Vaping is often seen as a convenient alternative to smoking – and a potentially-healthier one too. The smoking ban led to a rise in people switching to vaping, but even this isn’t allowed anymore by Nottingham Council if you work for them. They’ve announced a ban on smoking by employees even if they go outside to do it – and they’re stamping out vaping at the same time.
Nottinghamshire County Council has decided vaping is no longer allowed for any employee while wearing a uniform, in any council workplace or vehicle. It’s reckoned that some 9,000 work for the council, and around 1,000 of those are either currently smoking or using e-cigarettes to help them kick the habit.
No vaping on the way to and from work either
Yes it gets better. The council believes it has the power to prevent their employees from smoking and vaping on the way to work and on their way home. We question just how they could enforce this. Will there be plainclothes enforcers spying on smokers and vapers from the moment they leave home – all 1,000 of them? Judging by the numerous reports and comments online about it, everyone else is wondering the same thing.
After all, if someone goes to work in their own car, does the council really have the right to stop them from vaping in it?
Only one opportunity to vape
According to details in the news, if employees want to vape while at work, their only chance to do so would be on their lunch break. And to do it, they would first have to change out of their uniform (if they wear one) and wear something else instead. Oh, and walk a sufficient distance away from their workplace too. Presumably by the time they’d done that there wouldn’t be much time left to vape or have lunch.
According to John Tomlinson, a member of the council who spoke to the media about the new rules, the council was “trying to be a supportive employer”. E-cigarettes have yet to be licensed but if this happens the council may have to change its stance. However until then there is a real chance other councils could see what Nottinghamshire County Council is doing and decide to do the same. Watch this space to see if other council employees elsewhere are met by these rules as well.
