When smokers on campus light up where they shouldn’t, it can affect more than just the people who happen to walk by them.
“We’re experiencing problems with smoke being drawn into buildings, and we’ve received numerous complaints from staff, patients and visitors,” said John Hauser, the safety officer for UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center. “Smokers need to smoke in the designated shelters only.”
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Hauser said that numerous cigarette butts have been found in non-smoking areas near campus buildings. He said that fact could be detrimental to the hospital when it is visited by representatives from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), a quality oversight body for health care organizations and managed care.
“The joint commission will look for cigarette butts inside the buildings, outside of buildings and in other areas where they’re not supposed to be,” Hauser said. Too many violations could lead to loss of accreditation, which would mean the loss of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements and other repercussions.
Bryan Scofield, assistant manager of Security at UNMC, said that he’s concerned about employees propping open doors so that they have easier access to their work areas.
“People need to use the appropriate smoking areas, and they need to use the proper routes to get to those areas,” Scofield said. “There are safety and security issues with propping doors open, especially in areas that must maintain a higher level of security.”
Che Peak, an employee relations specialist at UNMC, said that smokers should use the designated smoking areas to avoid impacting the workplace. The complaints about smokers using non-designated areas will be addressed, Peak said.
“The designated areas are to be used,” Peak said. “We can apply some sort of corrective action if this continues to be a problem.
Peak noted that both UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center have smoking policies.