◆More than half have “Complete smoker separation”
As the country is striving to reduce the impact of passive smoking, companies completely banning smoking from offices or separating smokers from non-smokers are on the rise.
According to Teikoku Databank’s “Survey on smoke awareness in companies” (Surveyed companies: 23,341 Replies: 10,212 Reply rate: 43.8%), companies who boast “complete smoker separation” (A separated properly ventilated area for smoking, or a smoking area placed outdoors) amount to 56.2%.
Companies that completely ban smoking are 22.1%, companies who reported “incomplete smoker separation” are 10.0%, companies who reported “no specific restriction on smoking” are 7.3%, and “time related smoking restrictions” are 3.4%.

◆There is a considerable gap depending on region and industry
Registered efforts have been found vary greatly according to the region and industry of the company.
Of those companies who reported having a total ban on smoking, real estate (44.1%) was at the top, followed by finance (38.2%) and the service industry (33.2%).
The least represented, showing the difference between industries, are agriculture/forestry/fisheries(11.3%), manufacture(11.7%), transportation and warehouses (14.0%) and construction(18.3%).
As far as the regional differences; while most average from 15% to 19%, Southern Kanto (28.9%) and the Kinki region (23.6%) show increased numbers for metropolitan areas.

◆The influence of smoking ban legislation
As the Tokyo Olympic Games approach, both the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and local public entities are starting to regulate smoking bans via legislation.
When asked what influence they think that a law imposed complete smoking ban in companies would have, around 70% of survey participants replied that it would have no influence.
Those who replied “It would be beneficial” (8.0%) were mostly represented by the education services industry (22.7%), while those who replied “It would be harmful” were mostly represented, almost by half, by eating and drinking establishments (47.6%).

◆The continuing move towards smoking ban
The country’s effort in decreasing the number of smokers is expected to continue. While there are differences between industries, surely the influence will be widespread. We will need to pay attention to state and local regulations in the future as well.