OTTAWA – In a landmark decision, the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has agreed to pay workers compensation benefits to a former waitress who developed terminal lung cancer after working in smoke-filled restaurants for 40 years.

Heather Crowe, a 57-year-old non-smoker who has been given as little as six months to live, was informed of the award last month.

The Board’s decision to recognize second-hand smoke as a legitimate workplace hazard breaks with past practice and puts pressure on governments and other provincial workers compensation board to take action.

"I believe it is the first award of its kind for employees in the services industry, particularly bar and restaurant businesses," said Crowe’s lawyer, Phil Hunt.

"To our research, it’s completely unprecedented in Ontario or Canada."

Experts in the field of occupational health predict that the decision will open the floodgates for other non-smokers who have developed lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease and asthma as a result of exposure to second-hand smoke in the workplace.

For her part, Ms. Crowe says she hopes the decision will help others win compensation and convince governments to ban all smoking in restaurants and bars.

"I want to increase awareness, and I want to help workers in the industry to have some protection if they do happen to get sick," she said.

Mr. Hunt said his submission to the board relied heavily on studies from California showing that restaurant employees working in busy smoking sections inhale the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes a day.

Interestingly, the award was announced after Ms. Crowe had already been featured in a federal government anti-smoking ad on television. In the ad, Crowe explains that she developed lung cancer even though she never smoked a cigarette in her life.

Health Canada estimates that 4,000 Canadians dies each year as the result of exposure to second-hand smoke.