Richland County, SC Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

County Council adopted the smoking restrictions in Sec. 18-6 after finding secondhand smoke is a Group A human carcinogen with no safe exposure level. While indoor smoking is banned in every enclosed workplace and work space, Sec. 18-6(g) specifically addresses smoking outdoors: it is allowed outside a workplace only if the smoke does not drift back into any area where smoking is prohibited, and it is flatly prohibited within fifteen feet of any door used as an entrance or exit to a smoke-free area, and from any air intake.

The county measures that 15-foot buffer from the center of the door in question, not the doorframe edge, so a smoker standing at an angle from the entrance is still covered if within the radius. 5 inches at the main entrance under Sec. 18-6(f); the sign duty sits with the owner, manager or person in control of the workplace, separate from the smoker's own 15-foot obligation. Exceptions carved out elsewhere in Sec. 18-6 cover private residences, designated hotel/motel smoking rooms (capped at 25% of rented rooms), retail tobacco stores, and religious ceremonies where smoking is part of the ritual, but none of those exceptions touch the outdoor buffer itself.

The Business Service Center Director enforces the ordinance and can revoke or deny a business license after three infractions at the same workplace within six months, unless the owner shows the required signage was posted and staff were actively asking violators to stop.