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e-cigarette policy

Creating an E-cigarette policy

Posted on July 4, 2016

It’s been 9 years since the smoking ban came into force in 2007, this resulted in a 6% drop in the number of adult smokers in England over the next 4 years. This, combined with the rise in prominence of “vaping” means there are now approximately 2.6million people in the UK using e-cigarettes.

Currently there is much debate over the benefits and drawbacks of e-cigarettes. But The Royal College of Physicians have suggested that if regulated correctly, vaping could benefit millions of people and that smokers need to be encouraged to use e-cigarettes to help them quit.

E-cigarettes have become so popular so quickly that many companies are not sure what legislation they need to follow regarding use by their staff. At the present time there is no ban on the use of e-cigarettes in the workplace. As unlike cigarettes, tobacco is not actually burnt, so e-cigarettes fall outside the scope of smoke free legislation.

As there is no current ban, organisations are able to decide for themselves if e-cigarettes can be used on their premises. But they should take into account the needs of both smokers and non-smokers.

When drawing up an e-cigarette policy you should take the following into account:

  • Firstly decide whether your organisation will allow the use of e-cigarettes on the premises, and then include this information in your companies smoking policy.
  • Secondly if you will allow e-cigarettes to be used, decide if this will be anywhere or in designated zones. Remember that the potential effects of vaping are not fully known, so designated zones would limit any risks.
  • You should also decide whether you want to separate users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes into different zones. This could be an effective way of showing support to those who are using e-cigarettes to give up smoking.
  • You should also decide on whether to allow employees smoking breaks. Again this is at the companies discretion, there is no requirement to allow smoking breaks outside of the required regular breaks.
  • Finally ensure all members of staff are informed of the changes to policy, and that the disciplinary procedures are followed if the rules are not adhered to.
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