100% SMOKEFREE WORKPLACES - INDOORS AND OUTDOORS
Summary of main arguments and evidence

Secondhand smoke (SHS) is an immediate, significant and potentially fatal health hazard  www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/health.htm
SHS is a highly toxic, carcinogenic airborne contaminant containing over 250 toxic compounds, including 43 known human carcinogens. There is no safe level of exposure to it. The overwhelming weight of independent research, and health authorities right up to the World Health Organization, says SHS increases risk of death, causing (in both smokers and non-smokers) heart disease, strokes, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, foetal harm, and much more. It can cause rapid and significant health harm at low levels of exposure, especially when repeated. 

Secondhand smoke is a toxic workplace contaminant - with employees at high risk   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/health.htm     See latest under HARM TO WORKERS
Many employees in Australia are exposed every working day/night to SHS - including food and drink waiters, entertainers, gambling staff, cleaners, prison and custodial officers, warehouse and factory workers, drivers, performance venue staff, and more. Employees are especially at risk because evidence shows harm increases with repeated exposure, even at low doses and in open or partly enclosed areas. Tobacco smoke-contaminated workplaces are unsafe and unhealthy, infringing Occupational Health and Safety rights. SmokeFree Australia (including employee groups) support 100% smokefree workplaces - whether enclosed or not. 

Partial smoke bans and voluntary/"opt out" provisions are not acceptable   www.ashaust.org.au/SF'03/partly.htm  
Some Australian states persist with inadequate partial solutions allowing smoking in "outdoor" or "unenclosed" areas (some of these are more enclosed than open), many of them heavily staffed. This has led to measurable exposure well over international guidelines. Workplace exposure to a high-level toxic carcinogen is unacceptable and can be prevented - by ensuring that any smoking-permitted area is substantially unenclosed, separate and unstaffed - as in Queensland, NT, ACT and Tasmania. See table of states/territories at www.ashaust.org.au/SF'03/law.htm   Public opinion strongly supports this (see below). Partial bans not based on health evidence create inconsistencies and encourage evasion. Voluntary or "opt out" provisions for employees are ineffective and exploitative - they encourage people most desperate for jobs/shifts to volunteer to work in unsafe conditions. We do not allow this for other airborne contaminants (e.g. asbestos) and should not allow it for SHS.

Ventilation and indoor separation do not work   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/ventilation.htm
Approaches to the problem based on ventilation or separate indoor "smoking rooms" do not provide adequate protection, says all independent research. Such suggestions, once advocated by the tobacco industry in an attempt to stave off smokefree workplace laws, are thoroughly discredited. There is no known safe way to contain tobacco smoke within one room or indoor space and prevent its spreading to other areas of the building.  

Smoky workplaces are inconsistent with our obligations under international law   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/law.htm
Australia's ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control means all levels of government are committed under Article 8 to fully protect all people - no exceptions - from SHS by making all indoor working areas 100% smokefree. Treaty guidelines define "Indoor" as an area with any enclosure, whether a roof or one wall.

Smoky workplaces undermine OH&S and disability access   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/law.htm
They are inconsistent with OH&S laws establishing an employer's legal duty to provide a safe workplace and to take reasonable steps to remove dangers. No-one should be working in any smoke-contaminated area. Some work safety authorities have not enforced OH&S laws consistently to ensure SHS is eliminated from all workplaces. Smoky workplaces undermine anti-discrimination laws by effectively barring people with smoke-affected disabilities (e.g. heart, respiratory, diabetic - at least 10% of the community) from employment and access. The Human Rights Commission has ruled that a smoky room is as much a barrier to an asthmatic as is a flight of steps to a person in a wheelchair.

The community strongly supports smokefree workplaces   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/support.htm
Many surveys from all over Australia show very large and increasing majority support for this - including most regular pub/club patrons and most smokers. Support is highest among 18-24 year olds. Public opinion does NOT see retaining partly-enclosed smoking areas as an adequate solution.

Health leaders strongly support 100% smokefree workplaces   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/partners.htm
In Australia, strong supporters of this measure to be implemented as soon as possible include: the Preventative Health Taskforce (see its 2009 report pp. 182-183 at www.preventativehealth.org.au/internet/preventativehealth/publishing.nsf/Content/nphs-roadmap/$File/nphs-roadmap-4.pdf); the Chief Medical Officer of the Federal Health Department, the AMA, the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, major public health groups, medical colleges, and many more.

Smokefree reforms do not harm drinking and dining trade   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/economic.htm
Despite decades of misleading and unfounded claims by tobacco companies and their allies in the gambling/hospitality lobby, consistent findings of worldwide and Australian independent research studies show smokefree laws do NOT harm overall hospitality patronage, sales or jobs, food or drink sales. The only revenue ever reduced by smokefree reforms has been gambling revenue, where some small and mostly temporary "hiccups" have occurred. Such revenue is drawn from exploiting nicotine-addicted heavy gamblers and is not ethically defensible. Any gambling impact is far outweighed by broadened patronage as families return to smokefree venues; and more still by falling health costs. Smoke bans save on air-conditioning, fires, insurance, cleaning... and reduce the likelihood of costly legal actions by staff or patrons harmed by smoke. Venue managers are concerned about health risks and accept that smokefree laws are inevitable. See  www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/support.htm

Smokefree venues and smokers’ rights   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/smokers.htm
Smokefree laws do not "ban smokers" – just smoking in certain areas, just as we do with other "legal" activities. It’s your legal right to drive, but not on the footpath; you can legally use a chainsaw – but not wave it around in a crowded bar. Civil Liberties Councils support a right to smoke only where there is no likelihood of harming others. Most smokers accept this as reasonable. 85% of smokers say in surveys that they want to quit – smokefree reforms encourage this. Research says smokefree laws especially encourage quitting by younger smokers - the tobacco industry's main recruiting target. Research shows smoky crowded social settings involving alcohol are key sites of relapsed quit attempts.

Smokefree venues lead to clear health benefits   www.ashaust.org.au/SF’03/effective.htm
Smokefree workplaces help dramatically reduce smoking rates and provide clear-cut health benefits, say studies from around the world. They quickly and significantly improve the health outlook of hospitality workers. They quickly and significantly reduce hospitalisations. They support quit-smoking attempts. They do NOT lead to more people smoking at home.

100% smokefree venues will help gamblers' health and help reduce problem gaming   www.ashaust.org.au/lv4/GamblingBrief09.doc 
All enclosed or partly-enclosed gambling areas should be 100% smokefree in the interests of the health of staff and patrons and as a Responsible Gaming measure. These should include "high roller", "premium" and "private" rooms currently exempted in some states. Exploiting nicotine-addicted gamblers is not ethically defensible for either businesses or governments. Smokefree laws improve gamblers’ health, says research, and also help stop gamblers getting into worse financial hardship.      www.ashaust.org.au/SF'03/economic.htm    

World trend towards smokefree workplaces   www.ashaust.org.au/SF'03/news.htm
Encouraged by Article 8 of the worldwide Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, more countries are moving to introduce 100% smokefree laws in all workplaces including pubs, clubs, dining and gaming venues - while some Australian states and territories lag further and further behind these best practices. Federal, State, Territory and local governments all have responsibilities to help bring about comprehensive laws and policies protecting all people.

Smokefree workplaces: no more exemptions, no more delays.   “It’s about health – and it’s about time.”

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