NSW Smoking in the workplace

[Petra Klein]

I have a friend who works on a university campus. In the shared office space one of the managers smokes flavoured e cigarettes indoors, in meetings, in the shared kitchen/dining space. He tends to flaunt it. The staff who report to him do not like it, but say that he is a vengeful person and they do not report it to WHS due to fear of retribution and that the University will do nothing about it. The University has a smoke free policy but does not have a definitive statement on e cigarettes.

Are the staff offices of the university considered a public space in the context of NSW Smoke Free policy?

 

[Scruff]

Are the staff offices of the university considered a public space in the context of NSW Smoke Free policy?

The NSW Smoke-free Environment Act 2000 only covers areas that are accessible to the public. It therefore doesn't include staff only areas.

Work areas would be covered under workplace laws and/or the university's own policies. I don't think NSW has laws yet that ban smoking in the workplace, so as far as I know, it would be solely up to the university itself.