Q:
What is secondhand smoke?
A: Secondhand smoke is a combination of a smoker’s
exhaled smoke and the smoke from a burning cigarette. It contains more than
4,000 substances, including 200 known poisons and 43 cancer-causing substances
and kills an estimated 62,000 nonsmokers each year in the United States.
Q:
How can I file a complaint?
A: An employee or a member the public can file a confidential
or anonymous complaint against a business that violates the law by contacting
your local health department or district health office. The local numbers
are:
Tompkins County: call
Environmental Health at 607-274-6688.
Cortland County: call 607-753-5035
Q:
What are the penalties?
A: Any person who smokes or who allows smoking in an area
or establishment that is regulated by this law can be subject to a civil penalty
of up to $2,000 for each violation.
Q:
Do I need to provide a smoking break room for my employees?
A: No. In fact, the law prohibits employers from providing
a smoking break room for employees. Businesses with separately ventilated
rooms for their smoking employees, including OSHA compliant smoking rooms,
cannot allow smoking in these rooms or anywhere else in the building.
Q:
Can I smoke in my private office in a commercial work establishment?
A: No.
Q:
What organizations/businesses does this law not apply to?
A: There are very few organizations/businesses that this
law does not apply to. Smoking is allowed in the following areas or businesses:
private homes, private residences and private automobiles when not in use
for day care; hotel or motel rooms rented to one or more guests; retail tobacco
businesses; membership associations where duties related to the operation
of the association are performed by volunteers who are not compensated in
any manner; cigar bars; up to 25% of the seating in outdoor seating areas
with no roof or ceiling enclosure, as long as the area is clearly marked and
separated from the nonsmoking area. Click here
for a complete list.
Should
I be prepared to call the police to enforce the smokefree workplace (Clean
Indoor Air) law?
No. The Clean Indoor Air Law is enforced by local health departments. Unlawful
threats of violence or property damage are enforced by police departments.
The
information on this page was prepared by the NYS Department of Health Tobacco
Control Program, Ursula E. Bauer, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director
