Agenda Index City of Vancouver

POLICY REPORT
HEALTH

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Medical Health Officer

SUBJECT:

SMOKE-FREE BY-LAW AMENDMENTS

 

RECOMMENDATION

MANAGER'S COMMENTS

PURPOSE

This report is written to recommend amendments to the Smoke-free Indoor Air provisions of the Health By-law that will reflect Council's previously stated intentions of ensuring 100% smoke-free indoor public places by January, 2000.

COUNCIL POLICY

On March 12, 1996 City Council, as part of an overall objective of achieving 100% smoke-free public places by January 1, 2000, adopted amendments to the Health By-law to incorporate 100% smoke-free provisions in public establishments open to minors. Adult-oriented establishments were provided with an initial requirement for 30% non-smoking space, with the proviso that this would move to 100% smoke-free on January 1, 2000.
City Council has supported, through Resolutions at UBCM, the W.C.B. smoke-free workplace regulation.

BACKGROUND

In December, 1995 Council held three nights of Special Council meetings and heard from over 100 delegations with respect to a report from the Medical Health Officer which recommended a 100% smoke-free provision for all indoor public places. During Council's deliberations in March of 1996, the commitment to 100% smoke-free establishments was reiterated, but "adult-oriented" (e.g. liquor) establishments were provided with an initial 30% restriction which was to move to 100% by January 1, 2000. This objective had been agreed to in the regional initiative involving GVRD municipalities. In fact, most other GVRD municipalities had incorporated 100% smoke-free provisions for all indoor establishments effective January 1, 2000, and these have now taken effect (see Appendix B for current by-law status in region). With the introduction and implementation of WCB secondhand smoke regulations on January 1, 2000, the need to amend the City by-law was not regarded as critical, since the workplace regulation also had the beneficial effect of protecting the public (patrons) from secondhand smoke. On March 22, 2000 the B.C. Supreme Court declared the "hospitality industry" sunset clause provision null and void, prompting the WCB to initiate another round of public hearings, tentatively set for July. Any reinstatement or reintroduction of the regulation is not likely to take place until October, 2000 or later. As a result of this ruling the general public (and workers) are not assured of protection from exposure to secondhand smoke in these adult-oriented establishments.

DISCUSSION

In order to implement Council's previously stated intention of achieving smoke-free indoor public places by January 2000, Council should endorse the amendments as generally described in Appendix A.

OTHER ISSUES:

Design of the designated smoking room: Since its original enactment in 1996, the provision which restricts the size of the smoking room to 5 square metres has proven to be an obstacle to the pursuit of this option by the industry. Staff recommends that this restriction be removed, leaving in place the 10% of floor area restriction.

COMMUNICATION PLAN:

The confusion surrounding the status of the WCB regulation, coupled with some inaccuracy in reporting the effects of the Supreme Court decision, has left the public and operators wondering what the current smoking status is in Vancouver. Staff recommends that an advertising campaign, along the lines of the attached North Shore advertisement (Appendix C), be pursued, with ads inserted into community papers within 7 days of enactment of the by-law.

ENFORCEMENT ISSUES:

Environmental health officers at the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board continue to receive and follow up on complaints and pursue non-compliant establishments through prosecution. The list of prosecutions to date is attached as Appendix D.

Staff has kept Council informed of the status of prosecutions under the by-law as well as legal challenges that have occurred with respect to the by-law. At the time of writing this report, there are several establishments that have been convicted for a second time under the by-law. Based on Council's 1996 directive to staff, these establishments will be referred to the Chief License Inspector for possible action against their business license. Therefore, it is likely that these establishments could be in front of Business License Hearing Panels this spring.

Enforcement of the proposed enhancements to the by-law will not require any additional resources and will be carried out by environmental health officers employed by the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board. Given that there is broad knowledge on the part of proprietors and patrons of the smoke-free provision and that this will be enhanced by the proposed communications plan, staff does not intend on providing multiple warnings to non-compliant operators. Enforcement will be carried out on a complaint basis, with the first complaint resulting in a site visit and a final warning regarding non-compliance. Any subsequent verified complaints will result in immediate enforcement action through prosecution, and, for flagrant and repeat offenders, recommended action against the business license.

CONCLUSION:

The Medical Health Officer is recommending that the Health By-law smoke-free indoor public place provisions be amended to better protect the public's health and reflect Council's long-standing commitment to achieve 100% smoke-free indoor public places by January, 2000.

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Appendix A
Proposed Revisions to Smoke-free Provisions in Health By-law 6580

2. Section 6.5 is amended in clause (a) by deleting the words "or 5 square metres, whichever is the smaller,".

APPENDIX D
Smoke-free bylaw prosecutions to date

* Candidates for referral for business license review.

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The majority of the successful prosecutions have resulted from guilty pleas (especially recently).

ATTACHMENTS THAT DO NOT HAVE ELECTRONIC COPY ARE AVAILABLE ON FILE IN THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE

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