Smoking
Contents
Your legal responsibility
In the UK, smoking is banned in public places. As an employer, you must take reasonable measures to ensure everyone is aware of the law and ensure they don't smoke on your premises.
Which laws apply?
The main laws that bans smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces are the:
- Health Act 2006 (for England and Wales)
- Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005
- Smoking (Northern Ireland) Order 2006
Reducing risk
It's recommended that you display no-smoking notices (as specified in the legislation).
Make sure that they're clearly visible to everyone inside or approaching the premises. Create and implement a smoke-free policy.
- Remove all ashtrays from premises.
- Inform anyone smoking that they're committing an offence and ask that they stop smoking immediately or leave. If appropriate, refuse them service.
Smokers can no longer smoke in designated rooms inside your premises (although there are some specific exceptions).
Designate outdoor smoking areas away from doors, openable windows, pedestrian routes, and ventilation intakes to prevent smoke entering buildings or public access areas.
More information
More information on the requirements of smoke-free work premises and the consequences for business that do not comply is available on GOV.UK
What is the law guide
The Desktop Lawyer law guide aims to present the law to you in a comprehensive yet jargon-free and easy-to-read format. Our law guide is constantly kept up to date with changes in business and family law by our team of in house solicitors, and includes information across all the legal jurisdictions in the UK.
Our law guide is free to use. Where we provide documents related to this area of law, or where they may help you with any legal issue in this area, they will be listed to the right of this message.