Evaluating the health effects of the ban

In 2008, the Department of Health published an evaluation of the smoke-free regulations. It found that after the introduction of the smoking restrictions, nicotine levels — an indicator of exposure to tobacco smoke — in the blood of non-smoking bar workers were on average reduced by about three-quarters (-76%). Prior to the smoke-free legislation, non-smoking bar workers were found to be inhaling up to six times as much cigarette smoke as the average non-smoker member of the public.