01 March 2007
Jocelyn Dorrell

When Liverpool City Council went substantially smoke-free in 1993 it was among the first local authorities - possibly the first - in the country to take the step. "It was a very big change in culture at the time," says Andrea Crossfield, SmokeFree Liverpool's programme director. "Liverpool has always been in the vanguard and has pioneered smoke-free workplaces - not just within the council, but across many organisations. We felt very strongly that everybody had a right to be protected from second-hand smoke at work."

Over the past 25 years there has been a significant shift in attitudes to smoking in public places. Many organisations have embraced smoke-free working, and for those that are yet to do so, there is now a legal imperative. Scotland has already implemented comprehensive legislation and, over the next six months, Wales, Northern Ireland and England will do the same. The UK joins a growing list of countries that have taken the step, including Ireland, France, New Zealand, Norway, and large parts of Canada and Australia.

Ruth Bosworth, director of services at smoking-cessation charity QUIT, believes there is real global momentum behind the move to smoke-free public places and workplaces. "In the next two to three, maybe five, years, I think smoke-free is going to become the norm rather than the exception," she predicts.

The challenge for employers here is to ensure a smooth transition to smoke-free working in time for the government's 1 July deadline (April for Wales and Northern Ireland). Employers need to formulate or review smoking policies in consultation with employees and their representatives, to ensure they meet the requirements of the new legislation and fulfil their duty of care to protect all workers from the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. As employers who have already gone smoke-free testify, it is rarely as simple as issuing a blanket ban, but nor should it be a complicated exercise provided employees are involved in the process.

Regional differences

The benefits of a long run-in are evident in Liverpool City Council's success in going smoke-free. The larger and more complex the organisation (the council has 19 000 employees and around 630 sites), the sooner it needs to act. "I think realistically for very large organisations it's probably going to take about six months to put in place a policy," says Crossfield. "And for many organisations it's going to take, say, three months, because as a good employer you need to consider who is going to be impacted by the policy, and you need time to put it in place and arrange stop-smoking support for staff where appropriate."

When the council consulted on going smoke-free, "it was very much a defined process," says Crossfield. It consulted and negotiated with staff and trade unions over about 12 months, and plenty of notice was given of changes once they had been decided. In one building, staff were given six months' notice that the smoking room would be closed.

Lloyds TSB has been substantially smoke-free for some years but, because of the sheer size of the business, the group recently went about updating and tightening up its policy to remove anomalies, such as an inherited smoking room on one site, in time for the legislation.

"We've taken the consultation process very slowly - over about a year," says Teresa Isaacs, health risk manager. "With health-related policies we like to consult widely and make sure the implications are understood by everybody. It's far easier that way."

The company held two workshops, facilitated by the Smoke-free Bristol partnership, which involved trade unions, employee representatives, HR personnel and senior managers. Delegates in the first workshop looked at the existing policy and the implications of the new regulations, and identified potential problems with compliance; the second session considered a new draft policy.

"I think there was some cynicism about why we were starting the process internally so early, but we've got everyone fully on board now and they're very well prepared," says Isaacs. The only real difficulty Lloyds TSB has faced is caused by national variations within the UK, which Isaacs describes as "an absolute nightmare", especially the indecision over the scope of the English regulations. Variations in signage requirements - the Scottish legislation requires signs to name a responsible person but the English regulations do not - and different implementation dates have meant communications campaigns have had to be tailored for different areas of the country.

Taking it outside

While the legislation is comprehensive in outlawing smoking in enclosed places, businesses still have plenty of decisions to make, especially over outdoor facilities for smokers. Following consultation, Lloyds TSB has taken the decision not to provide new smoking shelters, but existing shelters that meet the 50% rule (see Clearing the air, HSW February, page 20) will remain and others may be modified so they comply.

Specialist sales, marketing and distribution company the Lawtons Group, which has around 90 employees across two sites in Liverpool, went smoke-free on 1 May 2006, having announced the decision to staff on 1 March. "We knew the new law was coming and we decided to give ourselves a head start on it in case there should be any unforeseen obstacles," says operations manager Alexis Shaffi. With support from Fag Ends, the Roy Castle Lung Foundation's stop-smoking team, the company devised an action plan which involved moving indoor smoking areas outside at both of the company's sites and offering workshops to staff during work time to help them quit. Outdoor shelters were built for smokers "to deter people from doorsteps", says Shaffi. "We also had to consider the health and safety aspects of traffic routes for pedestrians. Obviously there's been an increase in bodies moving through an external point so we had to take all of that into account when planning the external smoking area."

To make sure all workers get a consistent message, construction management company Bovis explains its smoke-free policy to all employees at induction.

"The smoking policy is not only in place for health reasons, but also for safety reasons because of the solvents and flammable materials and things like that that are used on site," site nurse Claire Campbell explains. Unfortunately, she says, not everyone complies. But in such cases, a warning is usually enough. "It's normally just verbal advice: 'It's not a good idea to smoke here because of such and such, and this is our policy, but outside the site is a public area where you can smoke'," she says. The policy is supported by signage in and around canteens, welfare blocks and sites.

Liverpool Council has operated a strictly-enforced no-smoking policy in grounds and at building entrances for the last four years, and since 1 January 2006 smoking has been prohibited in school grounds. Posters and banners notified parents and carers of the clampdown, and the move "was really well received".

"Schools should be exemplars," argues Crossfield. In September 2006, the council agreed a motion to make all day centres smoke-free from 1 January this year. No date has been set yet for residential premises but one is already entirely smoke-free and Crossfield hopes this will act as a model for the others.

On the move

Council vehicles, such as refuse vehicles, have been smoke-free in Liverpool since 1994, and there has been little opposition to the policy. "I think it has worked reasonably well; people have accepted that they can't smoke when they are at work," says Crossfield, adding that many vehicles are shared and they are used by different staff at different locations. Nationally, though, Crossfield anticipates that this area of the new law will be "rather challenging to enforce". Isaacs agrees, noting that the no-smoking policy in shared "pool" cars which Lloyds TSB already operates is "virtually impossible to police". The bank has not yet finalised its policy for company cars (those provided as a benefit) but when it is ready it will be explained to staff via the company's internal communications channels including the intranet.

The regulations do not cover residential premises but employers still have a duty of care to protect employees who visit clients, customers or patients in a home setting from second-hand smoke. Liverpool Council has set up a working group to establish a policy for staff who work in residential premises.

"Councils and primary care trusts have very many staff who are routinely exposed," Crossfield notes. "Given that many of the test cases surrounding exposure to second-hand smoke were taken against councils initially, I think it's quite likely that we might see some of that in the future if councils don't act to meet their duty of care." She argues that as the body of evidence grows about the dangers of even short-term exposures to tobacco smoke, risk assessments will need to consider not just pregnant women and other vulnerable workers but all members of staff. But she acknowledges that "it's always going to be a challenge to protect staff who work in other people's homes."

Lloyds TSB considered the issue of staff, such as financial sellers, visiting customers in their homes during its consultation phase. The company has prepared a standard letter, requesting an alternative venue for the proposed home meeting, which could be sent to a customer in the event of an employee raising the issue.

"This isn't something that has been raised internally before," notes Isaacs, "but with the regulations coming in, people are going to be more aware so we have thought about it and we have built it into our policy."

Time out

While the new legislation affects where employees can smoke, it contains no reference to when employees can smoke. Whether or not to allow smoking breaks in addition to normal rest breaks is still a matter for individual employers, but many organisations are taking advantage of the legislation to review their arrangements.

At Liverpool City Council, employees can only smoke during their normal break times, a policy which has been in place for the last four years. Bovis operates a similar policy: "There are no allocated breaks to go and smoke," says Claire Campbell.

When it went smoke-free last summer, Lawtons - which has won a National Clean Air Award for its smoke-free policy - took a slightly different approach to the issue. Rather than banning them altogether, the company allocated specific times for cigarette breaks: between 10am and 10.30am, and 3pm and 3.30pm. Smokers are allowed 10 minutes during these set times, but must make the time up - preferably at the end of the day, rather than by taking a shortened lunch break, "which is another deterrent", notes Alexis Shaffi. The policy ensures that non-smokers are not at a disadvantage and so avoids the ill-feeling and resentment that smoking breaks can cause.

Shaffi says the company was keen to accommodate the needs of smokers at the same time as providing support for quitters. "The only slight hiccups we had at first were that people seemed to constantly forget things and have to go to their cars," she observes. "That seems to have calmed down now though."

No butts

The imminent introduction of the smoke-free legislation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland should make going smoke-free easier for employers than it ever has been. Teresa Isaacs' experience of reviewing Lloyds TSB's policy has been positive. "Touch wood, so far, we've had no negative feedback at all," she says.

"We've seen growing public support for smoke-free work and public places," reflects Andrea Crossfield. "Because in Liverpool we had the cultural shift possibly a little earlier here than nationally, and because many of the bigger organisations have been smoke-free for some time, we haven't really had big issues with enforcement internally."

Procedures for dealing with non-compliance should be set out in the smoking policy and all staff should be aware of the possible sanctions if they do break company rules (see Clearing the air, HSW February). As with other health and safety policies, smoking policies should identify by name a manager who is responsible for the policy, and should be reviewed at regular intervals.

Two sample smoking policies are available on the Smokefree England website at www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/files/smokefree_policy1.pdf and www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/files/smokefree_policy_workplace1.pdf

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Theme nights

Liverpool Council has taken a pragmatic approach to encouraging the city's pubs and bars to make the switch to smoke-free. "We've always accepted that pubs want to have that level playing field, where everybody does it at the same time," says Andrea Crossfield, SmokeFree Liverpool's programme director. To start preparing businesses for the July deadline, SmokeFree Liverpool's Community Action working group has worked with pubs across the city - and especially in areas where smoking is more prevalent - to organise smoke-free nights. "I've been into a pub where probably 80% to 90% of people were smokers, but everybody's perfectly happy to step outside to have a cigarette," says Crossfield. "Many people know someone who has been affected by smoking and they do accept the health arguments. Seeing that it's a really busy evening and people enjoy it ... it's really positive."

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Tough break

In June last year, supermarket chain Morrisons sacked seven workers at its branch in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, after they were caught on CCTV breaking company rules and leaving the building at night for a cigarette break. Morrisons does not allow staff to leave the building at night for safety and security reasons.

Before the Scottish smoking legislation came into force in March, staff had access to a smoking room. The company attracted press attention when it became clear that, once Scotland went smoke-free and the smoking room was closed, night workers would be forced to go without a cigarette for their entire 10-hour shift. Morrisons said that it was committed to helping staff quit smoking and would be offering free cessation aids, such as nicotine patches.

Three of the sacked workers lodged appeals, arguing that alternative facilities should be provided for night-shift workers, but in October Morrisons said the appeals had been unsuccessful. The matter is now expected to go to employment tribunal.

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