Reporting smoking in the workplace
Discussion
It should be raised as a grievance with your employer on the basis it is a health issue that affects all employees and visitors (if any), not to mention illegal under the Health Act. Don't threaten anything, just make aware you are unhappy with it.
If you were dismissed as a result of your disclosure it is potentially classed as a protected disclosure under whistleblower legislation, which could make the dismissal unfair. This kind of dismissal wouldn't require 2 years of service to qualify.
If you were dismissed as a result of your disclosure it is potentially classed as a protected disclosure under whistleblower legislation, which could make the dismissal unfair. This kind of dismissal wouldn't require 2 years of service to qualify.
blindswelledrat said:
Tlj you really do come across as a whiny tantrumming crybaby.
You take a job at a place that has been doing the same thing for 50? Years and expect everyone to change because you don't like it. Presumably if it is that rife you could clearly tell before you started work there?. You are one of those "I demand my rights" people who don't give a f
k about anyone else.
Now you have the law on your side I can imagine you walking around with your excited smoking erections screaming "it isn't fair. It's my right"
I don't smoke by the way
You should give it a try, it might calm you down a bit.You take a job at a place that has been doing the same thing for 50? Years and expect everyone to change because you don't like it. Presumably if it is that rife you could clearly tell before you started work there?. You are one of those "I demand my rights" people who don't give a f
k about anyone else.Now you have the law on your side I can imagine you walking around with your excited smoking erections screaming "it isn't fair. It's my right"
I don't smoke by the way
tenpenceshort said:
It should be raised as a grievance with your employer on the basis it is a health issue that affects all employees and visitors (if any), not to mention illegal under the Health Act. Don't threaten anything, just make aware you are unhappy with it.
If you were dismissed as a result of your disclosure it is potentially classed as a protected disclosure under whistleblower legislation, which could make the dismissal unfair. This kind of dismissal wouldn't require 2 years of service to qualify.
He would be dismissed on a different unrelated matter.If you were dismissed as a result of your disclosure it is potentially classed as a protected disclosure under whistleblower legislation, which could make the dismissal unfair. This kind of dismissal wouldn't require 2 years of service to qualify.
You've never done manual work, have you?
BrownBottle said:
How does the smoke even get near you in a workshop with the high roof and massive doors open all day?
Couple of lads in my garage smoke I don't even notice it unless they're over giving me a hand and right in my face with it but that's rare.
Are they smoking in the office or canteen areas?
We use to have one smoker who use to take the piss in our massive warehouse with high roof and massive doors open all day. You could always smell where he was or where he had been despite the large open space. People use to stick up for him or say they couldn't smell smoke when management asked , but as the smokers dwindled or went outside to the smoking shelter he stuck out more and more as a pisstaker and got reported more and more until eventually he got the message. Couple of lads in my garage smoke I don't even notice it unless they're over giving me a hand and right in my face with it but that's rare.
Are they smoking in the office or canteen areas?
tenpenceshort said:
WinstonWolf said:
He would be dismissed on a different unrelated matter.
You've never done manual work, have you?
What makes you so sure (on either count)?You've never done manual work, have you?
As an aside, if the attitude as well as the employer's workshop stinks, it may be an idea to find somewhere else to work.
"I'm going to report you" M'kay
WinstonWolf said:
What makes me so sure? Because you have absolutely no idea how things are in a workshop.
"I'm going to report you" M'kay
If the employer sacked the employee for making a protected disclosure, they could face tribunal and a large claim. Absent a believable and genuine other reason for the dismissal, the court might believe on the balance of probabilities the real reason for dismissal was the disclosure. If the individuals smoking and those allowing them to are caught in the act by the local authority they can be handed fixed penalty notices and ultimately prosecution."I'm going to report you" M'kay
The reason these laws are introduced is to deal with poor employers. That they remain poor and think they are untouchable because they've managed to intimidate employees thus far does not make them immune. Such poor employers as these here are not typically sophisticated in how the try sack staff and rely on apathy and fear to protect themselves. This will one day come back and bite them.
Employees shouldn't be exposed to smoking in the course of their work. If they are and complain about it, the employer is duty bound to deal with the problem.
When I was helping a roofer friend and travelled to jobs he smoked in his van. I figured he smoked at his house when we around there drinking, it was his van and, most importantly, I didn't give a s
t. That doesn't mean in a different situation I wouldn't have or that someone else shouldn't expect the protection the law allowed.tenpenceshort said:
WinstonWolf said:
What makes me so sure? Because you have absolutely no idea how things are in a workshop.
"I'm going to report you" M'kay
If the employer sacked the employee for making a protected disclosure, they could face tribunal and a large claim. Absent a believable and genuine other reason for the dismissal, the court might believe on the balance of probabilities the real reason for dismissal was the disclosure. If the individuals smoking and those allowing them to are caught in the act by the local authority they can be handed fixed penalty notices and ultimately prosecution."I'm going to report you" M'kay
The reason these laws are introduced is to deal with poor employers. That they remain poor and think they are untouchable because they've managed to intimidate employees thus far does not make them immune. Such poor employers as these here are not typically sophisticated in how the try sack staff and rely on apathy and fear to protect themselves. This will one day come back and bite them.
Employees shouldn't be exposed to smoking in the course of their work. If they are and complain about it, the employer is duty bound to deal with the problem.
When I was helping a roofer friend and travelled to jobs he smoked in his van. I figured he smoked at his house when we around there drinking, it was his van and, most importantly, I didn't give a s
t. That doesn't mean in a different situation I wouldn't have or that someone else shouldn't expect the protection the law allowed.ked off breathing in their fking smoke all day and would expect my empolyer to back me.
scorcher said:
BrownBottle said:
How does the smoke even get near you in a workshop with the high roof and massive doors open all day?
Couple of lads in my garage smoke I don't even notice it unless they're over giving me a hand and right in my face with it but that's rare.
Are they smoking in the office or canteen areas?
We use to have one smoker who use to take the piss in our massive warehouse with high roof and massive doors open all day. You could always smell where he was or where he had been despite the large open space. People use to stick up for him or say they couldn't smell smoke when management asked , but as the smokers dwindled or went outside to the smoking shelter he stuck out more and more as a pisstaker and got reported more and more until eventually he got the message. Couple of lads in my garage smoke I don't even notice it unless they're over giving me a hand and right in my face with it but that's rare.
Are they smoking in the office or canteen areas?
I actively looked out for this in the garage today after this thread and the people smoking had absolutely zero effect on the air quality.
Leaving a diesel car or a petrol with dodgy emissions running
Burning a rubber bush out with the gas plant
Grinding the lip off a brake drum
Eventually getting an RX8 running after the owner had flooded it
Starting a car after turbo replacement (exhaust full of oil)
I could go on...all of the above and more will absolutely destroy the air in a garage even with the door open, smoking in this environment is a complete non-issue.
I'm an ex smoker myself and sometimes I feel like getting another profession to protect my lungs from all the harmful fumes etc.
BHC said:
BrownBottle said:
Edited by BrownBottle on Wednesday 3rd September 19:14
You can put a fag out with a puddle of diesel, not that I've ever tried these things over the years...
WinstonWolf said:
I was right then...
The inference from your post was that I had no experience of small firms with long established practises and a disdain for the rules. Unless you're suggesting a workshop has a distinct and unique approach to such matters (which would be nonsense), then your point was wrong; most of my career has been with small firms, some of whom have and had questionable attitudes. Some of them have ended up paying large sums far in excess of contractual entitlement or statutory provisions when firing people improperly for things they shouldn't have.By all means maintain your "there's nowt you can do" attitude. I'm sure it will get you what you deserve.
tenpenceshort said:
WinstonWolf said:
I was right then...
The inference from your post was that I had no experience of small firms with long established practises and a disdain for the rules. Unless you're suggesting a workshop has a distinct and unique approach to such matters (which would be nonsense), then your point was wrong; most of my career has been with small firms, some of whom have and had questionable attitudes. Some of them have ended up paying large sums far in excess of contractual entitlement or statutory provisions when firing people improperly for things they shouldn't have.By all means maintain your "there's nowt you can do" attitude. I'm sure it will get you what you deserve.
tenpenceshort said:
Without wishing to attract the attention of the cringe thread, the fact that you think employers with workshops exist in a bubble that separates them from other small businesses shows how little you know about employers' obligations and reality.
Go running to the cringe thread then, you'll still be clueless.Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff