Workplace Smoking Rules in Puerto Rico

General provision. Recognizing the harm caused by smoking, both the smokers and to nonsmokers, and to promote the health of its population, Puerto Rico enacted its Act to Regulate Smoking in Certain Public and Private Places.

Effective March 3, 2006, the Act to Regulate Smoking in Certain Public and Private Places is expanded to prohibit smoking in any workplace where there is one or more employees, bars, barrooms, pubs, discotheques, liquor stores, casinos, convention and commerce centers, commercial centers, and in private transportation vehicles when a minor child is seated in a protective car seat or is present in the vehicle and is under 13 years of age. Employees of a workplace are not prohibited from smoking in outdoor areas and outside the work area.

Employers covered. No coverage specified.

Written policy requirements. Employers must inform their employees about the reason for and the extent of Puerto Rico's Act to Regulate Smoking in Certain Public and Private Places.

Posting requirements. Persons in charge of places where smoking is prohibited by law must post signs that state, at the least, NO SMOKING, followed by a reference to the Act to Regulate Smoking in Certain Public and Private Places. The signs must be in clear and legible type.

No-smoking areas. Smoking is prohibited in the following places: public buildings, departments, public agencies and instrumentalities; classrooms, meeting halls, libraries, halls, school lunchrooms, cafeterias and restrooms in schools, public and private institutions at all learning levels; public elevators — passenger and cargo; theaters and movie houses; public and private hospitals and health centers; public transportation vehicles; restaurants, cafeterias, establishments for the sale of food and fast-food establishments; museums; funeral parlors; courts; areas that contain flammable fluids, gasses or materials; and child-care centers.

Medical personnel in public and private hospitals and health centers, as well as authorities in charge of penal institutions and centers for the treatment of addicts, must adopt an institutional policy to cover any situation where abstinence from nicotine could be detrimental to a patient's treatment or could adversely affect an inmate.

Designated smoking areas. The prohibitions against smoking contained in Puerto Rico's Act to Regulate Smoking in Certain Public and Private Places do not prevent persons in charge of places where smoking is prohibited from designating smoking areas in their facilities if the following requirements are met:

1. The smoking area is clearly identified by signs or notices.
2. There is adequate ventilation to prevent the movement of smoke from the smoking area to nonsmoking areas.
3. If possible, the smoking area is in an open and well-ventilated area (if closed, it must be fitted with air purifiers and ventilators).
4. The area must have ashtrays and fire extinguishers.
5. In schools up to the twelfth grade, designated smoking areas are accessible only to teachers and school employees.

Existing ventilation systems may be used to remove smoke from designated smoking areas.