County Chamber of Commerce Unveils No-Smoking Rules

The Orange County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday unveiled a plan to regulate smoking in private business offices and expressed hope that the voluntary program would avert the need for county supervisors to adopt mandatory anti-smoking controls.

The plan was quickly endorsed by Supervisors Bruce Nestande and Thomas F. Riley, who represent most of the unincorporated areas that would be affected by a county smoking ordinance.

“We have given the private sector an opportunity to provide a smoke-free atmosphere without government’s heavy hand,” Nestande said.

“There will be a lot of motivating reasons why business is going to do it,” such as lower insurance premiums, higher productivity and increased health of workers, he added.

Enforcement Difficulties

Nestande said he believed that it would be difficult to enforce a county anti-smoking ordinance in the workplace, which would be limited to unincorporated areas. The county’s 26 cities are free to adopt their own policies on the issue.

“Obviously, we don’t want to put in an ordinance, but we will if we have to,” Nestande said.

“If the chamber drops the ball and just quits the aggressive program that they have initiated,” a county law will follow, he predicted.

Riley agreed that a law probably would not be needed but added: “I think all (supervisors) are aggressively stating the policy that if it does not happen, we’ll make it happen.”

Chamber officials said they would publicize their plan to thousands of businesses in the county and invited public comment on the proposals.

Last May, supervisors moved toward adopting anti-smoking rules for private workplaces but held off when the chamber said it would devise a voluntary plan within 90 days. However, chamber officials backtracked at the end of May, saying that they could not take responsibility for developing an overall plan and disavowing any administrative or monitoring responsibility.

Reversed Position

In June the chamber reversed its position again, and supervisors gave the group until the end of the year to come up with a plan. Meanwhile, supervisors tightened no-smoking rules in county buildings, effective Oct. 1, which directed that smoking be barred in 90% of all buildings owned or leased by the county.

The supervisors also vowed to enforce an existing law requiring restaurants in unincorporated county areas with seating capacity of 50 or more to set aside 20% of their seats and 20% of their floor space for nonsmokers.

In its new proposals, the chamber included four sample plans for companies, ranging from prohibiting smoking to allowing people to smoke in areas where smokers and nonsmokers work side by side.

Support Necessary

“All levels of management must support the idea of a smoking policy in order for it to be successful,” the chamber draft said, “and it must be considered part of the company’s personnel policy.”

Lucien Truhill, chamber president, said the group sent 5,266 questionnaires to major companies in the county. He disclosed that 54% of the firms that returned the survey said they had rules regarding smoking in their offices. Another 7% said they were working on a plan, while 27% requested a copy of a model smoking plan.

Robert Waller, the chamber’s board chairman, said: “We did not realize until we got into it (the smoking issue) what a hot potato it is. Smokers feel they have a right to smoke and nonsmokers feel they have a right to clean air.”

C.W. Blodgett, chairman of the chamber’s committee on smoking policy, said copies of the draft had been sent to local offices of the American Lung Assn., American Cancer Society, American Heart Assn., labor leaders and Californians for Nonsmokers Rights, a group that unsuccessfully urged the supervisors to impose a mandatory ban on smoking in the private workplace.

He said those groups had not yet issued replies.