In the state of Kansas, Lawmakers have been struggling with legislation to ban smoking in public places.  In order to give the legislation a better chance to become law, certain exemptions have been allowed, two in particular that pertain to the freight industry.

The exemption is that a ban on smoking would not exist in trucks and freight trains, an exemption that to my mind is interesting to say the least.

Now as much as an argument can always be made for personal freedom when it comes to smoking, and I don’t see how one could enforce a ban against say an owner-driver, the issuing of a blanket exemption for trucks and freight trains raises an important issue.

That issue is workplace safety, and the willingness of legislators in Kansas to seemingly write off the health and well-being of truck and train drivers in their state is just wrong. 

The drivers of trucks and freight trains are hard-working tax-payers who are as equally entitled to a safe and healthy working environment as anyone else.  Indeed, imagine  for a minute that instead of tobacco smoke, the substance at hand or “in-cab” was asbestos.  Would it be so acceptable to have exemptions for trucks and freight trains then.

I think not and I take this opportunity to urge Kansas lawmakers to reconsider their legislation, so rather than being left to an unhealthy and uncertain future, the hard-working train and truck drivers of the state can benefit from well intended, not to mention timely legislation.

Editorial by Findlay Osborn

Source: Salina Journal

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 4:13 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.