Fresh Calls To Ban Smoking In The Workplace
Calls for a ban on smoking in the workplace have grown louder - and what would this mean for employers and employees?
The TUC has renewed its call for a total ban on smoking in the workplace as soon as possible.
Scotland imposed a blanket ban on smoking in all workplaces in March this year, with a ban in Wales coming into force in April 2007 and Northern Ireland following suit next March.
TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said: "There is no sensible reason why employers can't be sitting down with staff now to talk about how the ban will happen and how to make every workplace a safer, healthier place to be."
The TUC has launched a new guide for employers to introducing a ban on smoking, Negotiating smoke-free workplaces, and is urging businesses to familiarise themselves with the changes in advance.
Ministers in the UK are still discussing the possibility of exempting certain places, such as private members clubs, pubs that do not serve food and sealed smoking rooms, from the ban, but the TUC claims that a complete ban is "inevitable".
An industry boss has declared that English pubs are better placed that those in Scotland and Ireland to bring in a smoking ban, but has urged landlords to start preparing for the legislative changes now. A ban on smoking in workplaces in the Republic of Ireland was imposed in March 2004.
The Morning Advertiser quotes Scottish and Newcastle director of national sales, Les Murphy, as saying: "English pubs have greater provision of food, more smoking areas, and have benefited from knowledge of the bans in Scotland and Ireland. More importantly there's a greater feeling that we are ready for it"
Smokers' lobby organisation Forest has argued that figures indicating that passive smoking causes some deaths are unreliable and that banning smoking is curbing freedom of choice.
Pub industry leaders are concerned about how fines for people caught smoking on premises will be applied and have urged ministers to be fair. Proposed fines of up to £2,500 have been suggested for establishments.
An estimated 700 workers die each year in Britain as a result of passive smoking and health groups are pressing for tighter restrictions to be introduced in England earlier than next year.
Passive smoking has been linked to a number of health problems, including heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory problems.
The TUC claims that around a quarter of all employees smoke, with the majority already employed in smoke-free environments. However, smoking is still permitted everywhere in two million establishments and somewhere on the premises in a further ten million.
A government consultation on the draft smoking regulations has just ended and ministers are preparing to examine the submissions received.
There has been some confusion in Scotland about imposing the ban, which allows for smoking shelters. Some pubs are placing curfews on the times people can smoke outside following complaints from residents, while others are unsure about whether customers can drink and smoke outside.
French authorities are seeking to introduce a ban on smoking in public place, including restaurants and cafes. Other countries that have imposed smoking bans include South Africa, Sweden, Norway and some part of the US.
A 2005 smoking ban in all indoor public places place in Italy has been credited in an article for the European Heart Journal with a dip in hospital admission rates for heart attacks.
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