Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke at work also poses a risk to our health. People who are at particular risk are those working in bars, restaurants, clubs and pubs where staff are subjected to breathing in up to hundreds of other people's cigarettes over a period of about 8 hours a day or possibly more.

It has been estimated that in the UK 1 employee a week that works in the hospitality trade dies prematurely from passive smoking and that overall 617 people die prematurely each year from exposure to passive smoking in the workplace.

At the moment over 50% of non-smoking employees in the UK are still exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace.

Depending on where you work, the health risks could actually be higher than at home. A number of factors determine how high the actual risk is. These factors include how large the working area is, how many people are smoking in it, how many hours you spend exposed to environmental tobacco smoke and how much ventilation there is.

Studies have shown that workers in particularly smoky atmospheres, could see their risk of developing lung cancer double or even triple, depending on the amount of exposure.

A study carried out in Australia showed that non-smoking bar workers, who worked in a bar where smoking was permitted, had four times the amount of carbon monoxide in their body after only four hours of work, than non-smoking employees who worked in smoke-free bars.

Several states in the US have already applied a no-smoking ban in all public places and workplaces and in particular California implemented this ban on January 1st 1998. Before the ban came into force, 53 bar workers were interviewed about their health and then several months after January 1st 1998, they were interviewed again. 78% of the bar workers said that their symptoms of eye, nose and throat irritation had completely disappeared, whilst 58% of them had no complaints at all about their health after the ban had been implemented. Even the bar staff who did actually smoke themselves said that they felt healthier as they no longer had to breathe in other people's smoke for a number of hours whilst they were working.

It is really in the employers favour financially if smoking is not permitted in the workplace. It has been calculated that each employee that smokes, costs his employer between $2000 and $6000 a year in extra fire insurance, cleaning costs, health insurance and absenteeism.

Many Governments and Environmental Agencies recommend that smoking should be banned in all workplaces and that it is the responsibility of each employer to ensure the health and safety of each of his employees.

As smoking is a health risk, the needs of non-smoking employees should come first.

Some workers are already at risk by being exposed to cancer causing substances at work. Secondhand smoke should be restricted to certain separate ventilated areas or even better to an outside location, so as not to increase further major health risks.

Public opinion polls carried out recently have shown that there is overwhelming support for the implementation of a no smoking ban in the workplace, with 80% of people in favour of a completely smoke-free environment at work.

This public demand and support is probably due to an increased awareness of the health risks of passive smoking, although many people are still not fully aware of the total impact that passive smoking has on one's health.

Secondhand smoke in public places

People's awareness of passive smoking and their attitudes towards smoking have changed immensely over the recent years. More and more people now support a ban on smoking in public places and are beginning to demand to their Government that something be done in order to protect their health when they are out socialising or at work.

Nowadays people are more understanding if they are asked not to smoke in certain public places and once they have got used to the smoking restrictions, not being able to smoke ceases to be a problem and people are actually glad to be able to enjoy a healthy environment minus the smoke.

Employees are usually the most grateful, as their health is no longer at risk. Besides, non-smokers are now able to enjoy a meal or a drink without sitting in a smelly cloud of smoke that can irritate their eyes and throat, ex-smokers are not tempted to pick up their old habit and smokers are encouraged to smoke less.

Another positive effect is that young people, who are often targeted by tobacco advertising campaigns, see that not smoking is becoming popular and the norm and they are less likely to take up the habit themselves.

With complete bans in public places more people are protected against the harmful effects of passive smoking.

Quite a number of countries and states around the world have imposed a no-smoking ban in all or the majority of workplaces and public places in their countries. In Europe, Ireland was the first country to implement a total ban on smoking in all public places and workplaces, even in the several thousands of pubs.

Other European countries have banned smoking in most workplaces, although smoking is still permitted in certain pubs, bars and discotheques, where larger areas for no-smokers have been provided or separate ventilated rooms have been added. Similar regulations regarding smoking have been put in motion in other countries all over the world such as USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and some of the toughest no-smoking laws exist in California, San Francisco and more recently New York.