As many as 300 people a year in the UK die of lung cancer from passive smoking but despite the statistics businesses are still finding it hard to take the final steps to a blanket-ban in their workplaces.
Official statistics from ASH tell us that about 12 million adults in the UK smoke cigarettes. The habit is fairly evenly balanced between the genders with 27% of men and 25% of women confirmed as smokers. Every year around 114,000 people in the UK die as a result of smoking.
Less than half of businesses, however, offer support to staff to stop smoking.
This is despite the fact that smoking in the workplace costs at least £340 million a year in productivity losses and around £70 million per year in expenses incurred through absenteeism.
Employers have obligations under The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, Regulation three, to assess the risks to their employees while they are at work. Although the Code of Practice allows for trivial risks to be ignored, the effects from passive smoking cannot, as they are seen as significant.
Environmental tobacco smoke is made up from “sidestream” smoke from the burning tip of cigarettes and the “mainstream” smoke exhaled by smokers. To meet their obligation under The Workplace Regulations 1992, employers must provide sufficient ventilation in the workplace.
The regulations also require that non-smokers are protected from tobacco smoke during breaks and while eating meals.
Professor Nicholas Wald at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Royal London School of Medicine concluded in a review of evidence on heart diseases, “The effect of environmental tobacco smoke is not trivial, as is often thought. It is a serious environmental hazard, and one that is easily avoided. The evidence on ischmeamic heart disease warrants further action in preventing smoking in public buildings and enclosed working environments.”
Employment law services, FirstAssist urges bosses to implement a smoking at work policy that focuses on the needs of non-smokers.
FirstAssist’s top tips for dealing with Smoking at work include:
- Check your obligations under the Workplace Regulations 1992
- Ensure enclosed work spaces are ventilated by a sufficient quantity of fresh or purified air
- Provide facilities for rest and meals that protect non-smokers from harmful smoke
- Give priority to the needs of non-smokers
- Consult employees before imposing a ban or creating a new policy to reduce resentment from smokers
- Make sure all members of staff are aware of the new policy and when it will come into effect
- Offer support and advice to members of staff who want to give up smoking
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