Ohio
Dept of Health Director, J. Nick Baird's,
statement addressing the confusion about smoking ban enforcement.
December 8, 2006
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported today that
the Ohio
Department of Health, in settlement talks between the Ohio Attorney
General’s
office and two groups that filed law suits against the Smoke Free
Workplace
Act, has clarified how it will proceed with the enforcement of the
Smoke Free
Workplace Act that went into effect on December 7, 2006.
According to the report, Health Department
spokesman Jay
Carey stated that until specific rules and regulations are implemented,
there
will be no immediate enforcement of the ban on smoking in public places. While the Health Department has six months to
finalized the regulations, they expect to complete the rule making
process much
sooner.
In the meantime, in response to complaints
about smoking the
current Health Department strategy is to send out
“informational” letters to
businesses rather than “warning” letters.
“Warning” Letters are typically
sent out for first violations of a Health
Code and serves as the first step on the road towards fines for
subsequent
violations.
According to the Health Department, no matter
now many
informational letters a business receives before the new rules go into
effect,
they will not count as prior violations in the Health
Department’s case file
against the business.
However, that will change as soon as the new
rules take
effect. Businesses are encouraged to
monitor the Ohio Department of Health’s web site Ohio Department of Health --
www.odh.ohio.gov for rule postings and
for any opportunity for
public comment before they are finalized.
INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS
Matthew Stefanak, Commissioner of the Mahoning County District Board of
Health has reached out to the business community and partnered with the
Regional Chamber to make compliance information readily
available. The three informational sessions on Nov. 29th, 30th,
and Dec. 1st were each attended by 50-100 people and while compliance
rules are still in the development stages, Matt believes this law will
be self-enforcing. More information sessions will be scheduled in
the months to come as the rules are made available from the Ohio
Department of Health. Ohio
Department of
Health -- www.odh.ohio.gov
Throughout the rulemaking process, the new rules will be posted on the
Ohio Department of Health's web site and there will be a opportunity
for public comment on the rules.
For the employer's training needs, here is a download of the
presentation used at these informational sessions.
"Complying With The Smoke Free
Workplace Act" Presentation - PDF
"Complying
With The Smoke Free Workplace Act" Presentation - Power Point
In
the months to come as these regulations become available,
the Chamber will provide regular updates to the Mahoning Valley
community. Through
periodic e-mail
notices to Chamber members, publication in the Chamber’s
Valley Business
magazine, our professional development luncheons and this web site, we
will
seek to provide up-to-date information about the changes employers must
make to
bring themselves into compliance.
Bookmark
this web page for upcoming programs on the
enforcement of the Drug Free Workplace Act.
Related
Links
Smoke
Free Ohio, www.smokefreeohio.org
City
of Columbus,
Public Health Department, www.publichealth.columbus.gov
U.S.
Dept of Health & Human Services, Surgeon General’s
Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco
Smoke,
www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke
American
Cancer Society, www.cancer.org
American
Lung Association, www.lungusa.org
