Exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace, a marker of social inequalities

According to a new study published by Santé Publique France, nearly 16% of individuals working in France are exposed to second-hand smoke inside their workplace.[1]. Among them, workers are four times more numerous. Faced with the problem of passive smoking in the workplace, socio-professional categories remain extremely divisive: senior managers and intellectual professions have a much lower probability of being exposed (6.4%) than employees (27.4%) and individuals with a diploma below the baccalaureate or without a diploma. Among the sectors of activity, it is the construction sector which concentrates the greatest frequency of exposure to tobacco smoke (38.1%). Smoking inside premises remains common even though regulations prohibit it. Since 2007 and by virtue of the decree of November 15, 2006 which extends the smoking ban to many places of collective use, companies are now smoke-free places. If this new legislative measure has then led to a sharp decrease in exposure to passive smoking in these places[2], the Barometer has since noted a stagnation in the situation. The authors of the report mention "a slowdown in the application of the law or a plateau level reached (...)[3]". In 2019, the DNF-Pour un Monde Zero Tobacco association filed a civil suit in a case involving secondhand smoke by an apprentice in the workplace. The company in question was convicted. Article 8 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, relating to protection from exposure to tobacco smoke, serves as the basis for actions taken to reduce morbidity linked to secondhand smoke. ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Public Health France, “Exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace and at home between 2014 and 2018”, Results of the Public Health France barometer, 2020 [2] ITC Project. ITC France National Report. Results of waves 1 to 3 of the survey (2006-2012): Waterloo: University of Waterloo; Saint Maurice: Santé Publique France; Boulogne-Billancourt: National Cancer Institute, 2015. [3] Public Health France, “Exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace and at home between 2014 and 2018”, Results of the Public Health France barometer, 2020, p.9.