Research confirms the positive health impact of a smokefree NI

Subject: Public health

Air quality in Northern Ireland has dramatically improved since the introduction of the smokefree workplace legislation, research by the CIEH in Northern Ireland shows.

The study, conducted by the CIEH with the University of Ulster, The Health Service Executive and the Public Health Agency shows that air quality in bars in Northern Ireland is 93 percent cleaner following the smoking ban, showing the clear health benefits to staff and customers.

In the study, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, air particulates including nicotine were measured in over 80 bars across Northern Ireland both before and after two months after the introduction of the legislation.

CIEH Director of NI Gary McFarlane said:

“This is great news for Northern Ireland and a testimony to all those involved in making this significant public health intervention a success. The evidence from this research is clear. The effects of smokefree enclosed public places and workplaces will save lives and protect the health of thousands.”

As well as measuring air quality, bar workers were asked to fill in a questionnaire before and after the introduction of the legislation. The findings show that a 72 percent reduction in the number of bar workers who reported symptoms or side effects attributable to tobacco smoke after the introduction of smoke free workplaces compared with the level beforehand.

The research was designed and equipped with the assistance of experts from the Health Service Executive in Galway as well as Berkeley University and Roswell Park Cancer Centre in the US.

The impact of smokefree legislation on indoor-air quality in bars in Northern Ireland report can be downloaded here

The report makes 2 recommendations for the future. The first advocates that a programme of indoor air particulate monitoring should be developed in Northern Ireland. This should include the setting of standards to minimise exposure to air particulates in the workplace.

Workplaces that are not classified as good or moderate in terms of the US EPA Air Quality Index (EPA, 2003) should be investigated to identify the source of PM_2.5 pollution and develop interventions to eliminate them.

Secondly, the report suggests that in the future there is a need to investigate whether there is scope in the future to modify existing legislation to provide more effective control on smoking outside premises. This is based on the fact that the scientific evidence confirms that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke and yet this research indicated that after the introduction of the legislation, although there were significant improvements in indoor air quality, there was, nonetheless, still a degree of contamination in some premises which, from observations, is most likely to have arisen as a result of the positioning of outside smoking facilities.