The case for smoker-free workplaces

The recent experience of making bars in New York and Ireland smoke-free seems likely to give further impetus to the push for smoke-free workplaces and public places. The primary stimulus for the smoke-free workplace has always been employee occupational health, but an important secondary benefit is the consistently reported significant effect of reduced smoking frequency and increased quit rates among employees in smoke-free workplaces.1,2 I have always thought the ultimate objective is a workplace which is both smoke-free and smoker-free. The practicality of this objective depends on a number of variables, especially smoking prevalence rates and applicable laws in the country concerned. While it may not be practical across the community, it seems appropriate for exemplar organisations such as hospitals, cancer charities and cancer institutes to explicitly aim for both smoke- and smoker-free workplaces. In the late 1980s, the …