Council Prosecutes Director for Smoking in Office
South Ribble Borough Council has slapped a hefty fine on Operations Director Martin Lenehan of Metric Scaffolding UK Ltd for smoking at his workplace. He was caught smoking at his desk by the council’s enforcement team that was paying a surprise visit to the office in January. Martin Lenehan’s offence assumes more seriousness in the light of the fact that his firm had been issued with a warning in the past.
An anonymous complaint about employees routinely smoking in company vehicles and office premises had prompted the Borough Council to pay its first visit to the office. On discovering that the allegations were true, the council had issued a statutory warning to the company to go smoke-free or face enforcement action.
Mr Lenehan was caught smoking during the second visit, but seemed unrepentant. He refused to pay a spot penalty of £50 and was summoned to court. He did not appear in the court and was found guilty of smoking in a smoke-free zone by Leyland Magistrates. His action was a violation of section 7 of the Health Act 2006 and therefore he was fined £175 plus £75 costs, including a £15 victim surcharge.
Speaking about the smoke free legislation, Councillor Peter Mullineaux said that it protects non-smoking employees from the behaviour of colleagues who smoke in public and thereby endanger the health of non-smokers. For the past two years the council has been trying to spread awareness among employers on the importance of the new legislation, and so far the response from many of the firms has been good. Staff and management must be fully aware of and comply with health and safety regulations as laid down by law. Find out about the range of NEBOSH Courses available from the experts at Workplace Law Training; designed to help those with health and safety responsibilities to carry out their duties at work more effectively and to protect the organisations for which they work.
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