“Smoking is smoking,” they tend to say.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
They are probably right except that this is not what the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) has decided.<\/p>\n
The real question is: do you want to pick a fight on that? To challenge the government up to the Supreme Court?<\/p>\n
Of course not.<\/p>\n
So don’t be a fool, refresh these signs and move on.<\/p>\n
And while doing it, take the opportunity to put up the three no-smoking signs all together: tobacco, cannabis and vaping.<\/p>\n
But then, make sure that they are all posted at the right places!<\/p>\n
Signs everywhere are better than no sign at all<\/h5>\n
Put up signs everywhere and if in doubt, add more of them.<\/p>\n
That is way better than wasting an hour arguing with an inspector or worse, getting a fine.<\/p>\n Take the example of the 9 meters regulation. This applies to “any door, air intake or window that opens”.<\/p>\n So, this means the following places:<\/p>\n Why hesitate? Add more of them. It won’t affect your operating costs!<\/p>\n For the past 20 years or more, convenience stores have been required to have no-smoking signs within their premises.<\/p>\n However, a very large number of them still don’t have any.<\/p>\n Those signs used to be there but at some point, they fell down and never replaced.<\/p>\n “Anyway, it’s not important since everyone knows it’s forbidden to smoke inside,” said one owner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yes, but how about a tourist passing by? Maybe it’s not the same in his country!<\/p>\n Some said: “According to my contract, I can’t post any sign within the store on my own. It’s the banner that makes these decision!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Really? Will the banner also pay your fine if you end up with one? We don’t think so.<\/p>\n So, it means that YOU are legally responsible.<\/p>\n Put up a sign on the front door, one on a wall inside and one near the check-out area, and there you go: no more worries!<\/p>\n And as for the employees: one in the backroom, one in the washroom and others wherever you think it’s needed or justified.<\/p>\n Inspectors will often walk into the employee areas to check if there are any cigarette butts on the floor.<\/p>\n The presence of no-smoking signs in those places shows your true concern as an employer to enforce the regulation and, in the event of a violation, may serve to substantiate your due diligence plea.<\/p>\n Now there are also gas pumps in about half of all convenience stores.<\/p>\n Every canopies in principle feature no-smoking signs. Well, refresh them too then!<\/p>\n “Yes but, we are told, it has nothing to do with the Tobacco Act: it is a matter of gasoline safety”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Or course, but you must understand that there is now a new and separate Act regulating cannabis.<\/p>\n This piece of legislation is completely separate from the Tobacco Act. And it, too, requires signs everywhere it is prohibited to smoke.<\/p>\n “Maybe, but an inspector came the other day and said nothing about that,” we often hear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So what? What guarantee do you have that the next one will think and do the same? What will you do if he or she applies the rules more strictly?<\/p>\n Is it worth risking a $700 fine plus a ton of stress to save a few pennies?<\/p>\n And how about having to argue with an inspector, which is never fun?<\/p>\n Remember: unlike police officers, health inspectors have the right to search your premises without a warrant. They have lots of legal power.<\/p>\n And keep in mind one thing: you will NEVER be fined for putting up too many signs!<\/strong><\/p>\n This must be your strategy to avoid being bothered with this again and being able to go back to your business.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most got it but many are still scratching their head. As a matter of fact, several c-store owners do not<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":121804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1873,223,1878,1745,1737],"tags":[912,300,310],"class_list":["post-121827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-due-diligence","category-newsdep","category-prodep-zone","category-regulation-1","category-tobacco-ecig","tag-regulation-en","tag-regulation","tag-tobacco"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Sans-titre-1.jpg\")
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In-store, you must also display no-smoking signs<\/h5>\n
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Not to mention the gas pumps!<\/h5>\n
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