Are you ready for the smoking ban in England?

The smoking ban in public places, already in place elsewhere in the UK, takes effect in England from 1^st July.

The ban, which covers company premises and commercial vehicles carrying more than one person, means that employers and business owners legally must ensure that the workplace becomes and remains smoke free.

To meet legal requirements, before July 1^st anyone in charge of premises or vehicles in England that are affected by the law must make sure that:

• They have all the required no-smoking signs in place
• They have made staff, customers and visitors aware that the premises and vehicles must be smoke free
• They have removed indoor smoking rooms

Once the new law comes in, anyone who controls premises or vehicles must demonstrate they have taken reasonable steps to meet the requirements of the new law.  Training staff to understand the new law, and introducing a company smoke free policy would be ways of achieving this.

A legal expert recently warned of the importance of ensuring that the smoke-free regulations are complied with.  As well as running the risk of being fined by local councils, employers could face personal injury claims if they do not protect employees from the harmful effects of cigarette smoke and they suffer subsequent health problems as a result.

It’s an important issue to address, and the good news is that there is free help available online to assist in adhering to the law.  There are websites for each of the four home countries, and for England the site address is www.smokefreeengland.co.uk. 

Within this site, if you go to www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/resources you can download and print no-smoking signs free of charge, so there’s no need to go to specialist sign providers and buy them.  There is also a company smoke free policy document, which not only covers all the relevant legal points, but also removes the need to spend time and effort drawing one up internally for your own use.

General advice and guidance is also available at the site, and for other parts of the UK, the following sites offer similar assistance:

Scotland : www.clearingtheairscotland.com

Wales :  www.smokingbanwales.co.uk 

Northern Ireland :  www.spacetobreathe.org.uk