Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Passive smoking killing staff

by Personnel Today 1 Jun 2004
by Personnel Today 1 Jun 2004

One person working in the hospitality trade dies every week from passive
smoking at work, doctors have warned.

The figures from the Royal College of Physicians come as it has emerged that
the Government is likely to announce new laws on smoking in public later this
summer.

Professor Konrad Jamrozik, of Imperial College, London, estimated that
passive smoking at work causes 49 deaths each year in hospitality industry
employees, twice as many as from domestic exposure in this group.

Environmental tobacco smoke in the workplace causes about 700 deaths each
year in the UK, he calculated. And at least 3,600 people below the age of 65
died each year from lung cancer, heart disease and stroke caused by passive
smoking at home, he added.

The figures were announced at a college-backed conference called
Environmental Tobacco Smoke and the Hospitality Industry.

Imperial College president Carol Black said: "Environmental tobacco
smoke in pubs, bars, restaurants and other public places is seriously damaging
to the health of staff, as well as the public. Making these places smoke free
not only protects vulnerable staff and the public, it will also help more than
300,000 people in the UK to stop smoking."

Anti-smoking lobby group Action on Smoking and Health described the figures
as "truly shocking".

Legislation looks set for summer

The Government looks likely to
announce some form of legislative crackdown on workplace smoking this summer.

Representatives from the British Hospitality Association (BHA)
and the British Beer and Pub Association met culture secretary Tessa Jowell and
public health minister Melanie Johnson in May to discuss smoke-free workplaces.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The industry had suggested that, instead of laws to ban smoking
in pubs and bars, a tougher voluntary regime should be introduced, including
restricting smoking at the bar. But the BHA said ministers now appeared set on
bringing in new laws. One possibility mooted is to give local authorities the
power to implement legislation.

Ministers have been under increasing pressure from medical and
public health campaigners to crack down on smoking in pubs and bars, especially
as initial indications appear to show that Ireland’s ban is working well. The
Government is expected to outline its plans in July, when it publishes a White
Paper on public health.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Paid maternity leave could increase by six months
next post
Stricter dress codes back in fashion

You may also like

Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders receive 400% pay rise

4 Jul 2025

FCA to extend misconduct rules beyond banks

2 Jul 2025

‘Decisive action’ needed to boost workers’ pensions

2 Jul 2025

Business leaders’ drop in confidence impacts headcount

2 Jul 2025

Why we need to rethink soft skills in...

1 Jul 2025

Five misconceptions about hiring refugees

20 Jun 2025

Forward features list 2025 – submitting content to...

23 Nov 2024

Features list 2021 – submitting content to Personnel...

1 Sep 2020

Large firms have no plans to bring all...

26 Aug 2020

A typical work-from-home lunch: crisps

24 Aug 2020

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+