Objective: To assess the national level of compliance with the Chilean comprehensive smoke-free legislation by observing healthcare facilities, education centres, government offices, hospitality venues and private workplaces, by type of area within workplaces and public places: enclosed, semiopen and open.
Methodology: In this cross-sectional observational study, we studied a national representative sample of 3253 venues obtained through a two-stage cluster sampling design. First, 57 municipalities were randomly selected, proportionally to the total number of venues of interest. Second, within each selected municipality, a maximum of 12 venues of each sector was selected systematically from a list of existing sites. We determined the non-compliance level by estimating the percentage of the visited venues where smoking was observed or suspected in banned areas of the premises.
Results: Smoking or suspicion thereof was not observed in any enclosed area of any establishment. However, smoking violations were observed in semiopen areas ranging from less than 0.5% of schools and healthcare centres to around 10% of hospitality venues or 23.0% of higher education centres. Smoking violations were also observed in outdoor areas of 6.7% and 1.6% of the health centres and schools, respectively.
Discussion: The stark contrast in compliance with the smoking ban between the enclosed areas and the semiopen areas may be a consequence of the complex definition of semiopen areas in the regulations. The study also reflects the need to improve the overall enforcement of the smoke-free law, particularly in universities and hospitality venues.
Keywords: environment; public policy; secondhand smoke.
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