Hurrah! People who live in apartment buildings will soon be forbidden from smoking outside their buildings’ entrances.  A sight we see … um … errr … never because, unlike office workers, they can smoke in their flats or on their balconies, right under the noses of their neighbours.

The much-trumpeted NSW Tobacco Strategy 2012, which was flicked like a spent ciggie into the public health debate a couple of weeks ago, has ducked the issue of ‘fireflies’ who puff their toxic fumes into neighbours homes.

The best it promises is a five-year campaign to “support the implementation of smoke-free multi-unit residential dwellings by strata organisations through the promotion of guidelines.”

Oooh.  Guidelines … wowee!

Were we entitled to think there might be more? Well, yes, in fact. The discussion document on which this policy was based quoted a landmark US Surgeon General report on secondary or passive smoking which said  second hand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.

Concentrations of many cancer-causing and toxic chemicals are higher in second hand smoke than in the smoke inhaled by smokers. Most critically for strata dwellers, the evidence is that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second hand smoke which causes heart disease, lung cancer and exacerbates asthma.

So if you have a chain-smoking neighbour in your block, you could be safer leaving your own home and going to a park, a cafe, a pub, a bus stop, an open air swimming pool or a sports stadium where smoking is or will be banned.  Oh, and let’s not forget the entrances to buildings.

Yes, some apartment blocks are drifting towards complete smoking bans.  But increasingly units are being aggressively marketted in South-East Asia where acceptance of smoking is much higher. In those buildings, non-smokers will be outvoted, guidelines or no.

The answer?  Make all new apartment blocks non-smoking by default and let the 17 percent of the population who still smoke go and live in houses where they’re only killing themselves.

UPDATE:  More than a week before this went to press I contacted the Health Minister’s office and asked why apartment balconies – which are common property – are not considered public places when it comes to smoking in the same way, say, sports stadiums are.  I’m still waiting for a response.

Is the discussion all smoke and mirrors? Have your say here.

Hi Jimmy,
Thought you must have a spy camera on our units ( lol ). We have a new owner who smokes out the front of our block, stinks up the lift and also smokes on his balcony which adjoins our bedroom.
He is completely thoughtless – for the first few month he ashed over the balcony, letting ash settle on the neighbours balconys and fly screens. A polite letter from one of these owners earned an apology from the wife, albeit to the wrong owners !
My husband asked him if he wouldn’t mind moving to the other end of his balcony, which he did for a short time but some days I can smell the smoke halfway down our hallway. We get a lovely breeze from our front doorway, along our hallway and out the back windows and I do not believe we should have to shut up our house and use fans and A/C for ventilation.
We have a lovely lot of owners here ( 80% owner occupied and we self manage ) but most are elderly and just ” want Everyone to get on “. Nice but they aren’t getting cigarette smells in their places. Our units are extremely well built and if he smoked inside the smell would stay in his unit.
What can I do ?

Thanks Jimmy
I am sure that all sane people recognise the evils of passive smoking. I gave up smoking over 20 years ago and I know it is hard to give up but, if you must smoke, do so inside your own home, not outside my bedroom/study.