Smoking Ban in 6,800 U.S. Buildings Set : Smoking Ban Set in 6,800 U.S. Buildings

The government’s housekeeping agency announced plans today to ban smoking in the 6,800 federal buildings it manages nationwide, warning that puffing workers would be confined to special areas or private “smoking offices.”

The General Services Administration cited both health and annoyance to nonsmokers in publishing its proposal.

GSA Administrator Terence Golden previewed the stringent new regulations at the opening of a two-day Regional Conference on Public Employee Fitness and Health, sponsored by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Step Toward ‘Wellness’

“The official regulations I have proposed for federal buildings are a positive step toward the ‘total wellness’ of federal employees,” Golden said.

“Hand in hand with other initiatives to improve the quality of the federal workplace, the federal work force can be healthier, happier and more efficient.”

The new regulations, scheduled for publication today in the Federal Register for a 60-day comment period, would ban smoking in general office space, lobbies, corridors, conference rooms, classrooms, libraries, elevators and restrooms. Designated smoking areas would be established at cafeterias and vending facilities.

A private office also may be declared a smoking area by the agency, the regulations state.

May Take Effect in Fall

The ban probably will take effect this fall, Golden said, adding that “nothing in the regulations precludes an agency from setting more stringent guidelines.”

“Smoking has begun to infringe on the health interests of nonsmokers in the workplace,” Golden said. “No longer is it the right of the individual to smoke without regard for the health concerns of those who work in the same area.”

Golden said that cigarette smoking has been blamed for about 340,000 premature deaths annually, with direct medical costs totaling more than $23 billion.

In addition to the danger of cancer, heart disease and other problems for smokers themselves, the GSA announcement noted that “the Office of the Surgeon General has indicated that current scientific evidence suggests that exposure to cigarette smoke can be hazardous to nonsmokers and may create a potential hazard to those suffering from heart and respiratory diseases or allergies.”

Tobacco Institute Opposed

A proposal made by several members of Congress in April to restrict smoking in government buildings was termed by the Tobacco Institute as a “crusade without a constituency, and at an enormous cost.”

That bill would have directed the secretary of health and human services and the surgeon general to develop smoking regulations for federal buildings.

Scott Ballin, a vice president of the American Heart Assn., was enthusiastic about the new GSA proposal, saying his organization strongly supports the restrictions.