Press Release
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2012
Contacts: Suzanne Pate, Health District PIO, 425-339-8704; spate@shd.snohomish.wa.gov
Katherine Schiffner, EvCC Director of Public Relations, 425-388-9554; kschiffner@everettcc.edu
EvCC Earns a Healthy Workplace Award for Going Tobacco-Free
Snohomish Health District commends the school for nixing all tobacco use at its work sites & on campus
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. – The Snohomish Health District presented its Healthy Workplace Award to Everett Community College at its Sept. 18 Board of Trustees meeting. The award honors businesses, agencies, and other organizations that have adopted 100 percent outdoor no-smoking grounds or tobacco-free grounds policies in addition to compliance with Washington’s Smoking in Public Places law (RCW 70.160).
All businesses by law need to be smoke-free indoors and maintain a smoke-free outdoor environment 25 feet from all building entrances, windows that open, and ventilation units.
Recipients of the Healthy Workplace Award surpass the legal minimum with written policy to protect the health of workers, clients, and students from the adverse effects of secondhand smoke.
On July 17 the Everett Community College Board of Trustees enacted a policy effective Sept. 1 prohibiting from its work sites and campus grounds use of any tobacco-containing products including pipes, cigars, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, clove cigarettes, and electronic cigarettes. This includes not just the school’s main campus but also the nearby College Plaza Shopping Center owned by the college. Everett Community College no longer has any designated smoking areas.
EvCC held numerous meetings during the past year to help educate students, faculty, staff and neighbors about the policy, and will continue to offer tobacco cessation programs to students and employees as part of this initiative.
“Everett Community College is taking very seriously the health of its employees and students by addressing smoking, the leading underlying cause of death in Snohomish County and in the U.S.,” said Dr. Gary Goldbaum, Health Officer and Director of Snohomish Health District. “Local public health recognizes and appreciates the commitment that the Trustees have made to creating a safe and healthy workplace.”
For additional health information about tobacco on its Web site, www.snohd.org, under “Community Health, Tobacco Prevention and Control,” or www.smokefree.gov.
If you want help in quitting, call Washington’s toll-free quit line at 1.800.QUIT-NOW (784.8669) or visit quitline.com. Find more information about the Health District atwww.snohd.org.
Established in 1959, the Snohomish Health District works for a safer and healthier community through disease prevention, health promotion, and protection from environmental threats. Find more information about the Health District at www.snohd.org.
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