What To Know About Surgical Smoke

By now, you might have heard about the dangers of surgical smoke. Bills and laws have been introduced in recent years by multiple states to make smoke evacuation mandatory in ORs. Minnesota is one state that has introduced measures to keep patients and hospital staff safe. Below, we outline statistics on surgical smoke and how Minnesota is working to combat it.

Surgical Smoke By The Numbers

• Over 500,000 healthcare workers are exposed to surgical smoke every year¹
• Surgical smoke contains over 150 hazardous chemicals including carcinogens and mutagens¹
• Daily exposure to surgical smoke for OR staff is equivalent to smoking 27-30 cigarettes¹
• OR nurses have 2x the incidence of respiratory illness¹
• Nurses with 15+ years of OR employment had a 69% greater risk of developing COPD compared to those in non-nursing, administrative, or nurse educator role¹

What’s Being Done To Prevent Surgical Smoke Exposure?

As mentioned above, Minnesota has recently passed a smoke evacuation bill to help keep everyone safe in the OR. The Minnesota Surgical Smoke Evacuation Law will go into effect January 1, 2025. The law, enforced by MN OSHA, ensures that the use of smoke evacuation solutions will be mandated in ORs across the state. Fines for non-compliance can reach up to $5000.

Minnesota joins 17 other states that have introduced legislation for surgical smoke evacuation requirements in the past six years—with Rhode Island leading the charge back in 2018.

_{¹ CONMED Smoke Law Implementation Webinar}