Smoking Rooms in Buildings and Restrictions against Those who Smoke on the Move

1 Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources whether the Ministry will consider building more smoking rooms in all buildings with public access so as to contain second-hand smoke.

2 Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources whether the Ministry will consider implementing restrictions against smokers who smoke whilst on the move, such as walking or cycling, as they leave behind residual second-hand smoke.

The Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources (Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan) (for the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources): Sir, with your permission, may I take Question Nos 1 and 2 together?

Mr Speaker: Yes, please.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Thank you. Smoking has been a significant and long-standing public health issue in Singapore. Over the last decade, the prevalence of smoking has hovered around 12%-14%, and an average of six Singaporeans die prematurely from smoking-related diseases each day.

The Government has taken a multi-pronged approach to tackle tobacco addiction, such as by curtailing access to cigarettes, sustaining public education and imposing taxes on tobacco products. Nonetheless, we recognise that smoking will continue in Singapore and throughout the world and smokers need time to wean themselves off their habit. We must, therefore, continue to remind those who smoke of the health effects and also to be considerate in their actions.

Smokers have generally observed the smoking prohibition in public places, such as hospitals, clinics, sports complexes, office buildings and shopping malls. With smoking already disallowed in most buildings with public access, the Government has no plans to mandate the provision of smoking rooms in such premises.

Notwithstanding this, the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act allows for the provision of indoor smoking rooms in certain types of publicly-accessible premises, such as in entertainment outlets, provided that the smoking room is independently ventilated and not required to be used by any person in the course of his work. The need for smoking rooms should be determined by the managers of these premises as they have a legal duty to uphold the smoking prohibition rule within their premises. Premises managers may also set up designated smoking areas (DSAs) in the outdoor areas of their premises, provided these are not places where smoking is prohibited.

To the Member’s question on imposing restrictions on those who smoke on the move, the Government has already taken steps in that direction. Since 2013, smoking on pedestrian overhead bridges and under covered walkways has been prohibited. In the latter part of this year, the Orchard Road precinct will be gazetted as a smoke-free zone where smoking will no longer be allowed at all in public areas, except at a number of DSAs. This means that smokers will not be able to light up while walking within the zone.

The issue of smoking is one that requires all sectors of society to play their part. Families and communities must come together to encourage smokers to quit and keep them on a smoke-free path. Premises managers must observe their legal obligation to help enforce the smoking prohibition within their premises in consideration of their non-smoking clients and staff. Smokers should also be considerate when smoking in public places, and smoke only in permitted areas so as not to adversely affect the health of others.

Mr Speaker: Ms Joan Pereira.

Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. I have one supplementary question. On the ground, many people are still walking or cycling and smoking, affecting those behind them. Will the Ministry consider holding a campaign to educate our smokers to be more gracious in public by exercising care to keep second-hand smoke from blowing towards others?

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: I want to thank the Member for her suggestion. We will look into this. Let me say that, in a way, we have already started this when we set up DSAs in Orchard Road last year to study the effectiveness of reducing smoking in publicly accessible areas, and to encourage the smokers to be considerate and smoke only in the DSAs. We are evaluating the results of this study and the results will be taken into consideration when we decide on the future plans for DSAs.

More importantly, beyond campaigns and to encourage smokers to be considerate, we hope that we can also help smokers to completely quit smoking. And in this regard, the Health Promotion Board has educational campaigns to raise awareness about the harmful effects of smoking. It also has a "I Quit" campaign that it administers to help smokers to quit in more easily adaptable steps by breaking them down to help them in their journey to quit.

Mr Speaker: Mr Chong Kee Hiong.

Mr Chong Kee Hiong (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Passers-by and pedestrians who currently walk past outdoor designated smoking areas will also breathe in second-hand smoke. If we could have some DSAs within the buildings, it could reduce the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. At the same time, it will protect the smokers from the elements. While we are trying to do our best to reduce smoking, it takes time. Meanwhile, we should provide an avenue where both parties could co-exist but without affecting each other negatively.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: As I have said, most of the buildings with public access are already smoke-free areas. We have no intention to mandate smoking rooms in these places. Notwithstanding this, the premises owner can designate smoking areas as long as these are not areas where smoking is prohibited. So, beyond five metres from the entrance or exit of a building which is a smoking-prohibited area, they could designate a DSA. This is actually being done, for instance, in Orchard Road, where we have implemented DSAs.

With regards to having a smoking area within a building, the issue is that, if you have a smoking room in a building, it will reduce the level of exposure of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), but not completely. This ETS could seep into other parts of the building and it could pose a health hazard and a health risk to persons in the enclosed space. That is the reason why under the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act, we only allow smoking rooms in certain publicly accessible areas or premises, such as at Changi Airport Terminals' transit area, as well as in pubs, discotheques and so on, and also in office premises, but subject to very strict requirements. Which is that these premises must have a separate ventilation system where the smoking room is, and it must not be an area where staff is required to be in, in the course of their work and so on. If these can be complied with, then the premises owner can designate a smoking room.

Mr Speaker: Ms Sun Xueling.

Ms Sun Xueling (Pasir Ris-Punggol): A supplementary question: a common complaint from residents is of neighbours smoking in their balconies or out of the windows of their flats, leading to smoke wafting into the flats of residents. What would the Ministry recommend to residents who suffer from such second-hand smoke?

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Smoking within residential premises, in the home, in private space is beyond the jurisdiction of the Government. We do not have smoking prohibition within the homes themselves. Our advice would be for the affected resident to have a discussion with the neighbour to try and resolve this amicably. If not, the resident may get assistance from a Community Mediation Centre.

Let me also say that enforcement alone is not the panacea to curb inconsiderate smoking behaviour. At the end of the day, we need to urge and get the smokers to be socially responsible and to be considerate when smoking so as not to cause disamenities to others. Families and friends of the smokers as well as the public, in general, could help to reinforce the right social norms, through nudges and reminders, in order to be able to try and address such issues.

Mr Speaker: Miss Cheryl Chan.

Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling (Fengshan): I take the Senior Minister of State's note that enforcement is not the panacea and it probably cannot solve all the problems. But without enforcement, it will not be a proper deterrent for many of the smokers because, clearly, they are socially not that responsible. I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State whether there would be considerations if the public can do more. For example, since there are not enough enforcers on the ground, if members of the public do have evidence of frequent smokers at the same location, can they submit that for the National Environment Agency (NEA) to take actions against those offenders?

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Indeed. Even as enforcement alone is not the panacea, we will continue with our enforcement actions. We also work with the Town Councils as well as grassroots organisations to educate smokers and encourage them to be more considerate.

Having said that, if a resident has information or sees acts of errant smokers smoking in prohibited areas, they could provide the information to NEA. NEA will conduct investigations.

Mr Speaker: Er Dr Lee Bee Wah.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask two supplementary questions. First, why is the pilot project DSA set up in Orchard Road? Are we protecting the tourists or the residents? Secondly, I have quite a lot of residents asking whether DSAs will be set up in housing estates or not because that is where many of our residents have given feedback that they had been affected by second-hand smoke.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: We piloted the DSAs in Orchard Road last year because Orchard Road has a very high footfall or pedestrian traffic. This is an area where many people may be subjected to second-hand smoke. That is a key reason why we have done it there. We are studying and evaluating the results, as I have said. We will take these into consideration in deciding on future plans for DSAs.

Indeed, we are exploring the feasibility of designating other areas as smoke-free zones in order to achieve the Government's long-term goal of prohibiting smoking in all public areas. We need to study the results of the DSA pilot in Orchard Road to determine how effective it is in reducing smoking in other public areas, getting smokers to be considerate to smoke only in the DSAs, as well as the location, design of DSAs and so on.

With regards to DSAs in residential areas, as I have said, we are looking into the feasibility of expanding designated non-smoking areas, but we will look at the study and see how we can scale this up.

Mr Speaker: Mr Dennis Tan.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Non-Constituency Member): Speaker, there is still a lot of people who are still smoking in our public parks and park connectors, and a lot of people who smoke when they are walking to work or to the Mass Rapid Transit stations. I would just like to ask the Senior Minister of State whether the Ministry would look into increasing the messaging on this concern.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: I think this is quite similar to the questions posed by the other Members, including Ms Joan Pereira, about having a campaign to educate smokers. First, we have extended smoking prohibition to common corridors, covered linkways, pedestrian overhead bridges. So, it is illegal to smoke in these places. If there are persons who are doing this, as I have said, we do carry out enforcement actions, particularly in hotspot areas. But beyond that, Members can provide us with further information on such errant smokers.