non-smoker

[wild rose]

my partner works in a office with two other colleagues who smoke, last night he has been coughing and didn't seem to keen to go to work. The director smokes heavy tobacco and the receptionist is like a chimmney never to go out. The windows are closed.

I have ask him to have a word, but he knew when he started work that both where smokers.

What should he say to his colleagues?

[funnywebsite]

This is really bad in this day and age. Most companies are smoke free. This sounds a small company and I don't know what the rules are. He might have to leave if it cannot be stopped. Most smokers are ignorant and are not happy to change their ways. I worked in an office where you were allowed to smoke before 9am then between 10-10.30. Lunchtimes and 1/2 hour in the afternoon. Well it did not work because smokers ignored the times and smoked anyway. This was a large company so they introduced smoking rooms. He needs to check the law. Can they smoke in a seperate room? I had a job interview once and was told I had to work with smokers so I never took the job. Sorry this is not that much help but it is very borderline. The government missed out on changing things recently.

[Hermia]

Is there not a Health and Safety rep or a union rep in the company? Our Health and Safety rep is really keen and actually defended the non-smokers despite being a heavy smoker herself!

[Octavius]

Across Europe legislation on smoking at work differs. Some countries have a complete ban on smoking in all workplaces including bars and restaurants. Others have a ban in some industries for safety reasons and not others. Others like the UK do not have specific legislation on smoking at work although many employers do not allow smoking in the workplace. Some trade unions can use their law to negotiate good smoking policies. Others have to rely on health and safety law which gives a general right to work in a safe workplace and negotiate policies around this.

I would suggest that your partner approaches his employer (who has a legal obligation to provide a safe working environment but not a smoke-free one) to reach a compromise whereby something can be agreed. Separate provisions should be made for smokers (ie smoking rooms) rather than vise versa. At the end of the day it isn't law and your partner knew it was a smoking office. Not an approach I would advise, but if heaven forbid, your partner should suffer long-term illness then I am sure that he could sue his emplyer for the damage caused. Get him to read this, and casually pass it to his boss...

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg63.pdf

[joko]

in the meantime you could approach the boss and insist he install some kind of air filter or conditioner near your desk