Smoking Ban Due in 6,800 U.S. Buildings : GSA Cites Health Interests; Curbs Will Affect 887,000 Workers

Citing tobacco smoke as “irritating and annoying to nonsmokers,” the General Services Administration announced a sweeping action Thursday to curb smoking in the 6,800 federal buildings it controls nationwide.

The regulation, which will affect 887,000 federal employees across the country, will prohibit smoking in all general office space, corridors, lobbies, auditoriums, classrooms, conference rooms, libraries, elevators and restrooms. It will allow smoking only in designated areas, including private offices and special sections set aside in cafeterias and near vending machines.

“Smoking has begun to infringe on the health interests of nonsmokers in the work place,” GSA Administrator Terence Golden said in a speech in Seattle sponsored by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. “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.”

‘Are a Positive Step’

He added: “The official regulations I have proposed for federal buildings are a positive step toward the total wellness of federal employees.”

The regulation does not cover Capitol Hill offices, certain judicial buildings or buildings run by the U.S. Postal Service and the Defense Department. The military, however, issued its own directive several months ago prohibiting smoking in military facilities around the world.

A Los Angeles anti-smoking ordinance was approved in 1985 but has not been applied to federal buildings.

The GSA regulation, hailed by the anti-smoking lobby, was praised Thursday by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop as “a step to protect federal workers who do not smoke.”

“This action covers more than three-quarters of a million workers--no single action ever taken before has provided protection for that many individuals at one time,” said Matthew Myers, director of the Coalition on Smoking or Health. “This, combined with the directive issued by the military, probably covers more buildings than any other action taken.”

The proposal, which is subject to 60 days of public comment before becoming final, was attacked by the industry-based Tobacco Institute.

‘Lose . . . Productive Work’

“Workers who cannot smoke at their desks will continue to smoke, and smoke elsewhere,” said Scott Stapf, assistant to the president of the Tobacco Institute. “That means you lose all the productive work they could be doing at their desk for the five or ten minutes an hour that they’re out smoking.”

Furthermore, Stapf labeled the provision exempting private offices from the ban as discriminatory. “Who is in those private offices? Predominantly white males and white-collar males,” he said. “People in the open bay areas tend to be women, blacks and low-income people. Those are the people who would bear the brunt of this proposal.”

In Los Angeles, an ordinance adopted in April, 1985, prohibits smoking in elevators, bathrooms and medical facilities and in two-thirds of the lounges, lunchrooms and cafeterias in public buildings. It also requires businesses with five or more employees to provide “to the maximum extent possible” a smoke-free area for nonsmokers.

However, the city regulation does not extend to federal, county or state buildings because the City Council was informed by its legal advisers that it was questionable the ordinance could be applied to them, according to Ted Goldstein, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office.

Goldstein said he expects the new GSA rule to encourage county and state authorities to propose similar regulations. “With the city and federal examples, I’m inclined to think the county and state won’t be too far behind,” he said.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has introduced legislation that would prohibit smoking in all federal buildings, including those not managed by GSA. The bill has been approved by committee action and is awaiting a full vote by the Senate.

In the House, similar measures have been introduced by Reps. Don Ritter (R-Pa.) and James H. Scheuer (D-N.Y.). Hearings are expected soon before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health.

“We hope GSA’s action will act as an impetus for Congress,” said Myers of the Coalition on Smoking or Health. “It does not alter the need to pass those bills.”

Staff writer Michael Seiler contributed to this story.