Smoke Free?

Karla

My facility would like to become smoke free in the next year. Is there a specific lead time I have to give people prior to making the facility smoke free?

LindaS

I am not aware of any law dictating the amount of notice that must be given but in experiences that I have had, we typically gave several months notice. I have also heard of companies using their EAP provider to hold meetings and present information regarding quitting smoking in conjunction with the change. We also provided areas outside the building (unless you are looking to go to no smoking on ALL company property) where employees could go to smoke.

The problem we experienced after we made the change was that employees were extending their break periods to go outside and have their cigarettes. We found employees that would go outside before the actual break to start their smoking, go back in to punch out for break, go back outside and smoke, then go back inside to punch back in prior to the bell then going back outside to finish their cigarettes. This became quite a problem and, although I am not longer with that company, my understanding is that this is still a problem.

Good luck!