Workplace safety agency calls on casinos to put an end to secondhand smoke risk
Jump to full article: Reno (NV) News & Review, 2009-05-14
Author: Dennis Myers
Intro: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), an arm of the Centers for Disease Control, has asked casinos to ban smoking to protect their workers.
The action was prompted by a new study showing significant levels of a tobacco-specific carcinogenic toxin in the urine of workers in three Nevada casinos, a study prompted by the request of Nevada casino workers for health evaluations of their workplaces.
At least one of those employees lost her job after making her request.
The study, known in bureaucratic parlance as a health hazard evaluation (HHE), was conducted among 124 workers in the Bally's, Paris and Caesars Palace casinos in Las Vegas. (The three casinos are all Harrah's properties.) . . .
Among findings:
"We found ETS components in the air. These components include nicotine, 4-vinyl pyridine, respirable dust, solanesol, benzene, toluene, p-dichloromethane, naphthalene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde."
"We found increased urinary levels of one ETS component during the work shift. This finding shows that these components were absorbed in [non-poker] casino dealers' bodies."
There were also findings favorable to the casinos' stance of supporting smoking over worker safety, but the presence of the toxins led to OSH asking the casinos to end smoking.
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