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Town Government & |
Departments: Board of Health
T0bacco/Smoking Regulations Board of Health Regulation A. Statement of Purpose: Whereas conclusive evidence exists that tobacco smoke causes cancer, respiratory and cardiac diseases, negative birth outcomes, irritations to the eyes, nose, and throat; and whereas the harmful effects of tobacco smoke are not confined to smokers but also cause severe discomfort and illness to nonsmokers; and whereas environmental tobacco smoke [hereinafter ETS], which includes both exhaled smoke and the side stream smoke from burning tobacco products, causes the death of 53,000 Americans each year (McGinnis JM, Foege W, "Actual Causes of Death in the United States", JAMA 1993 270:2207-2212); and whereas the Ninth Report on Carcinogens of the Public Health Service's National Toxicology Program classified secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen (U.S. DHHS, 2000) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization also classified secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen (IARC-WHO, 2002); now, therefore, the Board of Health of the town of Hingham recognizes the right of those who wish to breathe smokefree air and establishes this regulation to protect and improve the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in workplaces. B. Authority: This regulation is promulgated under the authority granted to the Hingham Board of Health under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111, Section 31 that "[b]oards of health may make reasonable health regulations." C. Definitions: For the purposes of this regulation the following words shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this paragraph: Business Agent: An individual who has been designated by the owner or operator of any establishment to be the manager or otherwise in charge of said establishment. Board:The Board of Health of Hingham. Employee: Any person who performs services for an employer. Employer: A person, partnership, association, corporation, trust, or other organized group of individuals, including the Town of Hingham or any agency thereof, which utilizes the services of one (1) or more employees. Enclosed: A space bounded by walls (with or without windows) continuous from the floor to the ceiling and enclosed by doors, including, but not limited to, offices, rooms and halls. Person: Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind including, but not limited to an owner, operator, manager, proprietor or person in charge of any building, establishment, business, or restaurant or retail store, or the business agents or designees of any of the foregoing. Private Club: A not-for-profit establishment created and organized pursuant to M.G.L. Ch. 180 as a charitable corporation with a defined membership. A private club is not a place of public accommodation but rather distinctly private. Criteria used to determine whether a club is distinctly private include, but are not limited to, those factors identified in 204 CMR 10.02. If the private club holds an alcoholic beverage license, said license shall be a "club license" or a "war veterans club license" as defined in M.G.L. Ch. 138, §12 and by the Massachusetts Alcohol Beverage Control Commission. Said license is subject to the terms set forth by the local licensing authority. Public place: Any building, facility or vehicle owned, leased, operated or occupied by the municipality, including school buildings and grounds; any enclosed area open to the general public including, but not limited to, bars, restaurants, retail stores, retail food stores, supermarkets, libraries, museums, theaters, banks, laundromats, indoor sports arenas, auditoriums, inn/hotel/motel lobbies, private and public educational facilities, shopping malls, common areas of residential buildings, public restrooms, lobbies, staircases, halls, exits, entrance ways, elevators accessible to the public, public mass transit conveyances and indoor platforms and enclosed outside platforms, open meetings of a governmental body as defined in section 11A of chapter 30A, section 23A of chapter 39 and section 9F of chapter 34, and licensed child-care locations. Retail Food Store: Any establishment commonly known as a supermarket, grocery store, bakery or convenience store, or any other establishment which offers food items to the public for off-premises consumption. Retail Store: Any establishment whose primary purpose is to sell or offer for sale to consumers any goods, wares, merchandise, articles or other things. Retail Tobacco Store: Any establishment whose primarily purpose is to sell or offer for sale tobacco products and tobacco paraphernalia, in which the sale of other products is merely incidental and neither possesses nor is required to possess a retail food permit. Smoking: Inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying any lighted cigar, cigarette, or other tobacco product in any form. Town: The Town of Hingham. Workplace: Any enclosed area of a structure or portion thereof at which one (1) or more employees perform services for their employer. D. Smoking Prohibited:
E. Posting notice of prohibition: Every person having control of premises upon which smoking is prohibited by and under the authority of this regulation shall conspicuously display upon the premises "No Smoking" signs provided by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and available from the Hingham Board of Health or the international "No Smoking" symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar across it) and comparable in size to the sign provided by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and available from the Hingham Board of Health. F. Exceptions: Notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraph D of this regulation, smoking may be permitted in the following places and/or circumstances:Private residences, except those portions used as a childcare or health care office when operating as such.Hotel and motel rooms rented to guests that are designated as "smoking rooms", provided that at least 75% of the rooms are smokefree at all times. A room so assigned shall have signs posted indicating that smoking is allowed therein and shall have self-closing doors. No change in room designations shall take place without prior written approval of the Board of Health.Private or semiprivate rooms of nursing homes and long term care facilities, which are separately ventilated, occupied by one (1) or more patients and who have requested in writing to be placed in rooms where smoking is permitted. Retail tobacco stores, provided such establishments prohibit entry to persons under the age of eighteen (18) at all times, and that such establishments conspicuously post signs at all entrances which warn patrons of the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke. G. Enforcement: This regulation shall be enforced by the Hingham Board of Health, and its designees. One method of enforcement may be periodic, unannounced inspections of those establishments subject to this regulation. Any citizen who desires to register a complaint under this regulation may request that the Board of Health initiate an investigation. H. Violations: Each day on which any violation exists shall be deemed to be a separate offense. Penalty: $100 for the first offense I. Severability: If any paragraph or provision of this regulation is found to be illegal or against public policy or unconstitutional, it shall not affect the legality of any remaining paragraphs or provisions. J. Conflict with Other Laws or Regulations: Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing Paragraph D of this regulation, nothing in this regulation shall be deemed to amend or repeal applicable fire, health or other regulations so as to permit smoking in areas where it is prohibited by such fire, health or other regulations. K. Effective Date: These regulations shall be effective as of July 1, 2003. Regulations of the Hingham Board of Health A. Statement of Purpose: Whereas there exists conclusive evidence that tobacco smoke causes cancer, respiratory and cardiac diseases, negative birth outcomes, irritations to the eyes, nose and throat; and whereas more than eighty percent of all smokers begin smoking before the age of eighteen years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Youth Surveillance - United States 2000," 50 MMWR 1 (Nov. 2000); and whereas nationally in 2000, sixty nine percent of middle school age children who smoke at least once a month were not asked to show proof of age when purchasing cigarettes (Id.); and whereas the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine or heroin; and whereas despite state laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors, access by minors to tobacco products is a major problem; now, therefore it is the intention of the Hingham Board of Health to curtail the access of tobacco products by minors. B. Authority: This regulation is promulgated pursuant to the authority granted to the Hingham Board of Health by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111, Section 31 that "Boards of Health may make reasonable health regulations" C. Definitions: For the purpose of this regulation, the following words shall have the following meanings:Business Agent: An individual who has been designated by the owner or operator of any establishment to be the manager or otherwise in charge of said establishment.Employee: Any individual who performs services for an employer.Employer: Any individual, partnership, association, corporation, trust or other organized group of individuals, including Hingham or any agency thereof, which uses the services of one (1) or more employeesMinor: Any individual who is under the age of eighteen (18).Permit Holder: Any person engaged in the sale or distribution of tobacco products directly to consumers who applies for and receives a tobacco sales permit or any person who is required to apply for a tobacco sales permit pursuant to these regulations, or his or her business agent. Person: An individual, employer, employee, retail store manager or owner, or the owner or operator of any establishment engaged in the sale or distribution of tobacco products directly to consumers.Self Service Display: Any display from which customers may select a tobacco product without assistance from an employee or store personnel, excluding vending machines.Tobacco Product: Cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, bidis, snuff or tobacco in any of its forms. Vending Machine: Any automated or mechanical self service device, which upon insertion of money, tokens or any other form of payment, dispenses cigarettes or any other tobacco product. D. Tobacco Sales to Minors Prohibited:
E. Tobacco Sales Permit:
F. Free Distribution: No person shall distribute, or cause to be distributed, any free samples of tobacco products. G. Out-of-Package Sales: No person may sell or cause to be sold or distribute or cause to be distributed, any cigarette package that contains fewer than twenty (20) cigarettes, including single cigarettes. H. Self Service Displays: All self-service displays of tobacco products are prohibited. All humidors including, but not limited to, walk-in humidors must be locked. I. Tobacco Vending Machines: All tobacco vending machines are prohibited J. Violations:
K. Enforcement: Enforcement of this regulation shall be by the Board of Health of Hingham or its designated agent(s). Any citizen who desires to register a complaint pursuant to the regulation may do so by contacting the Board of Health of Hingham or its designated agent(s) and the Board shall investigate. L: Severability: If any provision of these regulations is declared invalid or unenforceable, the other provisions shall not be affected thereby but shall continue in full force and effect. M. Effective Date: This regulation shall take effect on July1, 2003.
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