EVALUATION OF THE 1990 CENTERS-FOR-DISEASE-CONTROL-AND-PREVENTION SMOKE-FREE POLICY

Purpose. To determine the prevalence of tobacco use among Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/Agency for Toxic Substances and D isease Registry (ATSDR) employees and the effect of the smoke-free pol icy on smoking behavior and air quality at work. Design. A stratified telephone survey of 1181 CDC/ATSDR employees randomly selected from em ployee rosters. Setting. CDC/ATSDR work sites in Atlanta, Georgia, and other major CDC locations throughout the United States and Puerto Ric o. Subjects. Randomly selected employees of CDC/ATSDR1, or about 22% o f the total CDC/ATSDR population; 98% of eligible persons selected agr eed to participate.Measures. Demographic and smoking history variables , attitudes toward and impact of the smoke-free policy on smoking beha vior, and self-report changes in air quality were the measures used. R esults. Overall cigarette smoking prevalence was only 11.1%. One perce nt reported using chewing tobacco, 1.1% reported smoking a pipe, and 1 .4% reported smoking cigars. Average self-reported, daily cigarette co msumption significantly decreased after the smoking ban took effect. O verall, 90% of the employees supported the smoke-free policy, and 80% of the employees believed that smokers were complying with the smoke-f ree policy. Most employees believed that the air quality of work areas and nonwork areas (65% and 69%, respectively) had improved since the smoke-free policy was implemented. Conclusions. These findings are con sistent with previous evaluations of smoke-fi ee policies and suggest that most employees are generally supportive of workplace smoking rest rictions. Such policies can also have a positive impact on smoking beh avior and perceived air quality.