Since the introduction of strict antismoking laws in Germany smoker booths have provided companies with the opportunity to give smokers a place where they can indulge in their habit inside a building. The question is which of these booths meet legal criteria and duly protect non-smokers from noxious smoke? Employers can now inform themselves in this respect on the internet.
Protecting systems for non-smokers, so-called smoking booths are to detect smoke within buildings and filter it thereby protecting non-smokers from passive smoking. These devices exist in the form of e.g. booths, screens or tables. Whether these systems are reliable enough can now be assessed on the basis of a new test procedure. Currently in Germany only the BGIA institute and the institute for industrial aerodynamics in Aachen are qualified to test such protecting devices.
The BGIA website provides a list with currently six devices which passed the BGIA efficiency test. This test is not obligatory to manufacturers of smoker booths. 