Tobacco Talk: Your Right to a Smoke-free Workplace
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July marks the fifth anniversary of the Smoke-Free Workplace Law in Massachusetts. Thanks to this law, our exposure to secondhand smoke has been greatly reduced. Even so, many people still work or do business in workplaces where secondhand smoke exists. And, if it’s there…in the air, on clothes or furniture…you are being exposed to poisons, including carcinogens.
Even if you can’t smell it, secondhand smoke is dangerous. Secondhand smoke is considered a Class A carcinogen, like asbestos, and we should take it just as seriously. Opening a window, sitting in a separate area, using air filters or a fan does not get rid of secondhand smoke’s harmful chemicals.
The U.S. Surgeon General states that no level of exposure to secondhand smoke is safe. And clean smoke-free air is good for everyone’s health. A recent report issues by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported 577 fewer heart attack deaths each year in Massachusetts since the state-wide smoke-free workplace law went into effect.
There’s much that we can each do to protect ourselves. Smokers can smoke outside, away from other people until they feel ready to quit. Non-smokers can find respectful ways to address the issue of secondhand smoke.
Take, for example, Amy, a human service provider in the northern Berkshires. She could smell smoke migrating into her office and she was concerned because children were often in her building and she didn’t want to expose them to it. She believed that the smoke came from the office below her so she visited that office. That person said he smelled the smoke, too, and thought it came from upstairs. Though the source of the smoke was never identified, the word spread that people in the building were concerned about the secondhand smoke. Amy’s visit had the desired effect; she no longer smelled smoke after that visit.
Amy’s willingness to talk about the smoke made the difference. But, what if she had continued to smell smoke there? Or what if Amy had been reluctant to approach the office below hers in the first place?
Amy (and all of us) has a right to a smoke free workplace and a right to complain about indoor smoke. Employers and building owners in Massachusetts (with very few exceptions) owe you a smoke free environment. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know who the smoker is. It doesn’t even matter if the smoker is outside the building. If you smell smoke inside a workplace, including in a lobby or stairwell, the law is being violated and you can file a complaint about it.
All you need to do is call 1-800-992-1895 at the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program.They will be happy to receive your complaint anonymously and follow up on it with your local Board of Health. You’ll be helping the employer or building owner in question to do the right thing to protect workers and the public.
In the Berkshires, we have some of the highest smoking rates in the state. Nearly three out of every ten people in the northern Berkshires are exposed to secondhand smoke every week. Protect yourself and your children from secondhand smoke and tell us about it. Post your comments here, and tell us your how you’ve intervened to control the amount of secondhand smoke in your environment.
Learn more about secondhand smoke at www.makesmokinghistory.org or by contacting me, Joan Rubel at Berkshire Area Health Education Center.
Joan Rubel is coordinator of Berkshire AHEC’s Northern Berkshire Tobacco-Free Community Partnership. For more information, visit www.berkshireahec.org or contact her at jrubel@berkshireahec.org. Tobacco Talk runs monthly.
