Compliance with the smoking ban in enclosed, semiopen and open areas of workplaces and public places in Chile

<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective</jats:title><jats:p>To assess the national level of compliance with the Chilean comprehensive smoke-free legislation by observing healthcare facilities, education centres, government offices, hospitality venues and private workplaces, by type of area within workplaces and public places: enclosed, semiopen and open.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methodology</jats:title><jats:p>In this cross-sectional observational study, we studied a national representative sample of 3253 venues obtained through a two-stage cluster sampling design. First, 57 municipalities were randomly selected, proportionally to the total number of venues of interest. Second, within each selected municipality, a maximum of 12 venues of each sector was selected systematically from a list of existing sites. We determined the non-compliance level by estimating the percentage of the visited venues where smoking was observed or suspected in banned areas of the premises.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Smoking or suspicion thereof was not observed in any enclosed area of any establishment. However, smoking violations were observed in semiopen areas ranging from less than 0.5% of schools and healthcare centres to around 10% of hospitality venues or 23.0% of higher education centres. Smoking violations were also observed in outdoor areas of 6.7% and 1.6% of the health centres and schools, respectively.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion</jats:title><jats:p>The stark contrast in compliance with the smoking ban between the enclosed areas and the semiopen areas may be a consequence of the complex definition of semiopen areas in the regulations. The study also reflects the need to improve the overall enforcement of the smoke-free law, particularly in universities and hospitality venues.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Peruga, A., Molina, X., Delgado, I., Matute, I., Olea, A., Hirmas, M., González, C., & Aguilera, X. (2021). Compliance with the smoking ban in enclosed, semiopen and open areas of workplaces and public places in Chile. Tobacco Control, 30(5), 570-573. https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055632