[Attitudes of Polish enterprises towards tobacco smoking in the context of state policy].

BACKGROUND

The aim of the paper is to give a picture of anti-tobacco activities in enterprises, their conditions and changes that have taken place since 2000.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The data come from questionnaire-based interviews carried out in 2006 on an all-Poland representative sample of 611 companies employing at least 50 people. They were compared with outcomes of two mail surveys conducted on randomly selected samples of similar enterprises in 2000 (N = 755) and 2001 (N = 215).

RESULTS

Tobacco smoking is rarely considered by enterprises as their own problem (17% of them were aware of the range of this phenomena among employees, whereas 5% were interested in its consequences for a company). In every ten workplace there is a total ban on smoking, whereas the same proportion of workplaces have not incorporated any tobacco smoking regulations. Only one third of the companies have smoking rooms meeting the criteria set by the Minister of Labor. The same number accepts smoking in prohibited areas. In 40% of companies, which had set any kind of their own anti-tobacco bylaws, their employees did not always obey them. Only in a half of workplaces, the management consequently and successfully enforce anti-smoking regulations. Other activities aimed at solving tobacco smoking problems are very rare. Among them, penalties and education on harmfulness of tobacco smoking are most common. In comparison with the beginning of the decade, legal anti-tobacco regulations are now more commonly obeyed. However, an apparent decline in the frequency of educational activities is observed. Moreover, the management is seldom aware of the negative impact of tobacco smoking on the functioning of their companies on the market.

CONCLUSIONS

The introduction of more restrictive legislation and education on harmfulness of tobacco smoking cannot be regarded as sufficient methods of reducing smoking in enterprises.