Ban smoking in all public places

say HR professionals

Following the news that Pizza Hut has bowed to customer pressure and banned smoking in all of its restaurants, a new poll of HR professionals suggests that the majority are in favour of an all-out ban on smoking in public places to help protect staff.

Nearly three-quarters of the 203 professionals polled on HR Gateway (www.hrgateway.com) voted for smoke-free workplaces, while the remaining 29% didnít want to see a ban. The finding was welcomed by ASH, the anti-smoking
lobby:

ëThis is absolutely great news and part of a growing trend,í said ASHís Amanda Sandford. ëBanning smoking means healthier staff which has a direct positive impact on absence levels.

ëThere is also a knock-on effect where smokers tend to try giving up because of the policy. This means that the workforce tends to get healthier if firms employ smoking bans which benefits staff, customers and employers,í she
said.

Owen Tudor, Health and Safety Commissioner and safety expert for the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said that firms needed to be careful before implementing such bans, however. It had to be a matter of negotiation, he
said:

ëI do not believe that a blanket ban is a fair way to proceed. Any no-smoking policies should be negotiated between staff and employer. In bars, for example, there are other ways to remove smoke from the working environment such as ventilators.

ëHowever, one particular pub chain found that banning smoking around the bar area led to a dramatic increase in beer sales as customers did not like waiting for a beer in a smoky environment,í said Tudor.

Vanessa Stebbings of HR Gateway Consulting agrees with Tudor in that all employees have the right to work in a comfortable working environment, but as well as health, fairness is also a major issue to be taken into account:

ëMany organisations have implemented strict no smoking policies to ensure the protection of staff health. Health, however, is not he only issue as stake, the challenge is how to balance the issue of fairness across a diverse range of employees.

ëFor those employees taking cigarette breaks, the issue of hours often arises and decisions need to be made prior to any policy implementation, about how the working time lost will be redressed.

ëIn an attempt to create balance the public sector has commonly adopted an increase in the hours of smokers to cover the time lost to smoke breaks.
Private sector employers, on the other hand, have often seen fit to address the balance through non-smoking employees, by giving time off in lieu.

ëWhilst health remains at the forefront of this policy success can be hampered where the wider implications are ignored,í she said.


A few smoking statistics courtesy of ASH (www.ash.org.uk)

ïAbout 12 million adults in the UK smoke cigarettes - 28% of men and 26% of women. In 1974, 51% of men and 41% of women smoked cigarettes - nearly half the adult population of the UK. Now just over one-quarter smoke, but the decline in recent years has been heavily concentrated in
older age groups. In other words, almost as many young people are taking up smoking but more established smokers are quitting.

ïAdult smoking rates vary between different parts of the country. In East Anglia, 26% of people smoke, in the North West, 29%. In Scotland, 31% of the population smokes, in Wales 27% and in Northern Ireland prevalence is 27%.

ïSmoking is highest among those aged 20-34: 37% of men and women in this age group smoke. Among older age groups prevalence gradually declines with the lowest smoking rate among people aged 60 and over: 17% smoke in this age group.

ïMore than 80% of smokers take up the habit as teenagers.

ïIn the United Kingdom about 450 children start smoking every day.

ïMen and women in manual socio-economic groups are more likely to smoke than people in non-manual occupations. 21% of men and 18% of women in the professional and managerial groups smoke compared with 35% of men and 31% of women in routine and manual groups.

ïEvery year, around 120,000 smokers in the UK die as a result of their habit.

ïSmoking kills around six times more people in the UK than road traffic accidents (3,391), other accidents (8,933), poisoning and overdose (3157), murder and manslaughter (495), suicide (4,485), and HIV infection (180) all put together (20,641 in total - 1999 figures).

ïPolls show that people underestimate the health risks of smoking and the effects of passive smoking.

ïIt is estimated that several hundred cases of lung cancer and several thousand cases of heart disease in non-smokers in the UK are caused by passive smoking - breathing other people’s tobacco smoke.


Information on the TUCís approach to smoking in the workplace can be found on its website at