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Nunavut to extend smoking ban to almost all workplaces

"We came up with a model that would work in the North"

JANE GEORGE

Last week marked the beginning of the end for smoking in places where Nunavummiut work, including bars and restaurants, as the ministers responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board for Nunavut and the Northwest Territories approved the WCB'S new Environmental Tobacco Smoke Work Site Regulations.

The smoking ban is "absolute," Andy Wong, the WCB's chairman, said in an interview from Yellowknife.

After May 1, 2004, you won't be able to smoke in or even near an enclosed work site, such as a bar or restaurant, where other people are on the job.

You won't even be able to light up a cigarette within three metres of most workplaces. Even then, special smoking areas will be required.

The regulations will affect students - who won't be able to smoke right outside school doors to protect the staff inside - as well as drivers of municipal vehicles who are in an enclosed space.

The only exceptions in the regulations are for underground miners, who will have smoking sites set aside, and for people who actually live in an enclosed work site, such as a jail, elders' centre or health facility. They'll also have a well-ventilated place set aside for smoking.

"We did our research and came up with a model that would work in the North," Wong said.

The idea is to protect workers from second-hand smoke. No safe level of exposure has been established. Studies show 80 per cent of second-hand smoke originates in the workplace.

"It creates a safety risk for the workers," Wong said.

In Canada, smoking regulations have often been left in the hands of municipal governments, although Wong said the trend is now toward encouraging provincial and territorial control.

British Columbia is the only other jurisdiction in Canada where the WCB has limited smoking in workplaces. However, smoking in enclosed sections of bars and restaurants is permitted, and workers are allowed to work 25 per cent of their shift in those areas.

Victoria, B.C., Ottawa, New York City, the entire state of California and Ireland - with its numerous pubs - also have moved to totally smoke-free work places, or will shortly.

Governments support these regulations, Wong said, because smoking means increased costs to health care. Still, Wong doesn't expect bar and restaurant owners to welcome the new regulations.

While the WCB will be responsible for enforcing the new regulations on smoking in the workplace, Wong said the burden of responsibility will fall on the employers and workers to comply, and fines will result from non-compliance.

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