Few Helsinki restaurants apply for two-year transition period over smoking

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As Helsingin Sanomat reported in March, most Finnish restaurants seem set to go completely smokeless from the beginning of June, when the amendment to the law on smoking in public areas comes into effect. The purpose of the amendment is to protect restaurant workers from the harmful effects of cigarette smoke.
      As of June, restaurants have three options: a total ban on smoking, the construction of a sealed smoking area, or applying for a two-year transition period.
     
In Helsinki, the municipal health inspector has received only around 35 applications from bars, discos, or restaurants for a two-year transition period. Moreover, so far fewer than 20 restaurants have applied for a permit from building inspection authorities to construct designated smoking booths.
      The Finnish Hotel and Restaurant Association FHR assumes that the majority of restaurants will not even apply for such permits, as many of them will turn directly smoke-free, says Aki Raudas, a lawyer for the FHR.
     
The largest restaurant chain in the Greater Helsinki Area, HOK-Elanto, intends to turn their restaurants almost entirely smoke-free. The chain has around 110 restaurants and pubs including Chico’s, Virgin Oil Co., and the William K. beer houses.
      "Smoking booths are planned just for six restaurants, while transition periods are being applied for by fewer than a dozen", reports Jouko Heinonen, head of the company’s restaurant business.
     
Health Inspector Teo Ilomäki from the City of Helsinki’s Environment Centre notes that some 10 to 15 applicants will be granted permission for a two-year grace period.
      The applications must be filed by the beginning of June. Otherwise the establishment will automatically turn smoke-free.
      A specific limit value of 1 mg nicotine per one cubic metre of air has been set for the smoke-free areas. This limit is difficult to meet without constructing designated smoking booths, which partly explains the low number of applications, notes Tom Johnsson from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Moreover, the construction of a smoking booth costs thousands of euros.
     
Particularly discos seem to have difficulties in controlling the smokelessness of the establishment, as people are in the habit of moving freely in the premises. Moreover, the places have so far been unable to make proper arrangements for smoke-free areas, Johnsson concludes.
      While understanding the idea of protecting people who are exposed to tobacco smoke, some restaurateurs feel that information on the effects of hazardous chemicals would be more effective than an outright ban.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Majority of restaurants to go smoke-free this summer (23.3.2007)
  Restaurant owners wait impatiently for guidelines on smoking booths (29.1.2007)

Links:
  Finnish Hotel and Restaurant Association FHR
  Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

Helsingin Sanomat