North: Bar staff's health to improve with smoking ban

Proof was provided today that a workplace smoking ban will improve people’s health when it comes into force next year.

Smoking bans are due to be introduced in the North in April followed by England later in the year.

A new study carried out by a renowned respiratory disease expert and his team has come up with confirmation that health is improving as a result.

Professor Luke Clancy of Trinity College, Dublin said his investigations show clear evidence that the ban has cleaned up the air in licensed premises and restaurants and improved the health of the people who work in them.

Prof Clancy said: “Prior to the smoking ban being introduced, we knew intuitively that it would bring health benefits, but now two years after the ban, we have quantitative proof.”

He added: “Our research has shown that particulate matter in the air, which is a feature of some pollution, has decreased by up to 80% in pubs and workers are breathing better. This is the first time we have measured the pollution and measured the effects.”

Prof Clancy, delivering a lecture at the University of Ulster campus in Coleraine, Co Derry, said he and colleagues had measured particles in more than 40 licensed premises before the ban was enforced and a year afterwards to gauge the impact.

He also recruited 81 male bar workers and measured their lung function before the ban and 12 months afterwards.

“We found a 30-40% decrease in shortness of breath, coughs and watery eyes. Lung function in the non-smokers also improved,” he said.

The long-term effects of a smoking ban could be even greater, he predicted, saying he hoped everyone would find the success of the smoking ban in the south reassuring and realise that imposing a ban was the right thing to do.

His findings were released as the British government took another significant step towards introducing smoke-free legislation in the North with the publication of draft regulations.

UK health minister Paul Goggins set out detailed proposals and put them out for a six-week public consultation period.

The draft regulations include the definition of “enclosed” and “substantially enclosed” premises, requirements for the content and display of no smoking signs, exemptions to legislation and arrangements for fixed-penalty notices.

The minister said: “I am acutely aware that there is widespread support for smoke-free legislation in Northern Ireland. That is why I am keen to ensure that we consult as widely as possible on the fine detail of legislation to ensure that we maintain this high level of support.”

He said that while enclosed public places and work places would be smoke free, exemptions were proposed which included designated bedrooms in hotels and in long-stay mental health units.

The government also proposed exempting prisons, where smoking would be covered buy prison rules, he added.

Mr Goggins added: “I want to stress once again that the measures we are proposing do not represent an attack on smokers.

“They are designed to protect the public and employees from exposure to the harmful effects of tobacco smoke.”