Smoking Bans: Good or Bad?
By Eric Hartwell
Smoking bans could be laced with a tricky cocktail of obedience and alternative behaviour. Stopping smoking in public areas is all well and good provided that doesn’t push smokers elsewhere.
Surveys have sought to quantify the proposed and actual behaviours of smokers who live in areas of a smoking ban. Some think they will smoke as much, or more, elsewhere whilst other feel that a smoking ban might give them the incentive to give up the habit for good.
This divide is evident in France where from February as partial smoking ban (in public places) exists and a total ban from 2008. Smoking appears so rife in France that it’s outside image is almost synonymous with that of a hazy, clouded country.
Closed and covered public places in France have been the first to be targeted with the new ban. Special “agents” will enforce the ban with fines - heavier for employers who allow the ban to be sidestepped.
Even in France, though, the romantic image of smoking is fading as the truth of the enormous death rate, morbidity rate and healthcare costs start to sink in. A ban may be good for people but staunch smokers have, over the last decade, held sway in France, even thwarting rules and regulations in order to light up.
Now, workers are forced to either not smoke at all or to smoke outside. How much will this cost in lost time for the companies concerned? If each cigarette lasts 5 minutes then an employee smoking 12 cigarettes at work per day will lose that company a whole hour of productivity.
And if the worker is not allowed to smoke at all then, if they are addicted, what loss to efforts of concentration and efficiency?
Do you want to quit smoking? Visit Smokefree England for further information.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Hartwell
Email This Post
