Environmental tobacco smoke in Finnish restaurants and bars before and after smoking restrictions were introduced.” Annals of Occupational Hygiene 50(4):331 – 341. James L. Repace is with Repace Associates, Secondhand Smoke Consultants

on smoking in restaurants and bars. To evaluate the effectiveness of the restrictions, environ-mental tobacco smoke (ETS) concentrations in restaurants and bars were measured prior and after the amended Act entered into force. The Act was enforced in stages so that all stages were effective on 1 July 2003. According to the Act, smoking is prohibited in all Finnish restaurants and bars with certain exceptions. Smoking may be allowed in establishments where the service area is not larger than 50 m2 if the exposure of employees working there to ETS can be prevented. On premises with larger service area, smoking may be allowed on 50 % of the service area, provided tobacco smoke does not spread into the area where smoking is prohibited. At bar counters or gambling tables smoking is not allowed, if the spreading of tobacco smoke cannot be restricted to the employee side of the counter. Therefore, according to the Act all areas where smoking is prohibited are to be smoke-free. Methods: Establishments with a serving area larger than 100 m2 were selected for the present study. The evaluation both before and after the enforcement of the Act included the following: The ventilation rate was first measured in each establishment. Then 3–5 area samplers, depending on the layout, were placed in locations that best described the establishment and the working areas of the personnel. Th