It’s a universally accepted principle that indoor air quality in work places and facilities is a valuable component that almost all employers and maintenance service providers strive to adhere to at all times. Reason? Safety, health and comfort. However, smoking (and environmental tobacco smoke), which is said to be a major known contaminant of indoor air quality, is becoming very common in modern built environments. Over the years, this issue has been approached from differing angles and perspectives.

While some institutions have resorted to completely banish the habit out of and around their premises and facilities, others have installed designated smoking areas (DSR) in work premises and facilities. These are efficient in protecting lives and health of non-smokers but how effective they are, remains to be seen.

To begin with, there have been many reports of illegal smoking, in undesirable (going as far as public sanitation facilities) and unsafe areas. This always culminates into fire hazards, second hand smoking (SHS) and other health-related effects. For indoor DSRs, A/C and ventilation are always centralized, meaning that indoor DSRs are connected to the whole duct system and the polluted air and particles from tobacco can easily escape to other rooms.

Otherwise, smoke may enter into enclosed smoke free areas through entrances, windows, ventilation systems and other means. On the other hand, employee movement, to and from outdoor designated smoking areas wastes a lot of valuable time, since they need to be placed at least 25 metres from the premises.

Smoking cabins

It is important to develop a policy where both smokers and non-smokers feel comfortable and maintain a clean air environment, according to Stine Gram, the general manager of GulfMate Solutions, the Gulf distributors of ‘Smoke ‘n Go’ smoking cabins. Suitable for a quick smoke, absorb odour and re-circulate more than 99.9 percent clean air in the environment; these cabins are highly filterefficient, flexible, free standing and easy to relocate. They operate with an extremely low ventilation speed while in stand-by positions. They do not interfere with the centralized A/C and ventilation system.

This is said to ensure 100 percent protection to the non-smoking environments, from any residue gas / odour that might linger within the cabin when not used. These smoking cabins are available in various sizes and settings – from Compact models for smaller locations to Plaza units for large designated smoking areas. They are equipped with a four-phase filtration system, together with a pull-push system in the roof to optimize air flow and assure that smoke particles do not linger and decontaminate surrounding air.

These practically noiseless units also come with an ingenious odourless 8,000 cigarette butt capacity ashtray, which can nullify stillburning cigarettes and cigars without a trace of smoke or odours. This enhances fire safety in establishments. The automatic start-stop system ensures that air cleaning only takes place when someone is actually present in the cabin, thus saving energy.

These smoking cabins are becoming a popular trend in the Gulf and they have been accepted by some of the region’s top companies and establishments including the Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain International Airport, National Marine Dredging Co. and Alpha Flight LLC. Commenting on the ‘Smoke ‘n Go’ smoking cabins that have been installed at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Andy Keeling Ferrari World theme park manager, told Clean Middle East magazine that: “We are a large workforce that protects people. We cherish a modern management philosophy, in which we are open, honest and offer equal opportunity for all. “We could not push smoking to the ground because that could create a risk. However, it’s very important that non-smokers are protected from second hand smoking. We always have about 100 employees in the facility and up to 300 on a busy day. For safety, comfort and health, we installed two ‘Smoke ‘n Go’ indoor smoking cabins within our premises in October of 2010.”

Results? “The cabins don’t interfere with the overall employee management and operations. Our primary aim was to protect non-smokers from the adverse effects of smokers and the resultant environmental tobacco smoke, and we achieved exactly that,” Andy commented.