Findings. | |
Definitions. | |
Regulation of Smoking in Shared Office Workplace. | |
Disclaimers. | |
Penalties and Enforcement. | |
Severability. |
Editor's Note:
The provisions of this Article are suspended and superseded by Article 19F. See Article 19F, Section 1009.37.
The provisions of this Article are suspended and superseded by Article 19F. See Article 19F, Section 1009.37.
The question of whether tobacco smoke is harmful to smokers was answered more than 20 years ago. U.S. Public Health Service reports on the health consequences of smoking have conclusively established cigarette smoking as the largest single preventable cause of premature death and disability in the United States. As a result many scientists began to question whether the low levels of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) received by nonsmokers could be harmful.
The 1986 Surgeon General's Report on the Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking clearly documents that nonsmokers are placed at increased risk for developing disease as the result of ETS exposure. The term "involuntary smoking" denotes that for many nonsmokers, exposure to ETS is the result of an unavoidable consequence of being in close proximity to smokers.
The report contains the following conclusions: (1) Involuntary smoking is a cause of disease, including lung cancer, in healthy nonsmokers. (2) Simple separation of smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space may reduce, but does not eliminate, exposure of nonsmokers to environmental tobacco smoke.
The quality of the indoor environment must be a concern of all who control and occupy that environment. Protection of individuals from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is therefore a responsibility shared by all. As employers and employees we must ensure that the act of smoking does not expose the nonsmoker to tobacco smoke. For smokers, it is their responsibility to assure that their behavior does not jeopardize the health of others. For nonsmokers, it is their responsibility to provide a supportive environment for smokers who are attempting to stop.
The scientific case against involuntary smoking as a health risk is more than sufficient to justify this legislative measure, the goal of which must be to protect the nonsmoker from environmental tobacco smoke.
(Added by Ord. 180-88, App. 4/28/88)
Unless otherwise defined herein, the definitions set forth in Article 19, Section 1002, of this Code, shall govern the interpretation of this Article.
(a) "Office workplace" shall include, in addition to the examples noted in Section 1002(6), press boxes at stadiums or other locations.
(Added by Ord. 180-88, App. 4/28/88)
The provisions of this Article apply to office workplace shared by the employees of two or more employers.
(1) Each employer shall notify his or her employees of the following regulations regarding smoking:
(a) Any nonsmoking employee may object to his or her employer about smoke in the office workplace. If the objection concerns another employer's employee, the nonsmoker's employer shall notify the smoker's employer of the objection. Using already available means of ventilation or separation or partition of office space, the smoker's employer shall attempt to reach a reasonable accommodation, insofar as possible, between the preferences of the nonsmoking and smoking employees. However, an employer is not required by this ordinance to make any expenditures or structural changes to accommodate the preferences of nonsmoking or smoking employees.
(b) If an accommodation which is satisfactory to all affected nonsmoking employees cannot be reached, the preferences of nonsmoking employees shall prevail and the employers shall prohibit smoking in that office workplace. The employers shall clearly mark the area in which smoking is prohibited.
(Added by Ord. 180- 88, App. 4/28/88)
By regulating smoking in shared office workplace, the City and County of San Francisco is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such breach approximately caused injury.
(Added by Ord. 180-88, App. 4/28/88)
The provisions of Section 1005 of Article 19 are applicable to the enforcement of violations of this Article. Any penalty assessed and recovered in an action brought pursuant to this paragraph shall be paid to the Treasurer of the City and County of San Francisco.
(Added by Ord. 180-88, App. 4/28/88)
If any provisions of this Article, or the application of any such provisions to any person or circumstances, shall be held invalid, the remainder of this Article, to the extent it can be given effect, or the application of those provisions to persons at circumstances other than those to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby, and to this end the provisions of this Article are severable.
(Added by Ord. 180-88, App. 4/28/88)