Employers urged to prepare for smoking ban

The TUC http://www.tuc.org.uk is urging employers to sit down with employees and work out the most sensible ways of implementing the smoking ban which will come into force in workplaces in England in the summer of 2007.

In a new guide, published to coincide with the closing date for submissions on the draft smoking regulations, the TUC says that around a quarter of all employees smoke. Most workers are already in workplaces that are smoke-free, but two million work in establishments where smoking is still permitted everywhere, and another ten million where smoking is still allowed somewhere on the premises.

Negotiating smoke-free workplaces says that every workplace should have a smoking policy — drawn up in consultation with staff — that protects smokers from persecution and offers them help giving up. It also needs to cover what happens to persistent smokers who breach the ban as well as breaks for staff who will soon have to go outside to light up.