COUNCILS ON DODGY GROUND CLASSING VAPE PENS AS CIGARETTES

In the news this week we uncovered a gem of a story from the Mirror.  If you work for a local authority and love your vape e cig this could be something you have experienced.  Many employers and we know it is not just councils, but they are the ones under fire this time, treat smoking employees and vaping employees the same.

In order to have your vape liquid fix you are forced to stand outside with the smokers in cold shelters on work premises.  However, for councils this is a practice that might have to stop.  How does this work?  Well, smoking is considered by Public Health England as being harmful to health, however it does not find the same for vape juice and vape pens.  The law states that smokers must be separated from the rest of the workforce to indulge in their habit in order to protect the non-smokers health.  As vape coils users are not smokers, forcing them to stand in the same areas as smokers to use their vape pens is actually potentially breaking the law, as they are no longer offered the protection the other non-smokers are.

Basically the call is to create separate areas for those who use vape e liquid and those who smoke traditional cigarettes.  Just because you enjoy the vape experience does not mean you should be subjected to the second hand smoke of other smokers, especially if you are one of the thousands who successfully gave up smoking by using vape pens as an alternative.

The article also notes that only one council in England actively encourage their workforce to use vape e cigs at their desks, and just three allow desk vaping without actually encouraging it.  Obviously we have talked before about whether indoor vaping at work is fair on those who do not smoke or vape, and this is pushing the issue again.  It would seem that very few employers have correctly interpreted the law and realised that if they are not going to allow indoor vaping then at very least separate areas are needed for those who vape and those who smoke, and it doesn’t seem that they realise prosecution is a possibility either.

What is your experience at your place of work?  Where are you allowed to vape and do you have to share that space with smokers as well?  Let us know!