Times Colonist

Victoria, British Columbia

WCB's smoking law won't ban butts

(Worker's Compensation Board)

June 26, 1999

by Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist staff

New Workers Compensation Board regulations won't necessarily see the rest of B.C. follow the capital region's lead banning indoor smoking in pubs and restaurants.

Instead, after Jan. 1, pubs and restaurants could rely on self-serve, ventilated smoking areas or even table chimneys that would prevent staff from being exposed to second-hand smoke, Scott McCloy, WCB communications director, said Friday.

"What we're intending to do here is prevent workers' exposure. We're not in the business of banning smoking, we're in the business of banning workers' exposure," McCloy said.

"So if a work place can find a way to have local ventilation, for instance a hood over a table where the worker who was serving them was not exposed to the smoke - the smoke was immediately sucked up and out into the atmosphere - that would be potentially acceptable to us."

Similarly, he said, if a pub owner were to build a ventilated room where smoking customers served themselves and workers did not have to enter, that could meet requirements.

"As long as the workers did not have to be exposed, that may well be acceptable," he said.

"Our regulations only apply to workers, they do not apply to the general public."

The new province wide WCB regulations that come into effect Jan. 1 stipulate that the employer must control the exposure of workers in any work place to environmental tobacco smoke by:

- prohibiting smoking on the job, or
- restricting smoking to designated smoking areas or by other equally effective means.

McCloy was emphatic there is no general ventilation or air-exchange system on the market today that would sufficiently clean air to allow for smoking and non-smoking tables side by side.

"Is there a magic bullet? At the moment we don't know of one. That doesn't mean that we're not prepared to consult and discuss with the hospitality industry... We're certainly open to discuss with the hospitality industry potential innovation systems on a ventilation area."

CRD chairman Geoff Young said that while the WCB might not have a problem with self-serve smoking rooms in pubs, liquor-licensing probably would.

Young has sent two letters to the province looking for clarification, and support in the CRD's efforts to clear pubs and restaurants of tobacco smoke. In his letter to Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh, Young notes the region has launched civil actions against six local pubs that are allegedly not complying with the CRD smoking ban.

"It is the understanding of the board that businesses which are licensed under the Liquor Control and Licensing Act must comply with local by-laws as a condition of retaining their liquor license." says Young's letter.

"Accordingly, this letter is to ensure you are aware of the non-compliance with the CRD Clean Air Bylaw and to request that your ministry, in accordance with provincial legislation, require businesses in the Greater Victoria area which hold liquor licenses to comply with the requirements of local by-laws."

Young wrote to the WCB inquiring about its standards for second-hand smoke.