Smoking and the workplace

Abstract:

The employer’s responsibility for the working environment and the continuing evidence of the dangers arising from passive smoking are the mainspring of this work. The book brings together contributions from a panel of experts in labour law with particular insights into health and welfare.

The book is organised in two parts. Part one, which deals with international and European reports, opens with a piece on the world-wide tobacco industry and the increasing domination of a small number of multinational companies, touching on the threats of litigation and the role of governments in the contradiction of public health and public wealth - tobacco is a high generator of excise income. Chapter two examines the role of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in workplace smoking. The part played by the EU, which has established itself as a leading force in the fight against tobacco and illnesses related to its consumption, is explored in chapter three. Legal constraints on smoking are met with protests about the right to smoke being an individual choice and an exercise of one’s human rights. This is thoroughly examined in chapter four which strongly rebuts the claim.

Part two is comprised of thirteen national reports from European, Asian, and North American countries.

The work will interest employment lawyers, union officials, policy makers and those engaged in the daily issues that arise from smoking in the workplace and other human environments.