Workplace Smoking Rules in Utah

Employers in Utah must comply with these state rules regulating smoking in the workplace.

Utah's Clean Indoor Air Act prohibits smoking in enclosed indoor places of public access and in publicly owned buildings and offices.

Employers covered: Employers with one or more employees are covered.

Written policy requirements: An employer who operates a workplace that is not a place of public access or a publicly owned building or office must establish a written smoking policy. If the employer employs fewer than ten full-time employees on a regular basis, the policy need not be in writing.

The policy must:

• prohibit smoking in the workplace;
• restrict smoking to designated enclosed smoking areas; or
• permit smoking in designated unenclosed smoking areas if the layout of the workplace prevents smoke in the work areas of all nonsmoking employees in the workplace and 3/4 of the employees in the workplace agree.

Posting requirements: Posting requirements are not specified.

No smoking areas: Smoking is prohibited in enclosed indoor places of public access. Place of public access means any enclosed indoor place of business, commerce, banking, financial service, or other service-related activity, whether publicly or privately owned and whether operated for profit or not, to which persons not employed at the place of public access have general and regular access or which the public uses, including:

• buildings, offices, shops, elevators, or restrooms
• means of transportation or common carrier waiting rooms
• restaurants, cafes, or cafeterias
• certain taverns or cabarets
• shopping malls, retail stores, grocery stores, or arcades
• libraries, theaters, concert halls, museums, art galleries, planetariums, historical sites, auditoriums, or arenas
• barber shops, hair salons, or laundromats
• sports or fitness facilities
• common areas of nursing homes, hospitals, resorts, hotels, motels, bed and breakfast lodging facilities, including the lobbies, hallways, elevators, restaurants, cafeterias, other designated dining areas, and restrooms of any of these
• any child care facility or program subject to licensure or certification, including those operated in private homes, when any child cared for under that license is present, and certain child care that is not subject to licensure under or certification, when any child cared for by the provider, other than the child of the provider, is present
• public or private elementary or secondary school buildings or educational facilities or the property on which those facilities are located
• any building owned, rented, leased, or otherwise operated by a social, fraternal, or religious organization when used solely by the organization members or their guests or families
• any facility rented or leased for private functions for which the general public is excluded and arrangements for the function are under the control of the function sponsor
• any workplace that is not a place of public access or a publicly owned building or office but has one or more employees who are not owner-operators of the business
• any area where the proprietor or manager of the area has posted a conspicuous sign stating "no smoking", "thank you for not smoking", or a similar statement

Permitted smoking areas: Utah's Clean Indoor Air Act does not apply to:

• areas not commonly opened to the public of owner-operated businesses having no employees other than the owner-operator
• guest rooms in lodging facilities (but not in common areas)
• certain taverns
• certain private clubs
• separate enclosed smoking areas in passenger terminals of international airports in large cities that are vented directly to the outdoors and that are certified by a state-licensed heating, ventilation, and air conditioning engineer to prevent any smoke from drifting into nonsmoking areas