Health and Human Services to Ban Tobacco Use on Its Grounds Starting Jan. '05 [11/12/04]

Health and Human Services to Ban Tobacco Use on Its Grounds Starting Jan. '05 [11/12-3]

Excerpts from: HHS Is Getting Even Tougher on Tobacco Use by Employees

By Stephen Barr The Washington Post [11/12/04]

The Health and Human Services Department will ban the use of tobacco on its campuses starting in January as part of Secretary Tommy G. Thompson's initiative to get Americans to quit smoking, officials said.

HHS will provide employees who use tobacco with free counseling and products for coping with withdrawal, such as gum and patches, if such assistance is not covered by their health insurance. The "tobacco cessation program" will be operated by Federal Occupational Health, a branch of the Public Health Service, the officials said.

The department does not have an estimate of how many smokers work at its facilities, HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said. The department has about 66,000 employees.

HHS policy already prohibits smoking in buildings and near buildings. The new "tobacco-free HHS" policy will expand the ban to include smokeless tobacco products (such as chew and snuff) and extends the area for enforcement to outdoor property. Areas previously designated for outdoor smoking will be eliminated.

A presidential order and the Public Health Service Act permit HHS to prohibit the use of tobacco products on its property as a means of discouraging unhealthy behaviors, officials said.

HHS plans to begin encouraging employees next week to seek help for their tobacco cravings so that they will have time to prepare for the policy's launch on Jan. 1, officials said.

But the tobacco-free policy will not apply to HHS smokers in a uniform manner, in part because some union contracts include provisions that guarantee smoking breaks for employees. In addition, negotiations will be needed to determine whether the policy can be implemented at some properties that are leased or are on land of sovereign Indian nations.

As labor contracts expire, HHS will negotiate the removal of provisions that go against the policy, an official said.

During the summer, HHS banned outdoor smoking at the Baltimore campus of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of workplace changes growing out of a ruling by a federal labor panel. The Baltimore ban caused some controversy, in part because it called on security officers to write tickets, with fines as high as $50, for outdoor smoking.

Compliance with the new HHS-wide policy will be accomplished through administrative remedies, an official said. Security officers who encounter employees using tobacco on HHS property will issue warnings and may take employee names and badge numbers and submit them to supervisors for further action, the official said.

On Wednesday, Thompson announced renewed efforts to get Americans to quit smoking, including a new Web site (www.smokefree.gov). As part of the announcement, he unveiled plans to ban tobacco use on HHS campuses.

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