Airport employees forbidden to smoke at Charlotte Douglas

As of next week, many workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport will no longer be able to light up on the airport’s property, even in areas where travelers can smoke.

Interim aviation director Brent Cagle outlined the new policy in a memo to airport employees on Thursday. Starting Monday, airport employees and those who work for airport contractors can’t smoke, use vaporizing devices or use smokeless tobacco on airport property or in city vehicles. The policy is meant to be consistent with the city and county’s new tobacco policy, which went into effect last month banning smoking at government buildings.

“The purpose of the policy is to create a healthier environment for employees by protecting employees from secondhand smoke exposure,” Cagle wrote. The policy is meant to apply to employees before, during and after their workday.

Visitors and travelers will still be able to smoke in designated areas, however, even though employees will be forbidden from doing so. Charlotte Douglas has ash receptacles and smoking areas outside the terminal, where drivers pick up and drop off passengers, and outside the CLT Center, the airport’s administrative building off Wilkinson Boulevard.

“The designated smoking areas at the terminal building are intended for our customers and airline passengers,” Cagle wrote.

Charlotte Douglas is owned and operated by the city as an independently funded department. The airport’s property extends well beyond the terminal most travelers see, encompassing about 6,000 acres roughly bounded by Interstate 485, Billy Graham Parkway, Wilkinson Boulevard and West Boulevard.

“The administration of this policy may have unique challenges,” Cagle wrote.

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Airport employees forbidden to smoke at Charlotte Douglas."