Most comply with smoking ban
Officials of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department say nearly everyone is complying with the tougher smoking ban put into effect a year ago.
The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department released a report Tuesday on the Clean Indoor Air Regulation that shows 95 percent compliance upon inspectors’ initial visits to bars, gambling facilities and other businesses.
The report said 3,174 inspections took place between July 2008 and June 30, 2009, and 177 violations were found.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the health department, said after the violations were noted and follow-up inspections took place, the inspectors found almost 100 percent of businesses had complied.
Asked if the ban was working, Gupta said, “It certainly is.”
He went on to say, “This is to protect the health not just of nonsmokers, but also those that are forced to work in facilities such as bars and other facilities that are nonsmokers. It is protecting their health.”
There were three types of inspections: routine, requested and those made in response to complaints. There were 2,724 routine inspections, four requested and 446 upon complaint.
The number of violations dropped each quarter. There were 56 violations in July through September 2008, for example, and 37 from April to June 2009.
When the smoking ban was initiated, some business owners opposed the ban and said they would continue to allow indoor smoking.
Gupta said those places were a focus point for inspections for the last three months, and inspectors did not find any repeat offenses.
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