Smoke Free England Sunday 1st July
Current indoor smoking areas will no longer be allowed forcing smokers to go outside. Anyone breaking the new law will be fined or taken to court; fines begin at £50 (Discounted to £30 if paid within 15 days) to £200 if fined by a court.
Employers or owners of premises failing to prevent smoking in smokefree areas could be fined up to £2,500.
No Smoking signs will be required in all premises to show which areas are smoke free,
Screw Fix conducted an online survey during April and May and were surprised to find that only 76% of those questioned knew they would be required to install no smoking signs by all exits and entrances whilst just 56% knew they were required to install no smoking signs in vehicles used by more than one member of staff.
For those of us involved in fire safety, awareness that we run a risk of unauthorised smoking within premises following the ban should encourage fire safety within business' to be monitored closely.
Correct means to extinguish cigarettes should be provided in the allocated outside smoking areas to prevent bin fires etc.
Smoking is one of the main causes of fire and although the new ban will encourage people to give up or smoke outside, unauthorised smoking is inevitable.
England is one of many countries to introduce smokefree laws, the Republic of Ireland went smokefree in 2004, followed by Scotland in March 2006 and Wales in April this year. Other counties who have introduced smokefree laws include New Zealand, New York, France, Italy and South Africa.
For safety signs please visit www.screwfix.com or www.jalite.com
For further information regarding the new legislation please visit www.gosmokefree.co.uk
NHS Smoking Helpline 0800 169 0 169
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