Council agrees on home smoke ban

Smokers ignoring the ban could face disciplinary action

Denbighshire council staff have been banned from smoking during working hours, even in their own cars.

The local authority had already banned smoking from its premises but agreed to stricter rules on Tuesday.

The near-total ban even applies to people who receive home visits - they will now get letters asking them not to smoke in front of council staff.

In a statement the council said it was "obliged to provide a safe working environment for its staff".

Smoking was already banned from all Denbighshire Council premises, but the new policy prohibits people smoking near entrances or windows.

By all means have sensible restrictions on public places and in the work place, but don't be so extreme Neil Rafferty, Forest

Employees who work outside, either as part of a group or on their own, will be banned from smoking while on duty.

There will be no designated smoking areas and no specific smoking breaks allowed.

Staff are only allowed to smoke while on official breaks, or while clocked off, and must leave the "immediate vicinity" of the council premises.

Anyone using a council vehicle will be asked to leave the vehicle before lighting up.

Staff who have to clean smoking areas in places like sheltered housing , will be told to wait at least two hours until the last smoker has left before they clean, in order to avoid passive smoke.

Smoking will also be banned in residential homes, but a designated smoking area will be provided for residents.

Night staff will be the only employees allowed to use the area, which will be closed for two hours before cleaned.

'Authority time'

Employees could face disciplinary action if they breach the rules of the new policy, which was voted for in a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

Councillor Paul Marfleet, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Personnel, said: "Denbighshire County Council is obliged to provide a safe working environment for its staff.

"It is for this reason, that we have formulated the no smoking policy. It would be wrong of us to presume that by designating specific smoking areas, that there would be no potential danger to non-smoking staff of inhaling passive smoke."

He said the council would be offering support for staff wishing to give up smoking.

Neil Rafferty from the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest), said: "We don't have a problem with smokers being asked to refrain from smoking whilst council staff are in the house.

"That fits in with our philosophy, we always ask smokers to be considerate."

Mr Rafferty said he thought too much fuss was being made of the smoking issue.

"One of dangers of that is you simply make it more attractive to kids," he said. "It's not an exciting, cool, romantic thing to do, it's just something some people choose to do.

"By all means have sensible restrictions on public places and in the work place, but don't be so extreme. It's inevitably counter-productive and robs people of their essential personal freedom."