Unions tell employers to ban smoking now

Union leaders have urged employers in England not to wait until next summer before banning smoking in their workplaces.

In a guide published today, the TUC says that rather than put off the inevitable for a few months, employers should be sitting down now with employees to work out the most sensible ways of implementing the new smoke-free regulations.

The guide 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.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “For every month that employers wait to introduce a ban more employees will die or become seriously ill as a result of second-hand smoke at work.

“With about 700 workers dying every year from smoking-related diseases caused by passive smoking at work, there is no sensible reason why employers can't be sitting down with staff now to talk about how the ban will happen and how to make every workplace a safer, healthier place to be.”

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By Daniel Thomas

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