Please tell me this can't possibly be true

[Brian Brandt]

UK council bans workers from smoking at home during lockdowns

"The Hammersmith and Fulham Council in West London has banned employees from smoking at working desks even when working online from home. Campaigners call the move a “moral crusade” and accused the council of “waging a war on choice.”

The Hammersmith and Fulham council, run by The left-wing Labor Party, announced that 'any part of a private dwelling used solely for work purposes will be required to be smoke-free.'”

Apparently they had a change of heart after a minor revolt among the peasants, but who would even consider such a thing?

" A source inside the Hammersmith and Fulham Council, speaking to The Telegraph, said the smoking ban for staff working from home would be replaced and that no employee had been punished for ignoring the policy. "

UK council bans workers from smoking at home during lockdowns

Now people are working online, employers are dictating what employees can do at home.

reclaimthenet.org

 

[The Dreamer]

Given it a 'funny' - but that's the closest I could find to a 'barking mad' emoji!

The trouble is, it's loons like this that run ruin so much of our lives!

 

[mjn]

I wonder how much "one handed fun" has been done on company time since lockdown started.......

 

[nvingo]

... 'any part of a private dwelling used solely for work purposes will be required to be smoke-free.

I assume it's only for 'dwellings' that aren't used for anything other than work?

TBH it seems somebody has grabbed the wrong end of the stick, and pulled with all their might..

 

[hippo99]

UK council bans workers from smoking at home during lockdowns

"The Hammersmith and Fulham Council in West London has banned employees from smoking at working desks even when working online from home. Campaigners call the move a “moral crusade” and accused the council of “waging a war on choice.”

The Hammersmith and Fulham council, run by The left-wing Labor Party, announced that 'any part of a private dwelling used solely for work purposes will be required to be smoke-free.'”

Apparently they had a change of heart after a minor revolt among the peasants, but who would even consider such a thing?

" A source inside the Hammersmith and Fulham Council, speaking to The Telegraph, said the smoking ban for staff working from home would be replaced and that no employee had been punished for ignoring the policy. "

UK council bans workers from smoking at home during lockdowns

Now people are working online, employers are dictating what employees can do at home.

reclaimthenet.org

Hammersmith & Fulham Council website.

Newspaper report about H&F ‘smoking policy’ is simply untrue

Hammersmith & Fulham Council does not have a policy about employees smoking at home.

www.lbhf.gov.uk

The ‘report’ that the article in OP refers to was written by FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) 🙄

Defending freedom of speech or freedom of misinformation?

 

[Brian Brandt]

O.K., I feel better now.

 

[Jamie]

Somewhat ironically it seems to be a story designed to stoke anti "leftie" feelings, the truth is the left run Fulham council had no such policy but they did employ Chelsea council as a contractor which apparently does (Chelsea being a Conservative majority council I believe)

My guess is it's more of an interpretation, if you have a room used exclusively for WFH does that then become a workplace (at least technically) from a legal stand point. If you want to smoke on your home office then just stick a sofa bed in there and say it's a dual purpose office/spare bedroom (which it probably is for most of us anyway)

 

[pRot3us]

I wonder how much "one handed fun" has been done on company time since lockdown started.......

 

[shodan]

However, it is illegal to smoke in the workplace.


This includes the company car, white van man or your own lounge if working from home...

They really didn't think this one through.. 😂

 

[Tempest]

Well.........
Perhaps they don't want the nice new laptop they gave the office worker
To come back a few months later stinking of vile tobacco and full of ash!

 

[nheather]

Not saying it would happen, but it could.

Council worker shares a flat wit others. Is working from home and is smoking indoors.

Flat mate puts in a claim to the council for enforced passive smoking.

Clearly in a normal world, the flat mate would tell the smoker not to smoke inside but this is the council we are talking about.

The general principle is that the duty of care extends to all working locations and in this case that means working from home.

Now if you wind it back a bit and consider some more reasonable situations. Employee working from home experiences eyesight deterioration from using laptop. Or develops back problems because the chair and desk are not suitable. Who is responsible, I think most would agree that the employer is still responsible.

So then you have the acceptance that duty of car must extend to working from home. And swept up with that is all the other measures put in place to help delivery duty of care - like smoking in the office.

May sound silly, may sound inappropriate, but I don’t think it was the council deliberately being little Hitlers targeting smoking, just that they are recognising their duty of care and that whole package includes smoking restrictions.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[Autopilot]

It makes a great story for certain media outlets to get people hot and bothered about, who are susceptible to this kind of thing. I can only imagine how many clicks this would generate for the Daily Mail and the state of the comments.

However, this just looks like a pretty standard policy they feel they need to avoid being sued in years to come, rather than anything that would ever actually be enforced.

 

[RBZ5416]

Well.........
Perhaps they don't want the nice new laptop they gave the office worker
To come back a few months later stinking of vile tobacco and full of ash!

Back in the 80s I used to service word processors. Oh the joy of opening one operated by a chain-smoking secretary, where the usual layer of dust had congealed into thick, yellow, sticky, nicotine coating. 🤮

 

[hippo99]

Are people missing the fact that the story is made up? 🤔

 

[Seb Briggs]

Are people missing the fact that the story is made up? 🤔

Quite clearly, but does go to show how misinformation survives debunking

 

[When In Rome]

UK council bans workers from smoking at home during lockdowns

"The Hammersmith and Fulham Council in West London has banned employees from smoking at working desks even when working online from home. Campaigners call the move a “moral crusade” and accused the council of “waging a war on choice.”

The Hammersmith and Fulham council, run by The left-wing Labor Party, announced that 'any part of a private dwelling used solely for work purposes will be required to be smoke-free.'”

Apparently they had a change of heart after a minor revolt among the peasants, but who would even consider such a thing?

" A source inside the Hammersmith and Fulham Council, speaking to The Telegraph, said the smoking ban for staff working from home would be replaced and that no employee had been punished for ignoring the policy. "

UK council bans workers from smoking at home during lockdowns

Now people are working online, employers are dictating what employees can do at home.

reclaimthenet.org

Hilarious. What are they gonna do, insist you have Alexa and spy on you? And what about vaping, eh?

 

[When In Rome]

Are people missing the fact that the story is made up? 🤔

I am Hippo but you know I am super-literal.

 

[Egg White]

I wonder how much "one handed fun" has been done on company time since lockdown started.......

my lady works from home too so not a lot..

 

[Kelmscott]

my lady works from home too so not a lot..

Ah, you’re apprehensive that she’d catch you at it...... 🤦‍♀️

 

[Egg White]

Ah, you’re apprehensive that she’d catch you at it...... 🤦‍♀️

she might join in..!

 

[TerFar]

UK council bans workers from smoking at home during lockdowns

"The Hammersmith and Fulham Council in West London has banned employees from smoking at working desks even when working online from home. Campaigners call the move a “moral crusade” and accused the council of “waging a war on choice.”

The Hammersmith and Fulham council, run by The left-wing Labor Party, announced that 'any part of a private dwelling used solely for work purposes will be required to be smoke-free.'”

Apparently they had a change of heart after a minor revolt among the peasants, but who would even consider such a thing?

" A source inside the Hammersmith and Fulham Council, speaking to The Telegraph, said the smoking ban for staff working from home would be replaced and that no employee had been punished for ignoring the policy. "

UK council bans workers from smoking at home during lockdowns

Now people are working online, employers are dictating what employees can do at home.

reclaimthenet.org

How do they police that?

 

[hippo99]

How do they police that?

Using the spy satellites that the government have been using to track all of us 😅😜

 

[Marv]

Almost as silly as this,

Netflix film crews 'banned from looking at each other for longer than five seconds' in #metoo crackdown

Streaming service says it is 'proud of the anti-harassment training we offer to our productions'

www.independent.co.uk

 

[hippo99]

Ah the story came from The Sun. Ever the bastion of truthful news 🤣

 

[Willem55]

In this case everyone should send his employer a monthly Bill for officespace rental