Lessons from the Irish workplace smoking ban

Background The Irish government introduced a comprehensive workplace smoking ban in 2004, this afforded an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of this ban on a number of different fronts. Methods 42 public houses were visited before the smoking ban, and then again one year later. Measurements on the number of staff, customers and people smoking were recorded during each visit, particulate pollution levels (PM2.5) and benzene were also recorded. 81 volunteer bar staff were recruited to undertake pulmonary function testing and to answer a questionnaire, this was repeated one year later. Results Following the introduction of the ban there were no significant changes observed in the number of staff or customers, however the number of customers smoking felly by 78%. Particulate pollution and benzene levels were seen to fall by 84% and 80% respectively. Improvements were observed in the respiratory function of non smoking bar staff, while self reported symptoms and irritants were seen to improve in all bar staff. Conclusions This work has shown that a comprehensive workplace smoking ban can work, and that it is associated with improvements in air quality and the health of bar staff.