'Ban all workplace smoking'

2007-01-24 20:49

Cape Town - Smoking should be banned completely in the workplace and all other public places, parliament's health portfolio committee was told on Wednesday.

The committee is holding public hearings on draft legislation to toughen up the existing Tobacco Control Act, including a proposal to give legal protection to employees such as waiters who object to working in smoking areas.

An occupational hygienist at the national institute for occupational health, Abednego Baker, told the committee: "I've only got one recommendation: all workplaces should be made 100% smoke free."

He said smoking areas in bars and restaurants were serviced by waiters who often were working there only part-time, and were young and financially vulnerable.

Nicotine leaks

Even non-smoking areas were not completely free of hazard, as studies overseas had shown noticeable concentrations of nicotine leaking from the designated smoking areas.

Ventilation systems could not remove second-hand smoke from indoor environments.

"Because tobacco cannot be controlled... there is no protection at all: smoking should be banned in all public areas," said Baker.

Under existing legislation, a workplace falls within the definition of a public place.

Smoking is allowed only in specially designated areas that can make up no more than a quarter of the total area.

Baker said there was "some kind of contradiction" between the tobacco legislation and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which stipulated that employers had to protect employees from any health hazard in the workplace.

Heart-attack risk

Medical Research Council president Anthony MBewu told the committee that making workplaces, including bars and restaurants, smoke-free - and enforcing this through tough legislation - would encourage smokers to reduce their consumption or to quit.

This would reduce the heart-attack risk for them and those people forced to inhale their second-hand smoke.

Research evidence on the harmful effects of second-hand smoke "could have implications" in terms of litigation by workers or patrons exposed to this smoke.

- SAPA