Smokers who light up outside north-east hospital will face fines of up to £1,000.
New legislation from the Scottish Government will make it illegal to smoke near hospital buildings.
Those who fail to follow the new rules will face an on-the-spot fine of £50 or a court fine of up to £1,000.
NHS managers caught allowing people to light up will also face a court fine of up to £2,500.
NHS Grampian chief executive Malcolm Wright says the health board is in the process of establishing what the new law means for them.
He said: “This new law will make it illegal to smoke on our hospital grounds from 2017.
“That comes with a whole set of consequences that we will need to talk through with our staff. It’s giving new responsibilities to the health board, but also means possible financial penalties for the health board.
“So we’ll be looking at this now and working our way through the regulations before they come in next year.”
The new law, The Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016, states no-smoking zone perimeters will extended to 15 metres from the hospital building.
All NHS Grampian grounds have been smoke-free since April 2015.
The new act is expected to come into force from next year.
