Hospitality workers were exposed to the equivalent of 190 cigarettes a year before the England smoking ban came into effect.

The amount of second-hand smoke inhaled by UK hospitality workers has fallen 95% since England’s smoking ban was introduced on 1 July 2007, according to researchers from the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre in Warwick.

The study, which was funded by Cancer Research UK, found that non-smoking hospitality workers had four times less cotinine – a by-product of nicotine and indicator of tobacco smoke exposure – in their saliva in August 2007 than they had in June 2007.

They calculated that, on average, employees’ exposure was the equivalent to smoking 190 cigarettes a year before the legislation, and this dropped to the equivalent of around 44 cigarettes afterwards.

Researchers assessed the air quality in almost 40 venues across the country – including pubs, bars and restaurants. They found that levels of ‘small particles’ in the air contained in cigarette smoke dropped from near hazardous levels in June to levels that are similar to the outside air in August.

Elspeth Lee, Senior Tobacco Control Manager at Cancer Research UK, commented: “Although we won’t see a reduction in cancer rates for some years to come, the short-term health gains we have seen here are very encouraging. As one of the largest countries in the world to adopt comprehensive smoke-free legislation to date, we hope these results will demonstrate to other nations that this legislation is workable and has almost immediate health benefits.”

By Natasha Piscitelli