1. What has been the impact of smoking and the workplace?
Modern employers have grown increasingly intolerant of smokers and many workplaces are smoke-free, although about 21 percent of adult Americans continue to smoke. Even though some smoker advocates remain adamant that passive cigarette smoke is not harmful, the Surgeon General concluded that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure. The evidence that second hand tobacco smoke causes serious harm becomes more concrete every day and may be the under-recognized cause of heart attack deaths. Having smoke-free workplace policies helps to fulfill an employer’s legal obligation to provide a safe workplace under OSHA’s general duty clause.
The policy also reduces the risk of litigation, potentially reduce workers’ compensation premiums, and protect employees from harm.