Hospital Bans Employees With Smoky Clothes

A Louisiana hospital is really serious about its no-smoking policy: Starting next July, employees will no longer be allowed to work if their clothing even smells like smoke. Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital is expanding a policy originally put in place only in the women's and children's areas two years ago, the AP reports. Employees will also, obviously, not be allowed to use tobacco products while on shift, even during breaks. The hospital will provide resources and support for employees who decide to quit smoking entirely.

The policy will apply to the entire campus and is an effort to reduce patients' and employees' exposure to "third-hand smoke," or the toxins that remain on fabrics after a cigarette is smoked and are especially harmful to babies and young children. Employees recently received letters "notifying them that they had a year to make whatever adjustments they needed to make to be able to comply with the policy that would not allow them to smoke during the hours that they work," says a hospital administrator. (More anti-smoking stories.)