Fire code and insurance carrier bans smoking at work?

At the place I work at, office inside a large garage in RIchmond,VA, I was handed a sheet a few days ago that smoking is not allowed in the office, bathroom, garage, yard, parking lot, sidewalks, roofed or sheltered areas per the fire code and insurance requirements. The 5 smokers there quit before this was enacted none without consulting me and I was left completely in the dark.

I feel like I was hit in the gut and kicked between the legs a few times. I thought the 5 smokers I worked with were real friends and the job didnt mind my habit as I coordinated it with my trips to the bathroom where others smoked, during breaks and before and after shift.

Ive planned on quitting when I started driving, but this is just too sudden for me. I use half a pack a day to manage stress and minor pain in my shoulder and neck.

To make matters worse, I just opened a new carton and smoke a pack, so cant return them. The whole thing just makes me want to light up a few more.

Any rational thoughts on this? I know smoking is bad and other things, but is it a fire code thing? Think I should look for yet another job?

I now smoke during breaks, before and after work, lunch as I walk around the block. Even though no smoking is allowed, they have to have butt containers, so I just carry it back and toss it in the container while I get harressed and told of tails of how others quit smoking and how bad it is for you.

Thanks....

I am a non smoker (well cigarettes, I love a good cigar every now and then) and I think smoking cigarettes are a really nasty habit but I completely disagree on this whole non smoking agenda going around everywhere. I can't see how they could ban smoking on the sidewalk or in the parking lot! That's just political BS.

Check out Penn & Teller's show called BS (thats the second time I have mentioned their show tonight!) about second hand smoke. It really opens your eyes about this whole non smoking movement we have going on in this country.

It is one of those things that was bound to happen more and more unfortunately. I am an ex-smoker but wuld never presume to tell someone else how bad it is , etc. etc. Those who smoke know it, and choose to do it, just as I did for many years. I saw it coming for years, they pushed smokers farther out the doors and away from other workers. In a way it is a form of discrmination, but a legal one the way it has come down. I do not think it is firecode, but it could be insurance related.

About all you can do is try to find ways to contain the nic fits during working hours till you can quit, finding places what will allow it inside during working hours is getting harder to find so your choices are just about as limited everywhere.

Good luck guy, sorry to see it go that way. I know it is impossible to quit until you are ready, not for ayone else.

I live in Washington, and 'we' (I didn't vote for it) just enacted a law based on a ballot proposition that passed in November making it illegal to smoke in ANY building except a private home. Further, you have to be 125 feet from any building to light up.

When I lived in California, they passed a similar law, although I think it was just bars and restaruants.

Your sounds like political BS (as Donovan said), but I'd bet a law is coming soon.

I think cigarette smoking is a bad habit and I hate it when someone smokes near me. I forgot how nice it was to go into a smoke free restaurant when I first moved up here from California.

Having said that, I find making it illegal in buildings equipped to handle it is outrageous. I also find it outrageous to make restaurants and bars smoke free by law. If the owner wants to...more power to him/her as I'll seek out your restaraunt or bar, but keep the damn government OUT of it.

My mom smoked from age 12 and died of a smoking related heart disease. But I don't want the government screwing around with LEGAL substances by making laws that you can't use them. None of the government's business; free enterprise will take care of it itself, thank you.

Sorry you have to deal with an employer who thinks they need to meddle...the fire code story sounds like a bald-face lie.

I heard a couple of days ago that it is now against the law (as of 03-01-06) to use tobacco at Metro bus stops (Seattle WA. USA) even if the bus stop is more than the legal distance to the door of a business.

It's so bad, it blows and sucks at the same time. :shakehead: :sick2: :sick2: :shakehead:

I agree with all of you guys, I dont think a law is enacted in Va yet about banning smoking indoors, but its been proposed a few times. Heck, VCU last I went to the school of business has a smoking room on the second floor and the airport does too.

I know its a private business and they can do what they want, but what really kicked me was the fact no one told me ahead of time. Someone had to of known otherwise the other employees wouldnt of quit as fast and suddenly as they did. Of course they are mechanics, where as I am stuck with making phone calls and filling out paper work for the 300+ customers I am behind in helping. They need to hire two more people to get caught up, so I have to do damage control to as to why I am late getting back to people as well.

Just an easy job with a newly stressful environment.

cobb said:

The 5 smokers there quit before this was enacted none without consulting me and I was left completely in the dark.

I thought the 5 smokers I worked with were real friends and the job didnt mind my habit as I coordinated it with my trips to the bathroom where others smoked, during breaks and before and after shift.

Ive planned on quitting when I started driving, but this is just too sudden for me. I use half a pack a day to manage stress and minor pain in my shoulder and neck.

To make matters worse, I just opened a new carton and smoke a pack, so cant return them. The whole thing just makes me want to light up a few more.

Think I should look for yet another job?

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How come everybody else got notified about this smoking ban ahead of time, except for you? Sounds like they aren't your friends at all since they didn't warn you. Didn't you notice that they weren't joining you in the smoking breaks lately? And it sounds like the management intentionally kept it quiet, since the others obviously knew. Are they hoping you will buckle under the stress of having to suddenly quit smoking at work and hope to catch you violating the rule so they can have a legitimate reason to fire you?

You sort of make it sound like your entire day revolves around looking forward to the next smoke break. Think about it, if it was your company would you rather have employees that smoke or not? They are paying you to work, not subsidize your habit. When you are smoking, the nonsmokers are working.

You don't need some random event (like learning to drive) to make you quit. That's just a cop out. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. I feel sorry for you. Nicotine is supposedly more addictive than heroine. It ruined both of my parents' health, but that didn't stop them from smoking. Take the rest of that carton and throw it in the garbage. Unless there's something you're not telling us, it sure sounds like you should be job shopping. I'm trying to help you not beat you up, but I think you need to take this situation a little more realistically.

As an ex-smoker, I can tell you it aint just that easy to dp. And until you are ready, nothing will make you quit. You have to WANT to do it, not for anyone else, but for yourself. Until you reach that point, nothing anyone else says or does will make you quit, short of putting someone in a cell and physically preventing them from doing so. And then I believe once they were released , if it was not their option, they would simply go back to smoking.

My employer instituted a no smoking policy about 10 years ago. They had meetings with all the employees and explained the insurance problems. We use solvents and the insurance company inspector found cigarette butts hidden in a solvent storage area. They were going to drop us so the official smoking areas were shut down.

My employer paid for smoking cessation methods for any employee who wanted help AND for their spouses. They interviewed the people who signed up 6 months later and offered a second chance to pay for alternate methods. Several employees who still work with me are still off cigarettes 10 years later and are very glad the company was so supportive.

All new hires are cautioned that smoking on company property is cause for dismissal. After watching all the safety videos I think they understand the reasons.

You can look at this in either a positive or a negative light. As some here have said, quitting smoking is one of the hardest things anyone can do. By in effect not allowing you to smoke at work, you have an external force helping you to quit. To be sure you're not the first person affected by something like this. Last year NYC passed a smoking ban in bars and restaurants. Bans against smoking had already been in place in most other workplaces. Anyway, many restaurant and bar patrons at first complained very vocally. The mayor fully expected this but the ban was put into effect to protect the health of restaurant and bar workers more than anything else. Eventually, many of these same people who complained actually realized that the new law helped them to quit smoking. Had the law not been in effect, they likely would have continued smoking until it killed them. In a way, be thankful that you're involuntarily forced to avoid smoking thanks to the new policy. In the long run that may be the push you need to quit.

As for the future, expect more of this. NYC is now considering prohibiting smoking within 20 or 30 feet of most building entrances since this is where smokers tend to congregate now for their smoking breaks. Again, the rationale is that non-smokers should not have to breathe second-hand smoke when entering or exiting the building. Longer term it is entirely plausible that smoking may be prohibited here on public sidewalks/streets altogether, as well as in cars. I think in a few more years a person's home may by the last place they can legally smoke. Like the mayor said, he doesn't care if someone wants to shorten their lives with their smoking habit, but they shouldn't be allowed to inflict their smoke on those who have no desire to inhale it.

Well..... my personal goal was to wait til I started driving to quit. When I start driving I will look for another less stressful job. Plus nothing helps me to keep calmer than smoking while waiting for my ride when it arrives to pick me up. Nothing like getting voice mail when your ride is a few hours late and the others have left the business for the day and for you to lock the door behind you. Besides, its too tempting to walk the next block to smoke while waiting if i quit now. I know how i think and dont want an excuse as walking the next block other to do it.

I hadnt pay attention to the smokers as we dont gather to smoke. The mechanics smoke on a regular bases as they work. Every now and then one will smoke in the bathroom. I try to coordinate my habit so it does not take from the job. So I light up when I leave the office to the bathroom in the shop and done by time I walk back. Is smoking while you use the bathroom or head to the snack machine taking from the employer?

I only smoke 5 while at work, its not like I am a chain smoker. Regardless it just erks me that I was left out. I had hope to wait til I got my license to look for another job, but may do that in the mean time.

I live in california and people still smoke inside where I work. I wish they could do something about that. Who's the nosy insurer?

Here's another consideration: More health insurance carriers will drop an employer if the employees smoke tobacco.

Here in California, it is perfectly legal for an employer to not hire someone if the applicant is a smoker.

scott.cr said:

Here's another consideration: More health insurance carriers will drop an employer if the employees smoke tobacco.

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Whoa!

A statement like that needs some backup. I've never heard of that. Until the law went effect in Washington on February 1st, every company I was aware of allowed smoking AND had health insurance.

jtr1962 said:

Again, the rationale is that non-smokers should not have to breathe second-hand smoke when entering or exiting the building. ...but they shouldn't be allowed to inflict their smoke on those who have no desire to inhale it.

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Second hand smoke dangers are completely fabricated! There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that so called second hand smoke causes cancer etc.... Do a little research and you will find out!

I find this kind of public hysteria kind of frightening. How easily we give up our freedoms due to misinformation! This is a LEGAL substance. I find it very offensive that the gov can ban smoking in a private establishment such as a bar. That should be left up to the owner of the bar if he wants to allow smoking or not. You don't want to inhale smoke? Then go to a different bar!!!

Again I am a non smoker, but I am very much for personal rights and freedoms. For a so called "free nation" we seem to have less freedoms than many other countries. This all reminds me of the movie Escape from LA where Kurt Russels character was told that "The United States is a non-smoking nation! No smoking, no drugs, no alcohol, no women - unless you're married - no foul language, no red meat!" He calmly takes lights up and says "Land of the free!"

Whats will we start banning next?
Think about it!

Cobb, I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I hope that you just decide to move up your quit-smoking schedule and leave it at that. I'm amazed that your employer let mechanics smoke while they were working at all.

Warning: semi-rant from a non smoker ahead:

I agree that the occasional whiff of cigarette smoke is going to do absolutely nothing when compared to the other pollutants one breathes in the course of a day. Eating a meal in a smoke filled room will do nothing. Car exhaust, natural smoke from a woodstove or campfire, fumes from cleaners and chemicals, outgassing of various plastics and rubbers, etc. It is the constant, concentrated doses over a period of time that cause damage. That said, cigarette smoke smells disgustingly foul. I don't go to bars(don't drink), nor do I go to restaurants that have a smoking section. That's like having a peeing section in a pool. No matter how good the ventilation, I can smell it and it makes me sick. I don't care if other people smoke, so long as I don't have to deal with it. Much more often than smokers realize, I do have to deal with it. I'm only too happy that smoking is being banned.

Donovan said:

Second hand smoke dangers are completely fabricated! There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that so called second hand smoke causes cancer etc.... Do a little research and you will find out!

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Let's say it doesn't cause cancer just for arguments sake. Second-hand smoke still makes it harder to breathe, and it still smells terrible-much the same arguments I make for getting rid of auto exhaust. I don't care whether or not cigarette smoke or auto exhaust can cause harm to me short-term or long-term. Fact is they both immediately impact my quality of life because they smell horrible as Diesel_Bomber mentions.

I'm not one for banning things just because they harm the people who do them. In fact, I hate the nanny state. If smoking didn't create an unpleasant environment for those who don't smoke or potentially harm them I couldn't care less. Ditto for illegal drugs. The ones which don't affect others directly should be made legal. I'm all for letting anyone kill themselves if they choose to. That includes not wearing a seat belt (with the caveat that auto insurance won't cover their injuries in such a case). However, when their habits affect either my health or my quality of life, then it's time for restrictions. And by affect, I mean in a concrete way such as making my breathing harder, or perhaps dropping the property values of nearby housing (the argument used for closing sex shops near residential areas in New York). If something just offends my sensibilities such as foul language then of course it shouldn't be banned. Given how smoking certainly does affect at least the health of the smoker, I find it amazing in this day and age that smokers get so vocal when restrictions are enacted that long-term might actually help them to break their habit. And I'm further amazed that anyone at all under about 40 would choose to smoke at all given that the health risks have been well-known for a good 30+ years.

Believe it or not, I agree with all of you all. A non smoker shouldnt have to smell smoke, nor should a smoker be banned from smoking either since its a legal thing.

The hysteria about smokers is rather funny. Many times Ive gone with a non lit one in my mouth to go out to light up and immediately hear coughing from people around me. When I walk into the office the receptionist coughs rather I just smoked or not.

So far I have to admit I kind of like the change over all. It gives me an excuse to go outside and see the sun for a change and get some exercise. I know from experience a repetative negative job can burn you pretty fast and combining smoking with regular trips to the shop bathroom just accelerates the process and keeps me within the 4 walls within the 4 walls.

Maybe I can get my job to become mroe diverse if I am infact doing a good job at all to eleva some of the boring stress of doing the same thing, dealing with angry customers from time to time and the stress of falling further than 300+ calls behind?