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• Wear | Hospital smoking shelters U-turn 

Sunderland Royal Hospital is "reluctantly" reinstating shelters for smokers in its grounds.

Health bosses admit they are unable to stop people disobeying the no-smoking rule and lighting up just outside the hospital's main doors.

This had led to complaints by patients and staff about second-hand smoke drifting into the building.

Purpose-built shelters, which were dismantled two years ago, are to be set up again.

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Remembrance tribute moved — for a shelter  

A ROYAL British Legion club has been forced to move a war memorial — to make way for a smoking shelter.

The four feet-high monument has been at the club in Astley Bridge for more than eight years.

It has now been dismantled and is awaiting a new home.

The memorial features around 40 names, but with no clue to their regiments. The history of the monument is unknown.

A club committee member, who did not want to be named, said: “If there had not been a smoking ban, the memorial would be where it has been for at least eight years. “Bolton Council put pressure on us to have the shelter because they said people were smoking in the doorways.

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Brussels Airport:Smokers room Concourse B 

At Brussels Airport a general non-smoking policy is applicable. Not only the departing passenger but also the growing number of transfer passengers requested the possibility to smoke. As from December 2009 an exception will be applied to the non-smoking policy. A new, first, smokers room will be opened halfway Concourse B, located next to the Bar (at gate B17).

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• Anti-smoking laws being violated  

Smokers violating the law of complete ban on tobacco use at work and public places have still continued this practice in the federal capital. Citizens complained that after withdrawal of Statutory Rules and Orders (SRO), all public and work places have become smoke-free, therefore, smokers should not be allowed smoking or using tobacco in any other form in any public place.

They said individuals and offices are clearly violating the ordinance. They said complete implementation of law would help protect the health of non-smokers and make the smokers abiders of the concerned laws.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier, all public and private offices were allowed to designate a separate place for smokers to smoke within office premises with adequate arrangements to protect the health of non-smokers.

However, such permission was being misused

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Fremont to ban outdoor smoking at restaurants  

The closest thing to a smoking section for Fremont eateries soon will be the parking lot.

The City Council unanimously backed a new law Tuesday prohibiting restaurants from allowing smoking at outdoor tables.

The law, which is scheduled to go into effect in early December, puts Fremont on par with most East Bay cities, including Hayward, which already has banned outdoor smoking at restaurants, City Attorney Harvey Levine said.

Smoking bans for bus stops and parks could be next, council members said.

Fremont banned indoor smoking at restaurants more than a decade ago, but city officials had allowed restaurants to designate a contiguous half of their outdoor tables for smokers.

That law contributed to Fremont being one of only three Alameda County Cities to receive an "F" from the American Lung Association earlier this year.

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Outdoor Smoking Ban Gains Support at City Hall  

It may soon be even more difficult for smokers in the City of Los Angeles to light up outside. A new, strict, outdoor smoking ordinance is gaining support at City Hall.

A city council committee expressed support Tuesday for the ban, but ordered several changes to the ordinance before sending it to the full council for approval. The council could consider the measure as early as next month.

City code already prohibits smoking in parks, farmers' markets and on city beaches, while state law bars customers from lighting up inside restaurants. Other cities have imposed far more restrictive bans; Calabasas, for instance, prohibits smoking in public areas.

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PROHIBIT SMOKING IN OUTDOOR DINING AREAS 

Motion - That the City Attorney be requested to prepare and present an ordinance to prohibit smoking in outdoor dining areas and within five feet of such areas, similar to a recent ordinance enacted by the City of Burbank. . . .

Date Activity 10/22/2009 Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on October 27, 2009.

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Nailsea pub Blue Flame smoking shelter ban  

Nailsea pub landlord may have to pull down a smoking shelter he put up outside his inn as councillors said it "adversely affected the character of the area".

Mick Davidson, who has run the Blue Flame pub at Netherton Wood Lane, West End, Nailsea, for 21 years, put up the pergola style shelter at the front of the pub a couple of months ago after customers complained that they had nowhere dry to enjoy a cigarette.

Mick had previously put up gazebos at the front of the pub for smokers, but was forced to take them down after they blew over in high winds.

He then decided to create the wooden shelter, which has a metal and felt roof and is concreted into the ground, in front of the main bar where his smokers gather for a puff outside the pub.

But the future of the shelter - and whether it can stay put - is in the balance after complaints from local residents.

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SANTA CRUZ: UPDATE: COUNCILWOMAN SAYS RESPONSE TO SMOKING BAN MOSTLY POSITIVE  

Santa Cruz residents are no longer allowed to smoke outdoors in certain areas of the city under a new ban that took effect this week.

A new ordinance, approved by the City Council on Sept. 22, prohibits smoking on Pacific Avenue, Beach Street between the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and Third Street, and West Cliff Drive.

"Research is showing that secondhand smoke is a serious health problem," Councilwoman Katherine Beiers said. "Many, many people from the community have asked for this over the years and finally we have the support to do this."

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Strict New Santa Cruz Smoking Ban Goes Into Effect  

Santa Cruz residents will not be allowed to smoke outdoors in certain areas of the city under a new ban that took effect Thursday.

A new ordinance, approved by the City Council on Sept. 22, prohibits smoking on Pacific Avenue, Beach Street between the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and Third Street, and West Cliff Drive.

Smoking is also now illegal in city parks, on the Municipal Wharf and in all outdoor dining areas in the city.

The new rules will also bump up the number of smoke-free hotel rooms

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• ACT govt cracks down on smoking outdoors  

Smokers will be banned from lighting up in outdoor areas where food and drinks are served under new laws being proposed by the ACT government.

It will force smokers to move at least two metres away from eating and drinking areas if they want a cigarette.

The move - mirroring similar measures in Queensland and Tasmania - is about ensuring a smoke-free workplace for waiters and waitresses, the ACT government says.

But Health Minister Katy Gallagher concedes businesses have a tough time ahead should the laws be passed.

Under the draft laws, any outdoor area where food or drinks are served must remain smoke-free, with restaurants, cafes, clubs and pubs - not the smokers - facing fines if they don't toe the line.

Ms Gallagher said she expected opposition from industry groups, but maintained no worker should be exposed to smoke in their workplace.

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The Upside of Outside Smoking at Work 

Today's idea: Lest we go too far in banning outdoor smoking, consider how it promotes cross-departmental camaraderie at work, a columnist suggests.

Work * What's next? "Who Moved My Marlboros?" "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Chimneys"? In his Financial Times column, Michael Skapinker doesn't quite propose a new line of management books. But, frowning at New York's move to ban smoking at beaches and parks, and wondering where this all could lead, the London-based nonsmoker says consider what smokers clustered out at sidewalk entrances or in parking lots contribute to our workplaces -- "apart from killing two people a day," that is.

"They form a particular subculture," Skapinker reasons. "Forced into each other's company, they seem a more congenial bunch than most people at work."

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The Butt Stops Here  

As Montana bars dealt with their first smoke-free weekend since the state's indoor smoking ban went into effect, ingenuity ruled. In Missoula, according to a great piece by Michael Moore in the Missoulian, the Rhino Bar gave smokers their very own place to light up: a Butt Hutt, created by Dave Golden of Well Done Welding and Jim Bell, a general contractor. Moore describes the hut as a 4-by-8-foot "metal smoking dugout" in the alley behind the Rhino in Missoula. . . .

Other bars will almost certainly be devising plans and smoking spots of their own in the coming months. (NewWest.net would love to hear about the solutions you're seeing out there.)

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Entrepreneurs Build 'Butt Huts' as Solution to Montana Smoking Ban  

Two enterprising men think they have a good solution to a new state law prohibiting smoking inside public places.

The two are partnering to build metal smoking dugouts that can be placed outside businesses so smokers have a place to puff without violating the law and without exposing themselves to the weather.

"I call it the Butt Hut, but it's a dugout," welder Dave Golden said.

He and partner Jim Bell have built just one Butt Hut, which is now behind the Rhino Bar in downtown Missoula. But they believe other bars may soon come calling for their own.

The Butt Huts are about 4-by-8-foot and open on both ends, with a solid roof and a Plexiglas front window. It has a bench seat wide enough for five or six people.

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MT indoor smoking ban creates confusion over "smoking shacks" 

Now that the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act is fully implemented, some business owners are employing new ways to accommodate smoking guests - but many proprietors may not know what the state requires when it comes to building "smoking shacks."

Because the law is so new, there's still a lot to learn, so what officials are doing is looking at what state law defines as an "enclosed room" and working from there.

By definition of the law, an enclosed room has a door and walls that reach from floor to ceiling, so an area for smokers outside of a bar or casino needs to be completely open with no door, but officials will need to evaluate each area on a case by case basis.

Alicia Thompson, executive director of the City-County Health Department, noted, "There isn't a real straight, clean answer at this time because there are so many unknowns as to how it's going to be implemented, and we do have to coordinate with the liquor boards and everyone else."

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