FAQs

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in New Zealand and we’re helping work towards the national goal of a Smokefree Aotearoa by 2025.
Our organisation is committed to protecting and improving the health and well being of its staff and clients.
Being a Smokefree organisation promotes healthy lifestyles, which is important to the way we want to support our clients and staff.
We recognise our responsibility as a health care provider not to promote or encourage tobacco use.
For these reasons, we need to look at ways to support people to be Smokefree rather than reinforcing smoking as a ‘normal’ thing to do when it has so many detrimental effects.

the Smokefree policy is not about whether you can smoke. It’s about where you can smoke. People may not smoke on our organisation’s premises
it is every staff member’s right to a workplace free from health hazards (including exposure to cigarette smoke)
we have a legal responsibility to provide a safe workplace and to protect staff, clients and visitors from the known hazards of second-hand smoke

most people comply in good faith with Smokefree premises, so Smokefree external spaces are generally self-enforcing. New Zealanders are now very familiar with the concept of not smoking in certain places with most people having experienced Smokefree outdoor policies in action at sports stadiums, schools, hospital grounds, marae and at outdoor cultural even
all staff should be encouraged to enforce the Smokefree policy as necessary, by politely asking anyone smoking to move offsite
a Smokefree policy is enforced by staff in the same manner in which they currently enforce other policies, such as property defacement, harassment etc

designated smoking areas (such as gazebos and shelters) send a message that smoking outside is acceptable and is the norm within the organisation
smokers often perceive the presence of smoking areas as a signal that it’s okay to smoke elsewhere and that they can continue to smoke in non-designated areas
designated smoking areas can also tend to become ‘owned’ or ‘colonised’ by smokers and a phasing out of smoking sites can prove extremely hard with resulting feelings of resentment amongst staff and others who might smoke

it’s important to remember that our primary focus is to help those smokers who are keen to address their smoking to become Smokefree
as the Smokefree policy becomes normalised the numbers of smokers will decrease due to successful quit attempts or because of the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as a tool to help them manage their nicotine dependence
when people who smoke comply with Smokefree policy and smoke offsite, there is a risk smokers will congregate on crown land and that smoking will become more visual to the public, giving rise to concerns about our organisation’s image. Since the introduction of the Smokefree Environment’s Bill, which banned smoking in indoor work places, most members of the public are used to seeing people smoking in external areas without appropriating blame or guilt by association to the organisation
the sight of people smoking on crown land in front of our organisation is generally seen by the public as a healthy, positive sign that we are committed to having no association between health and tobacco

Health Professionals