Smoke free facilities

hr92175 · August 2007

Our company is in the process of building a new office that is scheduled to open next summer. The President and CEO wants to make the entire property smoke free - he doesn't even want ee's smoking outside on our property. Since we will own the land and building, I'm sure there's not a problem with this. However, someone asked if they would be able to smoke in their car. I say no since their car will technically be on our property. Any thoughts?

NeedCoffee · August 2007

We went through the same thing. We made a steadfast ruling that smoking in car was not permitted unless the car was off company property.

hr92175 · August 2007

Thanks!!

Msferra · August 2007

This wasn't smoking issue, but when I worked in another state (SC) and was asked about employees carrying weapons in their cars, the local state highway patrol and the police department told us that a vehicle unless owned by the company can sit on a private lot, but the space inside the vehicle was considered "personal space" and anything can be done in that space -- including carrying a weapon. You might want to check on this further.

hr92175 · August 2007

Thanks - I'll be sure to check on that

drehil · August 2007

The school system in my town (MI) has the same type of rule, no smoking on school property. At break time you can see staff getting in their cars and driving them to the edge of the property, smoking and then driving back to work. It's funny to see 10 cars in a line with windows cracked and smoke rolling out and a few minutes later they all are gone.

C Wilson · August 2007

I understand the reasoning behind a smoke free property, but how far are the president and CEO willing to go to enforce this policy? Will violators be subject to termination?

I did a lot of research on going smoke free and we offered assistance to smokers who wanted to quit up to $250.00 for the patch, or any other medically proven method of their choice. We rolled the program out six months in advance of moving into our new facility to give people a chance to quit.

In the end I felt like all my hard work was for nothing because our GM changed his mind & allowed the employees to smoke in a designated area, but only on their lunch break. His fear of losing key staff over this issue caused him to backdown, so the paper tiger lost his roar.

However, on the positive side we have had quite a few smokers take advantage of the assistance we offer and have quit smoking. Good luck.

Smoke free facilities

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