Introduction
Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year. The Tennessee Non-Smokers Protection Act was created so that non-smokers and children could go to any public place and not have to be exposed to the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. “Surveys indicate that about 27 percent of adult Tennesseans, or about 1.6 million people, are smokers, the commissioner said. That is one of the highest percentages in the nation, she said” (2007).
Tennessee Non-Smokers Protection Act
The Tennessee Non-Smokers Protection Act went into effect, October 1, 2007. It was created to protect workers from secondhand smoke, which is associated with increased risks of cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses. “This law will protect the health of employees and patrons of businesses and restaurants throughout Tennessee. Secondhand smoke threatens the health of adults and children. Those with asthma and other chronic health problems are especially vulnerable to the dangers of secondhand smoke. The Non-Smokers Protection Act will make it easier for those people to avoid exposure to secondhand smoke in the places where they work, eat and play. We hope it also provides impetus to smokers to decide to quit” (2007).
Penalties
The Tennessee Non-Smokers Protection Act has penalties for individuals and business who do not comply with this law. “With enforcement of any new law, we understand there is an adjustment period where we learn and become familiar with the changes. The Department staff plans to spend the next few weeks continuing to inform and educate the public about the law, so they can fully comply with it” ( 2007). The penalties will not go into effect until smokers have been given an adequate amount of time to get used to the law. Later, they will be penalized.
Fines to individuals
Those who knowingly violate the ban do face penalties. An individual who knowingly smokes in area where smoking is prohibited is subject to a civil penalty of . The first time the person is caught smoking, they will be warned. The second time the person will be asked to leave the establishment, and the third time the person will be fined .
Fines to Businesses
A business that knowingly fails to comply with the requirements of the act is subject to a written warning from the Department of Health or the Department of Labor and Workforce Development for a first violation in a 12 month period; a civil penalty of 0 for a second violation in a 12 month period; and a civil penalty of 0 for a third or subsequent violation in a 12 month period.
Who will enforce the Act?
Both the Tennessee Department of Health and the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development have authority to enforce the law. If they inspect a business and someone is smoking they can fine that person, and then fine the business owner as well. They will be checking to see if businesses have the appropriate signs posted. See if people are being allowed to smoke inside. Every restaurant, if they are non-smoking, has to have the non-smoking signs posted or they could be fined.
Tennessee Department of Health
The Department of Health will enforce the law in establishments it inspects. Among them are; restaurants; public and private educational dining facilities; health care facilities; hotels, motels and bed and breakfast facilities; organized camps; and tattoo and body piercing parlors. They will be sending undercover people into these establishments who will try to smoke, and if the person in charge does not ask them to put the cigarette out, then the business can be fined.
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development
The Department of Labor and Workforce Development will enforce the law in establishments it inspects including manufacturing facilities; construction sites; convenience and grocery stores; retail stores and shopping malls; sports arenas, including enclosed public areas in outdoor arenas; and child care and adult day care facilities.
Rules and Regulations
Under this new law, smoking is illegal in all enclosed public places within the State of Tennessee. If any smoke gets inside of the restaurant from an outside patio area, then the restaurant is in violation of the Act.
Banned Places
Smoking is banned in all public places unless the place has an “age restricted venue”, which is a legal establishment that affirmatively restricts access to its building or facilities at all times to persons who are twenty-one (21) years of age or older. An establishment that is age-restricted only at night but allows people of all ages during the daytime hours would not be an establishment that restricts access at all times to persons twenty-one years of age or older.
Smoking is banned in all of the following locations: restaurants; public and private educational dining facilities; health care facilities; hotels, motels and bed and breakfast facilities; organized camps; tattoo and body piercing parlors; sports arenas, including enclosed public areas in outdoor arenas; and child
care and adult day care facilities
Restaurants
All restaurants in Tennessee will be smoke-free unless they choose to limit access to people 21 and older at all times. This includes restaurants with bars, as well as chain and hotel restaurants. Restaurants can allow smoking on outdoors patios. The restaurant cannot build a room and only allow persons age twenty-one or older inside the room. They would have to restrict access to the entire restaurant to people, including employees, twenty-one years of age and older in order to qualify for an exemption.
Educational facilities
Exemptions
Places that are exempt include: private homes, private motor vehicles, non-enclosed areas of public places, including open-air patios, porches, or decks, venues with restricted access to patrons who are 21 years of age and older, private businesses with three or fewer employees in areas not accessible to the general public, private clubs, smoking only rooms in hotels, retail tobacco stores provided that no minors are present, nursing homes, and commercial vehicles when occupied by only the driver.
Purpose
The Tennessee Non-Smokers Protection Act was created to protect children and all non-smokers from the dangers of second-hand smoke. Parents should be able to take their kids out to eat without having to expose their kids to second-hand smoke. Workers should be able to go to work every day and do their job without being exposed to the health risks of second-hand smoke.
Protect Children
When children are living in a home where they are exposed to second-hand smoke they are: “Four to eight times (varies by study) higher rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS); Four times greater likelihood of needing tubes in their ears; Have higher rates of bronchitis, pneumonia, colds and other respiratory infections; Reduced lung development and capacity; Low-birth weight (statewide 1,200 to 2,200 cases annually); More severe asthma (statewide 48,000 to 120,000 children); Higher rates of school absenteeism, with national figures showing children exposed to second-hand smoke experiencing 18 million more days of restricted activity and 7 million more days of school missed; Reduced ability to absorb essential nutrients like Vitamin C”
Protect workers
“The most effective way to protect workers from deadly secondhand smoke is to require smoke-free workplaces,” said Governor Bredesen. “The goal of this legislation is to protect Tennesseans who are simply trying to go to work each day and earn a paycheck. I’m proud to see Tennessee join the ranks of only a few other states that have taken the necessary steps to protect the health of employees and patrons by preventing exposure to secondhand smoke” (Non-Smokers Protection Act goes into effect Oct. 1, 2007).
Tobacco Quit lines
A Centers for Disease Control survey finds 27% of Tennessee adults smoke, but about half tried to quit over the past year (2007).
Hoping the ban will provide some smokers with an incentive to quit, the state just launched a special quit-line. The toll-free service provides a professionally trained quit coach to teach smokers how to overcome the addiction. Jay Collum, Hamilton County Health Department Tobacco Education Coordinator, says the coaches work “better with adolescents, women, elderly. They have coaches that specialize in those areas and they will set quit dates and appointments for future telephone counseling sessions.”
Employer and Business Owner Requirements
The law applies to virtually all places of business. Business owners are required to inform employees and patrons that smoking is prohibited indoors—including private offices and smoking rooms—and to post No Smoking signs in conspicuous places within their establishment. Businesses must get rid of all ashtrays and cigarette vending machines.
Signs
Businesses are required to post “No Smoking” signs in English and Spanish at every entrance to all locations where smoking is banned. Signs must be posted on all doors, tables, and in restrooms for all restaurants.
Inform employees and customers
If an employee or customer is found smoking inside of a business; it is the business owners responsibility to ask the person to either put the cigarette out, or go outside. If the person does not do as they are told, then the business owner can call the police.
Business Opinions
, who owns The Hitching Post in Clinton, bans those under 21 and will allow smoking to continue. Most of her patrons are smokers, she said. Wilson said the idea of a smoking ban “really, really makes me angry. I just don’t think it’s right that they should be able to tell me what to do in my own business. Smokers are being persecuted. Higher taxes and now this” ( 2007).
, senior vice president of Ruby Tuesday, said the nationwide chain already has adapted to similar laws in other states with no real problems. As a “kid-friendly” business, said there was no real consideration of banning those under 21. “We haven’t seen it have an impact on our business (in other states). If it’s applied across the board, it doesn’t keep people from coming to a restaurant they enjoy coming to” ( 2007).
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