Majority of the UK public believe that pub staff should be protected from second-hand smoke

Jun 9 2005

Seven in ten (68%) of the UK public believe that the health of pub staff should be protected from second-hand smoke at work, according to a survey done by MORI for the British Medical Association (BMA).

The survey was carried out earlier this year and all respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the following question:

It is more important to protect the health of staff working in pubs and bars by having them completely smoke-free than to allow smoking in such places

The answers were as follows:

• Strongly agree 36%
• Tend to agree 32%
• Neither agree nor disagree 12%
• Tend to disagree 12%
• Strongly disagree 5%
• No opinion 2%

BMA Chairman, Mr James Johnson, made the following comment:

“It is clear that the majority of the public believe that the right to work in a healthy environment is more important than the right to smoke.

“As doctors we see the deadly effects of second-hand smoke every day. This is why we urge the new Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, to ban smoking in all enclosed public places now and protect the rights of employees to work in an environment that does not damage their health.”

When asked whether the Government was acting too slowly to reduce smoking in public places 54% of respondents said they agreed and 27% disagreed.