Smoke- and vapour-free policies
Smoke and vapour-free policies protect you from unwanted exposure to second-hand smoke and aerosol (vapour) where you live, learn, and work.
Smoke- and vape-free housing
Make your home smoke and vape-free by visiting the Smoke-Free Housing Ontario website. The website offers information, tools, and resources for support, whether a tenant, a landlord, a condominium owner, or a housing co-op member.
Smoke- and vape-free campuses
Smoke and vape-free campus policies make it easier for people to resist and quit smoking and can have a tremendous impact on the health of an entire campus community. Learn more by visiting the Smoke-Free Campuses website.
Smoke- and vape-free policies in the workplace
Under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 (SFOA, 2017) all enclosed workplaces, including work vehicles, must be smoke-free and vapour-free (including cannabis). Employers may wish to ban smoking and vaping in additional workplace areas that are not included in the Smoke-Free Ontario Act. These policies further protect employees from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and vapour. We can support you with resources to develop a comprehensive policy. For more information about smoking and vaping policies, email quit@phsd.ca or contact us.
Additional resources:
Sample Policy – Smoke-Free/Vape-Free Property
(Reproduced with permission of Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit)
Your company name is committed to providing a smoke and vapour-free working environment. There is recognition that secondhand smoke from tobacco industry products, including cigarettes, is a significant health hazard and smoke and vapour-free environments both protect the health of the employees and have a positive impact upon cessation efforts.
In order to eliminate hazards and ensure a safe and healthy workplace, our buildings and properties will become smoke and vapour-free effective ______________.
Policy
All buildings, offices, and vehicles owned or leased by company name here are “smoke and vapour-free areas” as required by law under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017.
In addition to the legislation, the company name prohibits the use of tobacco, vapour, and cannabis products on all outdoor property belonging to the company. Appropriate signage will be posted at key locations in the parking lot and at entranceways. Copies of this policy will be available to all employees.
All visitors to company name are to be asked to observe the smoke and vapour-free policy while conducting business on company property.
Those employees who smoke/vape and who want to quit smoking, vaping, or using other commercial tobacco products are invited to participate in the quitting supports being offered by company name here.
Information about these supports is available from the Human Resources Department. The success of this policy will depend on the thoughtfulness, consideration, and cooperation of all employees of company name here. We all share responsibility for adhering to this policy.
Signature of CEO or President
Sample Policy – Commercial Tobacco-Free Workplace Protection On and Offsite
(Reproduced with permission of Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit)
Your company name is committed to providing a working environment that is free of all commercial tobacco products, vapour, and cannabis products for all employees, volunteers, and students. This policy extends the same protection that the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 provides to home healthcare workers to all of our employees when providing services in clients’ homes.
Policy
All employees have the right to ask a person not to smoke/vape in their presence while they are providing services. If a person refuses to comply with the request not to smoke/vape, employees have the right to leave a location due to the presence of secondhand smoke/vapour without providing further services – unless doing so would present an immediate, serious danger to the health of any person.
Procedure
When an employee is arranging to provide services in a client’s home, the client will be informed that there must be no use of commercial tobacco, vapour, or cannabis products by anyone in the home during the time that the services are being provided. If there is evidence of active smoking/vaping in the home at the time of the visit, the employee has the right to leave.
If a person refuses to comply with the request not to smoke/vape, the employee will follow the following procedure:
- Notify their supervisor/manager within 30 minutes, or as soon as reasonably possible, of the following, if applicable:
- That the worker has left.
- Whether an appropriate person is present and available to care for the person to whom the services were being/to be provided.
- If the person to whom the services were being provided or were to be provided would require services in the next 24 hours.
- In what situation the person was in when the employee left.
- Whether there are any unusual circumstances and if so, what they are.
- In cases involving service coordination, the employee needs to notify appropriate agencies as soon as possible that the service was not performed, if applicable.
- In cases of ongoing service disruptions, the employee is to work with the client to find viable solutions (change of location, etc.), if applicable.
Signature of CEO or President
Sample Policy – Corporate Policy on the Exclusion of Tobacco Industry Sponsorship
(Reproduced with permission of Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit)
Tobacco industry products will kill one out of every two long term users. This epidemic is courtesy of a legal industry selling a legal product. Its legitimacy was established more than 50 years ago, before research unequivocally showed that commercial tobacco was a killer. The tobacco industry continually attempts to buy legitimacy by providing corporate sponsorship funds and donations. By refusing to accept sponsorship from the tobacco industry and any company doing business for or with the tobacco industry, you are refusing to align your company with an industry whose strategies and tactics divert attention from the truth about their products.
Policy
Throughout the process of securing corporate sponsorship, your company name must retain its credibility in the eyes of the public. Potential risks associated with corporate sponsorship may include: loss of credibility should the public view the sponsor as inappropriate; perceptions of favouritism to sponsors in the application of legislative duty; perceptions of conflict of interest.
Company name will consider a corporate sponsor where the moral integrity and interests of the sponsor are aligned with the interests of our company and our image is maintained or enhanced.
Sponsorship may occur in many ways: A financial donation, production of materials, free or at-cost distribution of materials, publicity, meeting space, prizes, supplies, equipment or food, expertise or organizing special events.
Procedure
When seeking sponsorship for our company, staff must ensure that the following criteria are met:
The message conveyed through the sponsorship or provision of product or services is compatible with the intent of the project.
The sponsorship agreement is consistent with the policies, practices, or objectives of your company name and of the project.
The corporate sponsor is in good public standing and their product or service is not seen to be in conflict with the mandate of your company name.
Acceptance of sponsorship from a company, whether a financial contribution or products or services, will in no way interfere with or influence our company.
Company name will exclude the tobacco industry and companies that work with or support the tobacco industry from any form of sponsorship.
Signature of CEO or President
This item was last modified on October 1, 2024