Tobacco smoking in hotel workers and the necessity to promote non-smoking policy at the workplace.

This investigation aimed at evaluating the prevalence of active smokers in hotel workers to underline the need for a non-smoking campaign at the workplace. Data on smoking habit were collected in a questionnaire which included 398 subjects of whom 170 were men and 228 women aged in average 29 and 35 years, respectively. Seventy-six men and 134 women declared themselves regular tobacco smokers. In average, they started to smoke at the age of 17 and 18, respectively and had been smoking for 21 and 16 years, respectively. Although the number of smokers was high, it is encouraging that 29% of men and of 51% women tried and did not succeed in quitting smoking, whereas 30% of men and 12% of women did quit smoking. The authors advocate reducing tobacco use and controlling environmental tobacco smoke exposure at the workplace, which should include a non-smoking company policy, implementation of smoking cessation programmes, social support programmes, trade union support, as well as the assistance of health professionals during regular check-ups.