Students, staff and visitors to Griffith’s five campuses will be able to enjoy a completely smoke-free environment from this Thursday, 31 May, as theUniversity implements its no-smoking initiative to coincide with World No Tobacco Day.
Approved in March this year, the no-smoking plan covers the entirety of Griffith’s Nathan, Logan, Mt Gravatt, Gold Coast and South Bank campuses, in an effort to better support and promote healthy lifestyle choices for our broad community.
Under the initiative, staff, students and visitors to Griffith will have to go off-campus if they wish to smoke, including the use of electronic cigarettes and vapour pens.
Griffith University Pro Vice Chancellor (Health) ProfessorSheenaReilly said the introduction ofsmoke-free campuses will provide a healthy and safe environment for work and study.
“As health professionals, we see the tragic effects ofsmoking-related diseases all too often,” Professor Reilly said.
“Implementing asmoke-free policy at Griffith is a key step to promote healthy living among students, staff and visitors across our five campuses.”
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Steven Miles said students, staff and visitors would benefit from the change, which will take effect across all Queensland universities and TAFEs by the end of 2018.
“Our government has implemented some of the strongest smoke-free laws in the world, banning smoking in many public places across Queensland, including tertiary education providers,” Minister Miles said.
“The implementation of these smoke-free policies will protect the health of more than 400,000 students and staff members from harmful second-hand smoke.
“Statistics show that more than 4 million Queenslanders are non-smokers and around three-quarters of adults actively avoid places where they could be exposed to other people’s smoke.
“By creating smoke-free environments, tertiary education providers are not only protecting non-smokers from passive smoke, but are also helping smokers to quit.”
For more information about Griffith’s smoke-free policy, including FAQs, see our informational webpage.