Even though the Department of Energy's best efforts indicate there's no need or basis for banning smoking in bans in bars or restaurants, the current public mindset in California is tainted against tolerance - at least for right now. Ironically, the case against public smoking bans continues to strengthen. California's smoking ban even proved to be inhospitable to overall business operations and customer comfort. More than half of the bars responding reported an increase in customer complaints. Unless you're hermetically sealed in a Plexiglas bubble, no one on earth can live or work risk-free, nor should one expect to.
Every job poses some risk.
The U.S. government's most recent data shows many outdoor jobs, like timber-cutting and fishing, actually involve a great deal of risk, with approximately 140 fatalities per 100,000 employed. Airline pilots and navigators also assume very high risk, at 80 fatalities per 100,000. Farm workers, construction workers, oil riggers and taxi drivers all assume fatality risks that exceeds 40 deaths per 100,000. Government data shows bars and restaurants are one of the safest places to work with 1.6 fatalities per 100,000 for the folks waiting tables or behind the bar and less than one fatality per 100,000 if you're in the kitchen. Only in the emotionally charged political chaos within California's attack on tobacco could so unrealistic an argument as total risk-avoidance possibly take hold.