Hawai'i has made progress in the push to create a healthier workplace, but it's evident that there's room for improvement where smoking laws are concerned. The goal of prohibiting smoking in restaurants is to reduce the amount of secondhand smoke that's inhaled by patrons and employees, who end up breathing in about the same poisons as people smoking a pack a day.

Advertiser "Bureaucracy Buster" columnist Robbie Dingeman outlined the situation at The Shack, a group of small eateries where management has openly criticized the restaurant smoking ban enacted on O'ahu in February 2004 and allows patrons to smoke (according to posted signs) "at your own risk."

Managers defend their stance by pointing to renovations at the largely open-air restaurants that have improved circulation; they add that there's no objective data demonstrating that The Shack's specific environment is unhealthy.

Requiring enforcement through air-quality monitoring, however, would simply add another tangle to a law already difficult to enforce. The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai'i, a local advocacy group pressing for smoking regulation, considers restaurants that ignore the ban to be in the minority, but this case still points out why a more practical, statewide law is needed.

About two dozen complaints have been lodged with state health officials against this employer alone. Other people have called police, but the responding officer also must witness the offense, which complicates enforcement.

Each county across the state has taken its own approach, determining which companies will be subject to regulation based on its size. It's time for a unified statewide policy. A reasonable policy would hold establishment owners accountable for infractions to some degree.

The coalition wisely has begun to scour the country for ideas in preparation for proposing a new state law before next year's legislative session. Some states work at lifting the barriers against enforcement, while others enlist the help of businesses by linking compliance to licensing renewal.

The frightening statistics about the health risks of secondhand smoke exposure clarified the importance of a single Hawai'i state law. Restaurant employees and customers deserve an environment that is not, as the cigarette pack warns us, "hazardous to your health."