Is it or is it not against the law for people to smoke on work premises, albeit outside? We have people who smoke where we sit and eat our sandwiches.

Also, same question for in company vans. Do i still have to put up with the driver I'm helping smoking all day long?

Work van is a workplace and smoking is forbidden.

Outside is just outside.

Surely 'outside' Isn't that simple. I thought there were all sorts of rules regarding the walls to ceiling ratio. Also many places seem to have a 'within x metres of any building' rule, which means standing outside the back door is not acceptable (at least under company rules).

don't think you can smoke within a 20m (10?) perimeter around the buildings.
Buy some of those electronic/digital cigarettes – can smoke them anywhere 😉

Digical Fags!

As a smoker, and ex van driver, there's no way I'd submit a 2nd to me smoking in the van – whenever I had a helper, I'd wait until I was out of the van to have a tab – unless they also smoked. As has already been said, it's now totally illegal anyway, in a company vehicle.

AS druidh said. van is a workplace so not allowed. Outside is outside ( in scotland anyway if there is less than 50% enclosed) Companies may specify a distance from a building if they want but that does not mean it is illegal only against company rules

Thought the outside, if on business premises, had to be a "designated smoking area"? Maybe just imagining things. But the guy smoking all day on a van with a non-smoker? You gotta be joking right?

DD – that might be company rules but certainly here in Scotland its anywhere outside which is defined as being more than 50% open to the elements. Ie of the 4 walls roof and floor you can have any 3 of them – or more realistically a smoking shelter can only have one wall plus roof and floor

Fair enough TJ…just thought I'd seen it written on signs outside buildings so assumed there was some kind of rule where a specific area had to be designated by the company…but being self-employed before the ban came in, I never really saw the specific rules on it. I know my best mate's company have an outside shelter for smoking but that employees are forbidden to smoke around the picnic tables and must use the shelter. I guess it's down to the company what they want to do on their own property, eh.

As TJ says, which is why, in Scotland at least, bus shelters are no smoking volumes.

The rules in England/Wales say that a shelter must not be 'substantially enclosed' which has been interpreted in most cases as no more than two walls and a roof.

There is also no minimum distance from a building but an urban myth of 5 metres developed because of the pattern of smoke flow in heavily trafficked areas, especially outside entrance doors, where the smoke gets carried back into the building and therefore breaks the law.

On the original point about smoking and eating together outside, if it is a designated smoking area then people who eat there do so at their own risk.

As for vans, if they are company property, or privately owned and the owner is paid an allowance to use for business, then they are classified as a workplace and smoking is against the law. If he's smoking in the van BillyWhiz then tell him to stop and point out why and if he refuses report him. If he gets picked up by the relevant authority, whoever polices this one, then the company faces ahefty fine.

What annoys me now is that I can't go to a pub and sit outside and enjoy a drink because in ALL weathers you get the smokers standing outside!! Grrrrr.

It was nice to sit outside a pub on a cold day with your bike, knowing no-one else was going to nick your bike.

Smoking in the van? Not even slightly within the law…. Most sensible companies ban smoking on any part of the company premises. Don't see why any consideration should be given to smokers, they clearly don't even care about themselves, let alone anyone else. And I used to smoke as well before I grew a brain and realised how monumentally daft it is!

As said, outside is outside. However, many premises operate a policy of no-smoking on site (Hospitals mostly operate this). It's not against the law to smoke in these areas but if it's the smoker's workplace, they may find yourself in trouble with their employer.

Other areas, such as train stations, have specific bylaws that can legally restrict smoking due to safety issues.

Kevonakona – only some bus shelters weirdly as some count as outside some as inside depending on type.

Robdob – let the smokers smoke somewhere FFS

Oh stop ****ing bleating for gods sake. The santimonious, self-righteous, we-know-whats-best-for-you health nazis have now ensured that I can't have a fag indoors anywhere at all. But is that good enough for the compulsive whingers that seem to increasingly make up this sad little countries population? Of course it isn't! The fun police really are winning

The answer seems pretty clear cut. If you don't want to be around smokers, then 'anywhere indoors' pretty much covers it. Not rocket science is it? Think you can get your heads around the concept?

Bring in the Norwegian law!

No smoking within view of a public place (and yes that includes your livingroom)

Thanks for poisioning us binners both verbally and with smoke 😉

We have a designated smoking area at one side of the building and a non smoking the other side you sit where you choose.

I have some sympathy with smokers as they have to smoke somewhere we ban them inside and are now moaning they do it outside. That said (and yes I have the occasional one still) – it does **** stink and is very unpleasnt to most non smokers.

Anyhting to encourage them to quit I say (as a recovering smoker), and also to make it look unpleasant / daft / inconvenient to start.

The thing that really annoys me is how everyone lumps us 'smokers' is as a homogeneous mass. We're not.

Some people are inconsiderate bastards. Some aren't.

I wouldn't bloody dream of smoking in a vehicle at all. Never mind with a non-smoker in. And I wouldn't sit there smoking while someone was eating either.

But if i want to sit outside the pub and have a simultaneous fag and a beer (and this is in all weathers, not just on the 3 days a year when the suns out) and as a non-smoker you don't like that: TOUGH ****ING ****!!!! **** off back inside!!!

…. and breathe

i'm with Binners, i enjoy a fag and if i'm outside well that's the best you're getting from me, you got the indoors now f**king lump it and stop moaning. It's me that has to stand out in the pi$$ing rain because i can't smoke inside, don't sit there and bleat on about how it's annoying when someone is smoking in a beer garden, tough, get used to it.

If you're sitting outside chances are you're worse of with skin cancer and breathing in car fumes anyway

The fun police really are winning

well, given that smokers had the upper hand for the past 2 or 3 centuries I'm content for them to be oppressed now. As for "fun", I too miss that romantic haze we used to have in pubs and the redolent stink I'd carry away afterwards. NOT.

If you don't want to be around smokers, then 'anywhere indoors' pretty much covers it

… and too bad if you wanted to enjoy fresh air or sunshine (remember that?) 🙁

robdob – Member

What annoys me now is that I can't go to a pub and sit outside and enjoy a drink because in ALL weathers you get the smokers standing outside!! Grrrrr.

How did you cope with this when it was legal to smoke inside!?

…. and breathe

I think you mean "cough" :o)

as a smoker i believe i have a RIGHT to be outdoors more than non smokers as my total lifetime will be shorter and i therefore have to squeeze in more hours outside per day

🙂

Mr Barnes. 'Oppressed' by people smoking? Seriously? Why not protest at your treatment 😉

the smokers seem very uptight. maybe they need to step outside and smoke a fag, it's the soothing emotional crutch that keeps them from losing it.

'Oppressed' by people smoking?

I never said that. I said smokers were being oppressed 🙂

I **** hate it when you sit on a low wall in a city centre garden eating your lunch and someone plonks themselves down next to you and lights up. Luckily Im not drunk otherwise I'd talk to them about cancer

How did you cope with this when it was legal to smoke inside!?

it was shite. That's why I feel such glee when they all moan about the tables being turned – the more they whinge the more I like it :o)

I barely smoke, but how any gets to be seriously bothered by cigarette smoke drifting past them while they're sitting outside is beyond me.

I'd rather not have it, agreed, but that goes for so many things (other people speaking, for example!) that I think it comes under the heading of "unreasonable". 🙂

Hora. Has the thought crossed your mind that they're doing it deliberately to get rid of you? Have you not noticed how I chain smoke whenever I'm with you? As does everyone else? Even the non-smokers? And we spit in your drink when you go to the bog?

I presume you'd sussed the last bit out by now? You hadn't? Oh……

No binners, that was your semen.