Residences: How the New Smoke-Free Ontario Act will Affect Retirement Residences

The Province of Ontario has released the regulations for the new Smoke-Free Ontario Act. The new Act comes into effect in May 2006.

Two parts of the Act will affect retirement residences. Firstly, Controlled Smoking Areas (CSA) will replace Designated Smoking Rooms that were defined in the old Act. The new requirements are extensive and expensive.

Some requirements for CSA are:

Must be enclosed and separate from the rest of the building
Have a pressurized vestibule with two sets of electric doors
Non-combustible furniture, window coverings, flooring
Separate ventilation system that operates 24/7
Filtered air supply at a rate of 30 litres per second per occupant
Air pressure set to negative 5 -7 Pascals
Thermal displacement ventilation collected at ceiling level and exhausted to the outside with a minimum velocity of .36 metres per second

The second part that may affect retirement residences will be the protection for home health-care workers. Although the Act does not state that retirement residence staff are considered to be home health-care workers, it is likely that they will be interpreted as such. Health-care workers will be able to request a person to stop smoking in order to provide care. If the person refuses to stop smoking, the health-care worker may leave without providing further service, unless to do so would present an immediate, serious danger.

ORCA members should review the Act and its regulations with respect to the obligation for employers to post the appropriate signage at their workplaces.

For more information on the Smoke-Free Ontario Act Regulations visit the site.

(Information supplied by Ontario Retirement Communities Association, ORCA. Visit the ORCA site for more details).

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