Social acceptance of smoking regulations in the workplace: A study from Southern Germany

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Abstract
Smoking regulations in the workplace are increasingly employed to protect non-smokers against passive smoking. Nevertheless, concern about their social acceptance hinders their implementation in many instances. Social acceptance of worksite smoking regulations was assessed in a cross-sectional study, which was conducted in 1992 among 930 employees of a Southern German telephone company. A minority of 16.5% among employees who smoked felt discriminated against. Perceived discrimination of smokers was strongly associated with the number of cigarettes smoked per day, but not with existing smoking regulations. Most smokers (79.2%) and non-smokers (94.9%) were in favour of some type of smoking restrictions; proportions were even higher in workplaces where smoking restrictions were already in effect. Among current smokers, a preference for smoking restrictions was positively associated with a desire to stop or reduce smoking. These results suggest that smoking regulations in the workplace can be accepted by smokers and non-smokers and are perceived as an aid to stop or reduce smoking rather than a discriminating measure among current smokers.

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