Step by Step Guide to introducing a voluntary smoking policy ahead of Summer 2007

Plan Ahead

Whether you want to be ahead of the game and introduce a smoke free policy before 1 July 2007 or you are waiting it out, it is essential that you carefully plan how this change will impact on the day to day running of your organisation.

Implementing an effective smoking policy will reduce the chances of:

• Compensation claims against you or your company
• Potential prosecutions under health and safety law
• Fires in the workplace
• Increases in business insurance

And provide…

• Free publicity and advertising
• Help your employees who want to quit smoking
• Improved corporate image
• Improved health of employees, customers and visitors

What are the Benefits?

• More productivity through fewer smoking breaks
• Less staff sickness through smoke related ill health
• Reduced exposure of non smokers to tobacco smoke
• Less maintenance costs (painting, decorating, furniture and carpet renewal)

Step by Step Guide

Here is a step-by-step guide for businesses who want to go smokefree ahead of 1 July 2007. You can also download a sample smoke free policy by clicking here.

If you would like additional assistance with going smoke-free, please get in contact with our workplace advisor whose role it is to help you through this process. Email us with your details

Introducing a comprehensive smoke-free policy is relatively straight forward, particularly with the level of support that Smoke Free Barnsley can offer. Though different businesses may have different approaches, we offer the following as an outline of the seven main steps you may wish to take.

Step 1 - Consultion Period

Once you have decided that you want to go smoke-free, we recommend a consultation period with the workforce to discuss what should be included in the policy. A key member of staff, ideally a manager or someone of seniority, should be designated to drive this consultation. Depending on the size of your business, you may wish to set up a working group, featuring a broad mix of staff including, if applicable: union representatives, health and safety staff and senior managers. You should also ensure that you include a representative number of smokers and non-smokers from your workplace.

Setting up a working group may not always be practical, particularly for smaller businesses, so you may wish to try and gauge staff opinions via another method, possibly a questionnaire.

Download a sample workplace questionnaire here

Overall, the aim of this consultation period is to collect staff opinions that can be incorporated into the drafting of the smoke-free policy.

Step 2 - Develop a Policy

Following this initial consultation period, a draft policy should be written, incorporating any relevant comments, opinions or suggestions made.

Download a sample voluntary smoke free policy here

However, regardless of what comes out of the consultation period, Smoke Free Barnsley recommends that any business currently developing a smoke-free policy be mindful of their future legal requirements under the Health Act 2006.

We make this recommendation with the hope that introducing a voluntary policy now, which is comprehensive enough to meet the main requirements of the legislation will make the transition to legal compliance in summer 2007 easier, for both the business itself and its staff.

Download our fact-sheet outlining some of the key legislation requirements for businesses.

Step 3 - Circulate the Policy

After the main principles have been agreed upon, and the initial policy drafted, it should be circulated to all members of staff for comments. A suitable period should be allowed for this to occur, with considerations being made for any staff that are away on leave, off sick, or on maternity or paternity leave. This approach is also useful for raising awareness amongst staff that it is the intention of the business to introduce a policy.

Step 4 – Revise and Finalise the Policy

After the circulation period has concluded, comments made by staff about the draft policy should be taken into account and incorporated into the final policy document. Although all staff opinions should be considered fairly and equally, we recommend that the initial scope and intentions of the policy should not be compromised too heavily. It is likely that you will experience a wide range of views at this stage including those who claim that introducing a comprehensive smoke-free policy will never work or cause insurmountable problems. However, we know from experience that this is not the case, and that as long as smokers and non-smokers feel involved in the process then the policy will experience a smooth introduction. It is important to note that support is available to smokers who would like to give up via the Barnsley NHS Stop Smoking service. This is an important element to introducing the policy.

Step 5 - Set the Policy Implementation Date and Promote It

Once the policy has been finalised, a date should be set for when the business is going to implement it and go smoke-free. This date should be widely circulated and promoted, along with the final policy document itself. In terms of communicating the message to employees, you may wish to utilise staff or team meetings, internal e-mails, notice boards, payslips and so forth. We have found that a ‘countdown’ to the implementation date can be very effective in raising awareness and allowing staff adequate time to prepare. This can also apply to your customers where appropriate.

A suitable amount of time should be allowed before the implementation date. This can vary from business to business, and may be affected by the nature of the smoke-free policy already in place, if they have one. Similarly, some businesses may benefit from gradually implementing their policy, whereby the places where smoking is allowed are gradually phased out, rather than all becoming smoke-free at once. This is at the discretion of the business itself, although it should be noted that this kind of gradual approach can also cause some problems in terms of mixed or confusing messages about when and where smoking is permitted. Nevertheless, it still might be worth considering for some workplaces.

During the implementation stage, all staff who smoke should be offered support in attempting to quit, and may wish to access the Barnsley NHS Stop Smoking Service for professional help delivered by NHS qualified specialists. The support the Service offers is both free and confidential, and can be tailored to best suit the quitter. The Service can be contacted on: (01226) 288540. Click here for more information on giving up smoking.

Step 6 - Implementation Policy and Go Smoke-Free!

When the date finally arrives, go smoke-free, and be ready to experience the benefits to your business.

Remember to put clearly visible signs in key areas, particularly entrances to buildings, and anywhere else you have made smoke-free. Also remember to inform all individuals coming from outside your business onto your premises about your policy.

You will also need a procedure in place to tackle possible breaches of the policy, possibly via the usual staff disciplinary system.

Don’t forget that any new staff will also need to be informed about your smoke-free status following the implementation date. You may wish to do this by modifying your induction programme (if you have one), or via information supplied to applicants during the recruitment process and mention it in recruitment adverts and on your website where applicable.

Step 7 - Monitor, Evaluate and Review the Policy

Once you have the policy up and running it is important that you monitor how well it is working. A certain member of staff may be delegated the responsibility to complete this task. Part of this role will be ensuring compliance from staff, but it may also be necessary to offer employees the opportunity to feedback on how well they believe the policy is working, also allowing them to raise any concerns they have. You may wish to incorporate any feedback received into a review of the policy itself, possibly amending it, if appropriate.

In terms of when any evaluation or review should take place, you may wish to do this periodically, though consideration should be given to the timescales involved in the national legislation implementation date. Our recommendation is that you ensure you schedule an evaluation at a suitable juncture before the introduction of the national smoke-free laws in summer 2007. This will allow you to check that your voluntary policy is compatible with the legislation, and give you time to introduce any alterations required to make it suitable.

Need advice or help?

Click here to see our Fact Sheet 2: Support for smoke-free workplaces

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