On February 14th, St Valentine's Day, MPs voted to impose a ban on smoking in all enclosed public places. This move brings England into line with Ireland which went smoke free in March 2004 and Scotland which went smoke-free in March 2006. What this means: The legislation will ban smoking in all enclosed public places, a definition which includes all workplaces and work vehicles - such as pubs, clubs, private members clubs, cafés, offices, shops, shopping centres, restaurants, factories, theatres, bingo halls, church halls, sports centres, schools, hospitals, public and work transport. Smoke-free means smoking is prohibited anywhere within your building (smoking rooms are therefore not allowed).
10 reasons why you can't lose with smoke-free legislation:
- You'll be demonstrating your commitment to the health and wellbeing of your staff & customers
- increased on-the-job productivity - just think of the cost of all those cigarette breaks!
- improve working relationships and staff morale, by reducing tensions between smokers and non-smokers
- a safer working environment, with reduced sickness and early retirements due to ill health
- meet health and safety regulations and reduce your risk of litigation
- have a reduced risk of fire damage, explosions and other accidents related to smoking (and that also means reduced insurance premiums)
- lower costs for maintenance, cleaning and redecoration, including reduced wear-and-tear on furniture and equipment
- have greater appeal to non-smoking customers: Remember 80 per cent of the population don't smoke
- Worldwide smoke-free policies have been shown to have a positive or neutral impact on trade in bars and restaurants.
- Smoke-free policies cost less to put in place and enforce than policies allowing smoking
We are here to support local businesses with writing and implementing their smoke-free policies. It's a free service and we can give advice and support to any business about going smoke-free. For more information please contact Debbie Lear, Smokefree Public Places Officer on 01225 477523, or Wendy Harris, Health Development Officer on 01225 475408.