Hospitality leaders have slammed the latest move by anti-smoking campaigners Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) in which letters were sent to industry bosses as a stunt to gain media airtime.
Ash sent out 200 registered letters last week to leading hospitality employers as part of a new campaign set up by the charity and the UK's largest personal injury and trade union law firm, Thompsons.
The letter warned recipients of the risks of exposing staff to second-hand smoke, saying that "the date of guilty knowledge" under the Health and Safety at Work Act was past. It added that employers who continued to permit smoking in the workplace were likely to be held liable by the courts for any health damage caused.
Nick Bish, chairman of the Charter Group, which promotes its voluntary code on smoking in the hospitality workplace, said the campaign was unhelpful to the industry and lost in a "trench warfare mentality".
"There is nothing new in this letter. We all know our duties as employers to ensure the health and safety of our staff. By using words like 'guilty knowledge' and the dispatch of the letters by recorded delivery Ash was aiming to hype a new dimension to an old story," he said.
He continued: "They would have far more credibility with hospitality operators if they left their ivory tower and joined us in trying to deal with the practicalities of the issue."
However, Deborah Arnott, director of Ash, said that the move was a result of the increasing number of calls from employees who were concerned about their smoky working environments.
Ash will be announcing further moves to encourage employees whose health has been damaged by second-hand smoke to begin legal actions for compensation.