Tobacco Documents Online

THE CASE OF THE SNIFFING RECEPTIONIST Imagine you walk into the reception area of a building. The receptionist stands up and begins to sniff you up down. Where are you? A lunatic asylum? A combination of the above? trin and ry clinic? Dreaming? Some Actually you might be at Kimball Physics, an electronics manufacturer in Wilton, New Hampshire, where smokers are so unwelcome they are sniffed out at the gate. Receptionist Jennifer Walsh of Kimball is charged with applying the sniff test on all employees and visitors to the company. If she catches even a whiff of tobacco smoke on your breath, hair or clothing, she will deny you entrance to the company's offices. Company president Chuck Crawford defended the policy to the Associated Press, insisting that "people can be made ill by amounts of tobacco residues that are below the level of sensitivity the nose can detect." Tobacco Institute spokesman Tom Lauria said there was no scientific evidence supporting Crawford's claim, and added, "for a scientific company to take such an unscientific posture reflects very badly on that company." Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Unions, told the AP that Kimball's policy v~plates.an.ore~thac ..it-a-l=so violates the state's "smokers rights" law, which says employ rs cannot prohibit employee smoking off the job. Crawford says_he W r/

believes none of Kimball's 50 employees is a smoker, so there is no problem with the policy internally. Visitors who set off Walsh's nasal smoke alarm, however, are asked to wait outside, including job applicants. Human Resources director Faye Bigarel says that even the slightest trace of tobacco smoke will make her ill, so applicants who don't pass the sniff test are often made to fill out employment forms in their car. An exception to the company's policy was made recently when a copy machine broke down and the only available repair technician was a smoker. # # #