smoking near entrances

bevhunt

Our new Ohio smoking law prohibits smoking near building entrances.  However, when it's freezing cold, what do we do about our employees who smoke and are huddled near the entrance?  Do we chase them away or ignore this?  Any ideas on how to handle this?

4603200

Washington State law prohibits smoking near any entrance or vent of any business or public building in the state.  We also have issues with employees smoking near the doors in inclement weather and have not addressed the issue.  Our business and employee offender can both be fined for this although it has not happened yet in our case.  I suspect we will not address the issue unless there are other employee complaints or we receive a fine.  Notices are posted at all doorways indicating the rules for smoking outside our business.

SFbay

Have you thought about banning smoking on all company property? In most cases,  that type of ban would work. If you combine the ban with smoking-cessation resources for smokers, it would go over much better.

IrisD

SFbay

What you say is theoretically a good idea. You can have the policy on paper, but who in the company is going to enforce it outdoors? 

I also think it would just cause die-hard smokers to take longer breaks to leave the property, as well as create a lot of animosity towards company management.

Also, what if you lease space in a shared building?

 

 

SFbay

You'd enforce it like your drug-free workplace policy and provide training for managers and others who you designate to enforce the policy.  You'd also have to be diligent about enforcing your break rules.

Also, you might be able to convince the other companies in the shared building to adopt the same policy. 

theoffice

i used the CDC's toolkit to help me implement a smoking policy at my company. the CDC's banned smoking on its campus and in cars parked on its parking lots.

 
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/ETS_Toolkit/worksites/Employer.htm

 

bevhunt

Thanks for the info.  However, the CDC has health-conscious, white-collar employees in a corporate setting.  It's different in our small manufacturing company.

We can adopt a ban on smoking on all company property, but how would we enforce this policy? I don't think our production and warehouse managers will want to patrol the parking lot to report on their people smoking in their cars. 

 We do have signs at entrances, and I think employees will obey the distance requirement in better weather.  I guess we will just hope we don't get a fine during this frigid spell or that smokers will think that it's just not worth it to go outside.