Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Nearly 30 percent of nonsmoking workers around Taiwan are exposed to secondhand smoke while on the job even though smoking has been banned in common work areas since 2009, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) reported on Monday.
According to an HPA statement released earlier in the day, the rate of secondhand smoke exposure at offices around Taiwan climbed to 28.1 percent in 2022, up from 22.1 percent in 2020.
During the same three-year period, 19.7 percent of workers aged 18 or older smoked at work in 2022, up from 17.6 percent in 2020, with the smoking rate among males growing from 26.9 percent to 30 percent, and the rate among females rising from 4.2 percent to 4.6 percent.
Since the nationwide ban on smoking in indoor workplaces shared by three or more people took effect on Jan. 11, 2009, those violating the regulation have been subject to a fine of NT$10,000 (US$317).
HPA Health Education and Tobacco Control Division head Lo Su-ying (羅素英) told CNA, however, that complaints about smoking on the job, mostly in a toilet or on a balcony, remain commonplace.
She encouraged members of the public to report workplace smoking at the toll-free hotline 0800-531-531, and pledged that local health authorities would step up inspections after receiving complaints to ensure a smoke-free environment.
Citing an investigation by the United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the HPA statement said that smoking poses a major risk to adult workers.
It also said secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace increases the risk of diseases like heart failure, stroke and lung cancer for nonsmokers if harmful substances such as nicotine are left over on their bodies or clothes.
(By Flor Wang and Chen Chieh-ling)
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Tags: exposed secondhand smoke Taiwans workplaces
