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Attention: Industrial, health and safety correspondents

Smoking should be classed as killer chemical at work

Today, on National No Smoking Day (Wednesday) the TUC is calling for tobacco smoke to be classified as a ‘hazardous chemical’ under European law and restricted in workplaces, including bars and restaurants, like other dangerous substances.

Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary, said:

'Tobacco smoke is a killer and should be treated as such in the workplace. Making work smoke-free would save thousands of lives and do absolutely no harm to the economy.'

The EU Commission has a legal obligation to examine the health effects of hazardous chemical agents and levels of workplace exposure using the latest scientific research (Council Directive 98/24/EC).

The TUC has written to the EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs asking for action under this obligation, including limits on exposure to tobacco smoke at work and to list it as an occupational carcinogen. The TUC says that the evidence clearly shows that failure to treat tobacco smoke in a similar way to other dangerous chemicals leads to the deaths or incapacity of many thousands of workers across the EU from lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis and asthma.

Notes to Editors:

- The TUC is also calling on the government to implement the legally binding Code of Practice to protect the health of hospitality workers and the public proposed by the Health and Safety Commission two years ago.

- ‘Smoking bans are good for business’, TUC backed Hazards magazine report challenging bogus arguments against smoke free workplaces: http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-6635-f0.cfm

- A series of TUC rights leaflets are available on our website and from the know your rights line 0870 600 4 882. Lines are open every day from 9am-9pm. Calls are charged at the national rate.

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley 020 7467 1248 or 07626 317903 (pager) or email bhurley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (400 words) issued 10 Mar 2004