No smoking and no vaping signs required to be posted under Ontario’s smoke and vape-free legislation

The Ontario government has now made available information on the no smoking or no vaping signs required to be posted by employers and others on its website. There are three types of posting requirements under the smoke- and vape-free law, the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 and its accompanying regulation, Ontario Regulation 268/18.

To understand what smoking or vaping means, as defined in the law and government guidelines, “smoking” means smoking (inhaling and exhaling) or holding lighted tobacco or cannabis (medical or recreational). “Vaping” means inhaling or exhaling vapour from an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) or holding an activated e-cigarette, whether or not the vapour contains nicotine.

Number and placement of signs

1. Enough of the individual (tobacco/e-cigarette) signs or combined (tobacco and e-cigarette) signs must be posted at each entrance, exit and washroom throughout the enclosed workplace, enclosed public place or area, or other smoke-free and vape-free places over which the employer or proprietor has control.
2. Enough of the individual (tobacco/e-cigarette) signs or combined (tobacco and e-cigarette) signs for hotels, motels and inns in every “non-smoking” or “non-vaping” guest room over which the employer or owner (proprietor) of a hotel, motel or inn has control.
3. If a residential care facility (meaning a long-term care home, retirement home that provides care, provincially funded supportive housing residence, designated veterans’ facility, designated psychiatric facility) or residential hospice has a controlled area where people can smoke or vape, the facility owner and employer must post signs outside the entrance to the controlled area.

What must the signs look like?

The individual tobacco sign and the individual electronic cigarette sign for employers or proprietors, or employers or owners of a hotel, motel or inn must be dated January 1, 2018, be 10 cm high, 10 cm wide and have the Ontario Trillium and smoke-free Ontario logos on them.

The combined tobacco and e-cigarette sign for employers and proprietors must be dated January 1, 2018, be 15 cm high, 20 cm wide and have the Ontario Trillium and smoke-free Ontario logos on it.

The controlled areas in certain residential facilities sign must be dated January 1, 2018, be 10 cm high, 10 cm wide and have the Ontario Trillium and smoke-free Ontario logos on it.

Residential care facilities will also need to post signs indicating the maximum permitted occupancy of the controlled area.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care provided signs for individual or combined tobacco-vaping signs for employers and proprietors and employers or owners of a hotel, motel or inn as well as controlled areas in certain residential facilities and hospices can be ordered or downloaded here.

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Marie-Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor

Managing Editor at First Reference Inc.

Marie-Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B., is a trained lawyer called to the Quebec bar in 1988 and is still a member in good standing. She practiced business, employment and labour law until 1999. For over 20 years, Yosie has been the Managing Editor at First Reference. She manages the PolicyPro Human Resources and Internal Controls editions, The Human Resources Advisor editions, PaySource and the HRinfodesk news service as well as the blogs. Marie-Yosie (a.k.a. Yosie) is a recognized and respected author, with an extensive background in human resources, employment and labour across the country.

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