As of 1 August 2020, smoking will no longer be permitted on the grounds of the university, Radboud university medical center and HAN. Because of this, the campus employment office is looking for 'terrain coaches', whose job it will be to confront people about their smoking behaviour.

It’s quite the job: the campus employment office is looking for ten terrain coaches to ensure a smoke-free campus. Following the introduction of the smoking ban – as of 1 January 2020 for Radboud university medical center and 1 August 2020 for the university – they will be tasked with reminding people who light a cigarette in a smoke-free zone that they are not permitted to do so.

‘Terrain coaches should ask smokers to put out their cigarette or, if necessary, point them in the direction of areas where smoking is allowed,’ says Paul Deneer, operations manager at Radboud Services.

The terrain coaches, all students, will be given shirts to wear so that they are easily recognisable. Students hired for the job will practice difficult conversation situations in a training session with an actor. If smokers refuse to comply with their request, the terrain coaches will call in the campus security department.

Smoke police

Won’t these terrain coaches be seen as smoke police? ‘That remains to be seen,’ says Deneer. ‘We are simply following the general order that all teaching spaces, from primary school to higher education, must be smoke-free as of 1 August next year. Since we don’t have any smoking areas on campus, we are using this approach to create a smoke-free area.’

This means that the sheltered smoking areas, which were announced in February 2019, won’t actually happen. ‘The shelters were viewed as an important step towards reducing nuisance at building entrances,’ says Deneer. ‘But that’s no longer an option due to the new legislation.’

‘If you still want to light up, you can do it on a public road’

Students or staff who want to smoke will no longer be able to do so the grounds of the university, HAN or Radboud university medical center from 1 August onwards. This means that the hospital’s smoking areas will also be disappearing. ‘If you still want to light up, you can do it on a public road,’ says Deneer.

Within the next few weeks the university, the Radboud university medical center and HAN will be launching a communication campaign to inform students, staff and the people of Nijmegen about the smoking ban.