Theoretically, when a car is parked on someone's property (a hospital in this case)
can the inside of that car be considered hospital property? I am about to write to my union and I wanted to know how strong the ground I'm standing on really is.
Here are three pieces of background, two about me and one about the problem.
My mother died when I was eight. She was a smoker and I always blamed the cigarettes and therefore have never once touched a cigarette.
I would never make that choice for another. As we have learned about the dangers of second hand smoke, I have been okay with the sequestering of the two populations from one another but that is my line. I will never expect nor demand that others share my POV around cigarettes.
Here is the problem. I just received a letter from my hospital telling me (and all of the staff, of course) that we will become a smoke free campus. I'm a bit bothered by that but I am shocked by this: "This policy will eliminate all tobacco products and e-cigarette use on all company owned property (e.g. buildings, parking lots, inside cars and outdoor areas.)
I am shocked by them adding in "inside cars" and I wonder, seriously, if any lawyer was consulted. As I'm about to bring this to the Union, they will soon need to talk to one, I'm sure.
Why would I, an avid nonsmoker, advocate for the few who still smoke in our facility? Because I am unsure if they will advocate for themselves and I'm horrified that the inside of my car mysteriously becomes the property of my hospital as soon as I drive it onto the premises.
= new reply since forum marked as read
...brands of ice cream that are known to cause heart attacks (High trans-fat) because that costs us ALL higher fees for health insurance. Yeah..right. 
Last edited Mon Nov 24, 2014, 01:33 PM - Edit history (1)
solely on the issue of car ownership and nothing else. I seriously doubt that the actually think of the employee cars as theirs. One tact to take with them is the following: Are they adding into your contract that they will be funding motor vehicle insurance and paying the registration fees on employee cars? Furthermore, if they, in your eyes, are claiming some degree of ownership of employee vehicles, ask the hospital if the means that they are also financially liable for any accidents that their employees should have with said vehicles? Is the hospital also on the hook for any car loans that are currently outstanding on said vehicles. [ I would imagine that employees would love to be relieved of the financial burden of car ownerhip and love this new addition to their benefits package. 
]
If you take that approach and you flip it into an added financial exposure on the part of the hospital you might find out that they fix the wording on their notice pretty quickly.
As I have said, it is all a matter of the approach you take and knowing how to play the game better then it.
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]It's vaporizing liquid, dose-adjusted, pharmaceutical-grade nicotine mixed with glycerine (for the vapor effect). No tobacco involved, except as the original source from which the nicotine is extracted, well removed from the vape.
The hysteria is absolutely insane and I've read that at least in NYC, the cry has been, "Think about the children!" (seeing adults set a bad example of smoking even e-cigs, since they can't necessarily tell the difference).
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Some people use e-cigs to vape nicotine-containing or nicotine-free liquids that include tobacco, fruit, beverage, and dessert flavors. No smoke, no smell, no ash, no butts, and no fire hazard. There's just flavor, and an odor-free vapor that quickly dissipates.
The only justification for banning e-cigs is that they might look like cigarettes. So what about e-cigs that are obviously not real - like black, gold, or silver ones that show a blue, green, or other LED glow when drawn on (or no glow at all, thanks to obscuring the tip with a piece of electrical tape)?
What's the excuse for banning them now?
Here's a thought: Some company should come out with an e-cig that looks like half of an old-fashioned #2 pencil. The user can always claim to be just chewing on their pencil and thinking. "Vapor? What vapor? You're imagining things!"
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I'm using rechargeable Blu at the moment because I'm pretty new at vaping and have been researching what's available. Blu has enough options for now and is a fairly inexpensive way to give vaping a try; just have to order flavor cartridges on line to get full selection and can't refill them.
Since I really do prefer the cigarette-like mini vapes, I've settled on the Joyetech e-Roll in black. Blu is fine for now, but I like the 3-chamber, self-fill design better (and it's much cheaper to use after initial setup costs). The Joyetech will be my after-Christmas gift to myself! 
And yes... banning e-cigs is fucking stupid! Considering the harm-reduction aspect of switching from smoking tobacco to vaping should be enough reason all by itself to support and encourage the switch for smokers!
that the car is parked on hospital property. In your case, the hospital has designated that smoking is not allowed on their grounds. If employees choose to play the I can do what I want within my property (i.e. car) they might risk losing the right to park on hospital grounds. Even if the hospital does not control employees' cars, they do have the right to fully control of their property, including the parking lot. If employees have to find somewhere else to park they may face another monthly cost, i.e. parking fees.
This hospital has an economic interest in creating a smoke free campus because smokers generally have higher health care costs. If the hospital is providing health care coverage, they want healthier workers and lower premiums because - they are a hospital.
It is ironic if anybody working in a hospital doesn't understand the hospital's decision. 
tavalon
Most, or every public buildings have been smoke-free where I live - for at least a decade or so, and it works rather well - people who smoke accept it - that you do not smoke in public buildings - and either smoke before you go in (on designated areas) or put on a nicotine plaster somewhere discreeter - or some even put on a snus if they like that type of poison...
But if someone smoke inside their own, private cars - I doubt most would have the right to deny them that.. Even though I think it is disgusting - and it also destroy the value of the car.... I have a friend who smoke in his car - it smells like a ashtray in his car
Diclotican
kids smoking pot back in the woods? 
I don't know how big the woods are in your area but, having watched numerous episode of North Woods Law (I am originally from Maine and I like to watch the locations shown 
), they have shown several situations where people have gone on private property to establish pot plants. There are also a big industry of pot being planted in the forests of SE Oklahoma (enough so that you have to be really careful where you go because you could get shot). SE Oklahoma is not a really safe place.
Again having watched NWL, I can understand why some people might not want people on their property. You have inconsiderate ATVers, hunters, potential of pot growers, littering, and so on. Not everyone respects the land that other people own. It does not take much for ATVers to trash somebody's land. There was a woman shot and killed in her own backyard in Maine several years ago, leaving a young set of twins with no mother.
for most of the employers in the state where I live. No smoking on company property even in your own car if it's on company property. 
I see a lot of smokers out on the curb or parked on the street before the parking lot to get their last puffs in.
People who do not work in hospital settings have no idea what goes on in hospital settings (and no, watching Gray's Anatomy doesn't count). Patients aren't always right, RN's and MD's are always money grubbing 1%'ers, and sometimes crazy shit happens that people are certain NEVER HAPPENS. Especially at public/community hospitals which tend to be very understaffed and overworked. Someone's outside with their PCA and they're smoking on company property? Uh, okay, I have 11 ambulances and a lady having a stroke in the hallway. I'll be sure to corral them in right after I pee for the first time in 10 hours
I'm out of the hospital these days, working in a clinic for low income seniors with chronic health conditions. Few things as challenging as educating someone who is legally blind, partially deaf, functionally illterate and cognitively impaired about the importance of TID blood sugar monitoring. It's nice when I break through, though, and connections are made. This year we tackle blood sugar. Next year, we'll talk about their out of control CHF and how their resting BNP shouldn't hover around 2000......baby steps...
Gnite!
I go to meetings where we park in a medical complex or hospital parking lot and I'll bet that no one realized that it was a problem if people smoked in their cars, just not on the grounds.