Turning against the big smoke

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Nearly three quarters (74%) of Londoners would support a law to make all workplaces smoke free, according to the results of a web and phone survey commissioned by the London Health Commission.

Two thirds (63%) of those interviewed worked in offices and 5 per cent in places where people shop or eat. London's entertainment and retail industry exposes thousands of workers to tobacco smoke. Secondhand smoke is now the only proven human carcinogen that is unregulated in the workplace. Only half of workers are employed in smokefree workplaces and one in ten people work in places with no restrictions at all.

A draft Approved Code of Practice, which would have applied the Health and Safety at Work Act to smoking, has been stalled since consultation in 1999.

• More at www.bigsmokedebate.com
• Proposal For An Approved Code Of Practice On Passive Smoking At Work. CD151. www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd151.htm

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