Las Vegas casino employee Kanie Kastroll is protesting and taking out a first class action lawsuit aimed at second hand smoking and the lack of more stringent smoking laws in Nevada, claiming that casino employees are getting smoking related illnesses caused by second hand smoke while they are working. She is working hand in hand with Smoke-Free Gaming to be entitled to a smoke-free workplace.
While most work places throughout the US are smoke free zones as a result of local smoking bans, Nevada is protecting its casinos by allowing smoking indoors because the state claims that many gamblers smoke and that smoking is therefore good for the state’s economy. Added to this are fears that the industry might not be so eager to share revenue if the state becomes stricter with its smoking laws. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is higher in Nevada than in other states as a result.
While Kastroll is outspoken about this issue, other employees are not so eager to voice their opinions because they feel that some of their livelihoods depend on gamblers smoking.
Casino’s might not be happy to repel gamblers who smoke but some of them are trying to make the air cleaner by spending millions of dollars on high-tech air-filtration systems that can suck up the smoke and then pump in fresh scented air.
Either way, people working on the gaming floors are going to have to work in an environment with cigarette smoke and people are unlikely to question this as they need jobs or to retain jobs.
The Environmental Protection Agency has classified second-hand smoke as a cancer-causing substance that is responsible for thousands of lung cancer deaths among nonsmoking Americans each year.
While the flexible smoking laws are a huge issue in Nevada, Assemblyman Richard Segerblom, an employment attorney, who thinks that the smoking ban is inevitable, doesn’t think it’ll come from state officials or lawmakers because casinos bring in too much revenue and therefore hold so much power. He predicts it will come from a ballot initiative that will be driven by the majority of Nevadans who are non-smokers, or otherwise from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
