PA Clean Air Act

Beginning September 11th, Pennsylvania’s new Clean Indoor Air Act goes into effect. This act will ban smoking in public places as well as workplaces. With exception to the City of Philadelphia, this ban is statewide.

“Workplace” is defined as an indoor area serving as a place of employment, occupation, business, trade, craft, professional, or volunteer activity. Place of employment is defined as the area that an employee uses for work or any other purpose. This includes restrooms, stairways, garages, cafeterias, to name a few.

Implementing a smoke-free policy may not be at the top of your to-do list, but the fines for not implementing a policy and following through are costly. Owners, operators, or managers of premises may be penalized for failing to post proper signage in the amounts ranging from $250 to $1,000. Owners can also be fined $250-$1,000 for allowing smoking. Finally, persons (patrons or employees) may be penalized $250-1000 for smoking. What to do ASAP:

• Post “No Smoking” signs.
• Communicate and educate all employees that smoking is prohibited in the workplace.
• Address the violations and the fines imposed by law.
• Define how violations will be addressed.
• Address how to handle smoking during work breaks.
• Provide employees with a copy of the policy.

For additional pointers, the PA Department of Health has developed a great Compliance Toolkit for download here: Smoke-Free Compliance Toolkit. You can also visit www.PACTonline.org for signage or sample policies.