Councils enforce ‘no-go’ policy in smokers’ homes

Sep 20 2007 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

A BOYCOTT of visits to smokers’ homes will be enforced by Merseyside councils from today, if people fail to keep a room smoke-free.

The Mersey Charter has been officially launched by heart disease prevention programme Heart of Mersey and authorities signing up will enforce certain rules on people who light up in their own homes to protect staff.

Organisations which join the scheme will ask clients to provide a room which has been smoke-free for a minimum of 30 minutes prior to a planned visit by staff. If they fail to do so, meetings may take place in council buildings, away from people’s homes.

Organisations which have charter accreditation include primary care trusts and councils in Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton and Wirral.

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, which delivers the Fag Ends stop smoking service, were early supporters of the scheme, which aims to protect staff working in the community from exposure to second-hand smoke.

Halton, St Helens and Cheshire authorities have also been approached and shown an interest in the plans.

The policy is much stricter than a similar one announced in Liverpool earlier this year, where residents were requested not to smoke on a voluntary basis.

Liverpool council’s chief executive, Colin Hilton, said: “Liverpool has been one of the main driving forces behind the smoke-free campaign from the very beginning and the city coun- cil fully supports any initiative which makes sure people are complying with the legislation.

“The Mersey Charter is another great step forward in working with organisations to check they are doing everything they can to protect their staff from the dangers of second hand smoke.”

The introduction of smoke-free legislation on July 1 prohibited all smoking in workplaces in England, following similar legislation in other parts of the UK and Ireland.

lizawilliams@dailypost.co.uk