Night entertainment venues comply poorly with the smoke-free law in Chile

Abstract

The initial high level of compliance with the Chilean comprehensive national smoke-free law in 2013 is fading, particularly in the hospitality sector. This paper draws attention to how using a simple and low-cost surveillance inquiry may help focus on the use of scarce inspection resources to improve compliance with the law in the hospitality sector. We conducted a cross-sectional assessment of second-hand smoke exposure in night entertainment venues in Santiago, Chile, by measuring particulate matter of less than 2.5μm (PM2.5). Smoking where prohibited by law was observed in 36% of the venues visited. Venues where smoking was spotted at the time of the observation had a median PM2.5 concentration 13 times higher than background concentration on the street. The study shows that a targeted approach for inspection to find pockets of venues with suboptimal compliance is feasible and affordable.