Why Do We Put Up With It

1
Why Do We Put Up With It?

• Smoking kills 114,000 people in the UK every
  year. 26 of adults smoke
• Smoking accounts for HALF the difference in
  survival rates to age 70 between men in social
  class 1 and social class V so smoking is not
  just the obsession of the learned middle class!
  
• Professor Konrad Jamrozik (Imperial College)
  estimated 700 premature deaths from workplace
  exposure to secondhand smoke each year 1 a week
  in hospitality industries

2
A Very Peculiar StruggleI didnt know until
this day that it was Barzini all along

• Tobacco companies hide behind surrogates
  hospitality trade bodies, small employers
  groups, and the Freedom to Smoke (pro-death)
  libertarians
• Public health advocates use passive smoking to
  undermine the freedom to smoke argument, and
  also to discourage ALL smokers.
• Local battles can be much harder for the tobacco
  lobby to win the United States experience. But
  national action action on smoking in the
  workplace may make more sense and be preferred
  by big hospitality employers and other key
  players
• UK Government is funding local action, but still
  timid about national legislation. The Big
  Conversation suggests giving Councils new powers
  over smoking in the workplace more than 80 of
  Labour Party respondents favoured this.

3
Smoke Bans Are Popular
Latest MORI poll for ASH shows 81 of those
polled in South East backed smokefree workplace
law. Nationally 86 of social class AB support
the proposal 83 of social class C1 support the
proposal 79 of social class C2 support the
proposal 72 of social class DE support the
proposal. Of those who support smokefree laws,
64 want national legislation by Government, 21
new powers for local Councils Even regular
smokers support a new law the poll shows support
from 59 of daily smokers and 68 of infrequent
smokers.
Source Mori poll March 2003 sample size 1972
4
Workplace Action

• Health Safety at Work Act (1974)
• Section 2
• to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable
  the health, safety and welfare of all his
  employees
• Section 3
• to conduct his undertaking to ensure, so far as
  is reasonably practicable, that persons not in
  his employment who may be affected thereby are
  not thereby exposed to risks to their health and
  safety
• ASH and Thompsons are encouraging legal actions
  under HSWA.

5
What is Local Action?

• COMMIT TO A PROCESS not a one step solution
• Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Brighton, Welsh
  Assembly, Scottish Parliament, all want to act.
• Smoking in Council buildings, schools, funded
  organisation offices, etc
• Persuasion and partnership (e.g. shopping
  centres)
• Planning and licensing new guidelines?
• Monitoring and enforcement of air quality
  standards e.g. carbon monoxide in casinos. Use
  EHO powers
• Regeneration and social inclusion schemes, e.g.
  Sure Start

6
Smoke-Free Good for Business

• Survey of 97 studies worldwide
• All independent studies found no negative impact
  on takings
• Negative studies had tobacco industry backing and
  most used subjective measures
• Source Scollo et al Tobacco Control 2002
• There is a good business case for unitary action
  at a national or local level everyone is
  treated the same so no-one carries a particular
  business risk

7
Good Businesses Will Act First

• Pizza Hut strongly believes that families
  should be able to take time to have a leisurely
  meal in a restaurant without exposing their
  children to other peoples smoke. It is equally
  important that our staff can work in a smoke-free
  environment. We feel this is a significant step
  forward for the UK restaurant industry and
  hopefully some of our competitors will follow
  suit in the near future.
• Brian Rimmer, Operations Director, Pizza Hut
• Pizza Hut went 100 smoke-free in August 2003

8
Pubs A Knotty Problem

• April 2003 Charter progress report on pubs
• Smoking throughout 47
• Smoking in designated areas 29
• Smoke-free
  gt1
• Latest draft Charter is no big improvement
  promising 80 compliance, more non-smoking areas,
  no smoking at bar
• TUC wrote to Culture Secretary dissing Charter on
  employee health and safety grounds.
• BUT secondhand smoke ban in pubs still least
  popular of all workplaces maybe 50 support,
  small minority of smokers only?

9
Excuses, Excuses

• The opponents of action will rely on excuses.
• Non-smoking areas which simply fail to
  segregate non-smokers from the smoke
• Ventilation which will be expensive to
  install and wont work
• Bad for trade but the United States and Irish
  experience shows that it isnt
• Nanny state, middle-class obsession words
  fail me!
• Get ready for a political and p/r battle but
  remember that the public is on our side.