The 7 hospitals of the Allegheny Health Network in Pennsylvania has banned smoking on their grounds, joining a growing list of health care facilities that has topped 3,600.
Starting on January 1st no workers, visitors or patients will be able to use any tobacco products on company property.
The health network has declined to say how employees might be punished for not following the rule.
Other Pennsylvania health networks UPMC and Greensburg-based Excela Health banned all smoking on their properties in 2007. UPMC went a step further last month, when it forbade workers from smoking at any point during their shifts, including breaks taken off UPMC property.
Advocates for the restrictions said the changes follow evolving social norms. Surveys show more than half of hospitals nationwide have such rules, said Bronson Frick, associate director at the California-based Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights.
One question, with a report that second-hand smoking is not a danger, what about my rights?
Read more: https://triblive.com/news/allegheny/6596552-74/smoking-health-cancer#ixzz3ACqnNPFQ
