Failure to Maintain Safe and Clean Smoking Areas and Proper Cigarette Disposal
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to provide a safe environment related to smoking, smoking areas, and smoking safety, as evidenced by observations of widespread cigarette litter and improper disposal of cigarette butts on facility grounds. A community complaint submitted to the Rhode Island Department of Health alleged that smoking was occurring within 15 feet of the nursing facility and that cigarette butts were left on the ground and often dragged into the building. Review of the facility’s Smoking Policy showed that residents who wish to smoke are required to do so in a designated area and that smoking may be limited to specific times. On arrival to the facility, surveyors observed numerous discarded cigarette butts along the front perimeter of the building, in the parking lot, and in the mulch. Later observations at the rear of the building revealed the ground was littered with a large quantity of cigarette butts extending approximately 10 feet from the rear entrance door, and the sand-filled bucket used as an ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts. In interviews, the Director of Maintenance acknowledged that cigarette butts littered the grounds in both the front and rear of the building and that the smoking bucket should have been emptied to allow proper disposal. The Administrator also acknowledged the large quantity of cigarette butts on the ground at the rear of the building and stated she would expect staff and/or residents who smoke to follow the facility’s policy for proper disposal of cigarette butts.
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