The continuation in some jurisdictions of
exemptions to the smokefree rules for some non-government workplaces not
accessible to the general public (though in theory all are covered by
OH&S laws, work safety authorities have taken a weak approach to SHS
risk).
Crowded, staffed
smoking
areas:
- Leave workers and patrons dangerously exposed to the known serious harm of secondhand smoke. Any exposure is dangerous, and continuous/repeated exposure more so - including exposure in partly-enclosed or open space. See the latest research
- Are based on very complex calculations of wall and ceiling ratios - leaving patrons and proprietors confused, complaints difficult, and avoidance inevitable.
- Deny the public what it wants: genuinely smokefree drinking and dining, with anyone wanting to smoke having to go outside (really outside, not partly).
- Violate basic OH&S rights and undermine Disability Discrimination and Occupational Health and Safety laws and international treaty obligations. See the legal/treaty background
- Threaten children's health, since some smoking-permitted areas also permit children.
We need your support now to end these
loopholes!
Contact us: email staffords@ashaust.org.au
or ph. (02) 9334-1823 and find out how to make your voice heard.
NSW: Email NSW leaders NOW:
end the loopholes
Partly-enclosed smoking areas are proven
unsafe
See evidence that most so-called
"outdoor" smoking areas are unsafe for wiorkers and patrons, exceeding
WHO-recommended exposure levels. See
SmokeFree
Australia media release 15/8/08 with link to air quality study
presentation
See our factsheet:
Tobacco
Facts for MPs (NSW) (Winter
2007)
Weak "smokefree" laws leaving staffed,
partly-enclosed smoking areas are not good enough - to finish the job, all
smoking areas however enclosed should be made effectively separate from working
and eating areas.
More at our Taking Action
page
See very latest research on health harm from secondhand smoke
WHAT SMOKEFREE AUSTRALIA WANTS:
While our members have slightly differing
views in some respects on this, as a coalition our minimum position is:
No worker (including
entertainer) should be required to work in any area while smoking is
happening - however enclosed or unenclosed it is. This should apply clearly
to all workplaces, whether government or non-government, licensed or
unlicensed, publicly accessible or otherwise.
Any outdoor area set aside for
smoking should not include any facilities requiring staff presence,
including:
- food or drinks service;
- eating - since this would require frequent staff servicing
for hygiene reasons;
- gaming machines - since these require staff supervision/servicing; or
- children allowed - since they are particularly vulnerable to secondhand
smoke harm.
Smoking-permitted areas should have adequate
separation from non-smoking (including all working) areas, and from adjacent
premises or public areas, sufficient to prevent significant smoke drift into
those areas. This could involve separation by fresh air or impermeable wall -
no doors or windows adjacent to the smoking area. It should not be necessary
to walk through the area to reach other areas.
Exemptions
for "high roller", "premium" or "private" gaming rooms should be ended immediately in all
jurisdictions.
Simple and safe: the Queensland model
The best models to prevent avoidance
of deadlines and protect workers and the public are the laws in Tasmania and
Queensland: see Nobody
smokes here anymore - new Qld government website including
the new legislation and associated public education campaign. The
Queensland legislation is particularly effective, its bans including any
contiguous (attached to main building) area where food or drink is served, where food is consumed, or where
entertainers are working. It thus avoids depending heavily on complicated
mathematical formulae defining "indoor" or "enclosed" - as other jurisdictions (NSW,
Vic, ACT, SA) have become mired in. See SmokeFree
Australia release 9/3/05
In Queensland it was decided to avoid public and industry confusion over complicated wallspace area calculations - by not only making 100% of indoor areas smokefree, but also 100% of outdoor areas serving food and beverages. To avoid the indoor/outdoor definition further, no less than 50% of all other outdoor areas must be 100% smokefree. And if smoking is allowed at all outdoors it must be in a designated smoking area, being no more than 50% of the total outdoor area. A Smoking Management Plan must be provided for these areas. No food can be consumed in these areas (not even a pack of chips), no drinks can be served (people can bring their drink with them); and no entertainment can be provided in these areas. There must be a 1.2m barrier provided from other areas, or an impervious wall - no doors, windows or vents opening into indoor areas.
Queensland has not yet ended the exemption for "high roller" gaming rooms - but it is now under review. So far, Tasmania, the ACT and SA have dropped the exemption.
"Outdoor" smoking areas in pubs and
clubs a health hazard
15/8/08: A new study has found more than half the
partly-enclosed smoking areas of NSW licensed venues are over recommended smoke
exposure limits - they're a threat to public health and occupational safety.
SmokeFree Australia has called for immediate separation of all smoking from all
working areas. See SmokeFree
Australia media release 15/8/08 with link to air quality study
presentation
Secondhand
smoke causes blood, cell damage in 30 minutes: study
2/5/08: A new study of smoke in bars
shows significant damage to blood vessels and stem cells. And the University of
California (San Francisco) study says the harm can happen within 30 minutes of
exposure. See UCSF
media release 2/5/08 See study
abstract See SmokeFree
Australia media release 5/5/08
Meningococcal
link with secondhand smoke confirmed
Feb. 2008: Analysis of victims of a meningococcal disease outbreak in Canada
between 1999-2002 shows the three main risk factors were bar attendance, rave
attendance and maternal smoking - all connected with secondhand smoke. Previous
research has shown a link between secondhand smoke expoure and meningococcal
risk. See study
abstract
Passive
smoking causes earlier onset of colon cancer
9/2/08: A study at the University of Rochester (US) Medical Centre has found
that colon cancer occurs earlier in life for both active and passive smokers.
The earlier the age of exposure to tobacco smoke, the earlier the onset of the
disease. See study
abstract
Outdoor
exposure significant:
tobacco a "toxic air contaminant"
30/10/07:
Updated US report from Air Resources Board (California) says exposure to
secondhand smoke even in outdoor areas adjacent to smoking areas has been
monitored at levels comparable to household exposure - i.e. proven harmful and
potentially deadly. The report lists tobacco smoke outdoors as a "toxic air
contaminant."
See
report at www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/ets/finalreport/finalreport.htm
Health hazard in partly-enclosed pub smoking areas
15/9/07: A new study has shown
partly-enclosed "outdoor" smoking areas are a health hazard to workers
and patrons. The NZ study, presented to an international conference, shows smoke
levels in these areas up to four times WHO-recommended safe levels. SmokeFree
Australia has called for all states to ensure minimum separation of smoking from
working (including eating and gaming) areas. See
SmokeFree
Australia media release 15/9/07
"Outdoor" areas unsafe to workers,
heart/asthma sufferers, children: new study
8/5/07: Hospitality and dining workers and
entertainers face serious health harm from secondhand smoke in crowded outdoor
workplaces, says a major new study from Stanford University. It also points to
acute risk to asthmatics and heart/artery disease sufferers, and exposure of
children. SmokeFree Australia has called for urgent meetings to tighten
smokefree laws and separate working and smoking areas. See
SmokeFree
Australia media release 8/5/07 including link to study
Workplace smoke can double lung cancer risk: new UN study
31/1/07: A major report co-authored by the UN's International
Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) has shown workplace exposure to secondhand
tobacco smoke can double lung cancer risk in the most heavily exposed. The
worldwide review of studies published in the American Journal of Public
Health concludes workplace exposure should be "eliminated" and
recommends "tougher regulations and laws" against smoking in public
places. Note that exposure to secondhand smoke happens irrespective of how
enclosed the working area is. See
IARC
media release 31/1/0 See
review
abstract
See SmokeFree
Australia media release 6/2/07
Secondhand smoke can damage health at very low
levels
17/10/05: Research published in the
international medical journal PLoS Medicine says there is "no safe
threshold" for tobacco exposure and that they must be "virtually
eliminated to protect human health."
See study
pdf, PLoS Medicine Dec 2005 issue
US ventilation engineers agree: only safe way is to ban
smoking
30/6/05: Position paper from the American Society of Heating,
Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) concludes that "the
only means of effectively eliminating health risk associated with indoor
exposure is to ban smoking activity." See
ASHRAE
position document 30/6/05
Separate rooms and ventilation don't work
The
community doesn't want partly-enclosed smoky rooms
More on the health harm
to workers and the public from secondhand smoke
Note that all of this harm can be caused
whether the exposure happens inside, partly inside or outside.
Smoked out: big tobacco's
deals in clubland
11/7/08: Tobacco companies are paying Victorian pubs and clubs commissions for
selling tobacco - showing the kind of connection that's frustrated and weakened
smokefree pub and club laws. See
Melbourne
Age report 11/7/08