New smoking area at work...

[AlphaDog]

Hi all. I need some help with regards to the law around vaping. The company i work for, has now built a smoking area in the middle of a grass "park". The area is devoid of any cover - which means that if it's sunny, you burn, and if it rains, you're soaked.

Furthermore, as a vaper, the cigarette smoke from people close by comes in through my airflow holes, which means i can taste it...

Why do I, as a vaper, have to be subjected to tobacco laws??

What can I do?

 

[Anneries]

This depends, if the company forces you as a vaper to use it, you can do nothing about it. The law does not, as far as I have read, that vaping falls under the tobacco law.

So unless they state that smoking including e-cigarettes or including vaping is prohibited and should happen in the smoking area, it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

Our policy now clearly, in bold and highlighted, states including e-cigarettes. And yes, any nicontine vapor producing device is treated as an e-cigarette.

 

[RichJB]

I don't think there is any provision in law for vapers to demand special treatment. Society as a whole takes a dim view of nicotine addiction and wants to make it as expensive/inconvenient as possible to induce people to quit.

If the smoking area is in the middle of an open area, maybe moving to the edge of the open area would put you out of reach of the worst of the smoke. The company may complain that you are beyond the limits of the smoking area. But then it's the old story of having a non-smoking area in a restaurant being like having a non-peeing area in a swimming pool. Humans might respect the boundary of the smoking area but the smoke surely doesn't. If smokers are smoking in a small demarcated part of an open park, then basically the whole park is affected. So adding a bit of vapour at one edge of it isn't going to exacerbate the situation. Maybe put it to the company that way. Although they probably don't have any obligation to accommodate you.

 

[Chukin'Vape]

I can totally relate to your frustration - if you have a car, perhaps go vape inside it - if the smoke in the smoking area is really freaking you out. Another thing you could consider is throwing massive clouds in the smoking area when its sunny - resulting in some instant shade. This will immediately give you some status in the group. (just kidding)

Dont make a scene, or act like a douche bag throwing law into people's faces - abide by the rules, and use the opportunity to convert smokers to vaping. Remember we all use to be smokers, soooooo technically we shouldn't be judging them.

 

[AlphaDog]

So i double checked the company policy around smoking - it includes vaping as well. So basically they are treating vaping and smoking as the same thing...

So there isn't anything I can do really...

 

[Cespian]

So i double checked the company policy around smoking - it includes vaping as well. So basically they are treating vaping and smoking as the same thing...

So there isn't anything I can do really...

I dont think there is anything you should do to be honest. Vaping is a smoking alternative. Regardless of it being healthier than cigarettes, you should still be considerate to non-smokers, and vaping in designated smoking areas is the easiest way to accomplish this.

I saw a guy chucking a cloud in Canal Walk the other day and arguing with the security, saying its harmless to others... peeing in a public pool is also harmless because the chlorine kills bacteria, but how would you feel swimming into a warm, slightly steeped section of the pool? I imagine non-smokers feeling this way when being hit with an uncontrollable cloud of vapour.

 

[aktorsyl]

So i double checked the company policy around smoking - it includes vaping as well. So basically they are treating vaping and smoking as the same thing...

So there isn't anything I can do really...

Most companies do that nowadays. Is it fair? Of course not.

From a company point of view, they want to make it as uncomfortable and unpleasant as possible to smoke/vape. Not because they care about your nicotine addiction, but because they want you to at your desk working instead of outside smoking/vaping (probably not an entirely unreasonable point of view, to be fair).

Secondly, the amount of drama they'd get from non-vapers would be insane, so they usually decide to rather put up with the drama from vapers/smokers instead.

 

[AlphaDog]

I dont think there is anything you should do to be honest. Vaping is a smoking alternative. Regardless of it being healthier than cigarettes, you should still be considerate to non-smokers, and vaping in designated smoking areas is the easiest way to accomplish this.

I saw a guy chucking a cloud in Canal Walk the other day and arguing with the security, saying its harmless to others... peeing in a public pool is also harmless because the chlorine kills bacteria, but how would you feel swimming into a warm, slightly steeped section of the pool? I imagine non-smokers feeling this way when being hit with an uncontrollable cloud of vapour.

Yeah, not saying i want to smoke indoors. I'm saying that im fine smoking outside, but not in the middle of a field burning in the sun. Just a few meters away is ample shade, but it falls outside of the designated area.

 

[Feliks Karp]

swimming into a warm, slightly steeped section of the pool

If the pool is full of 6ft blondes I wouldn't mind, I usually have to pay big bucks for that kind of thing.

 

[Feliks Karp]

Yeah, not saying i want to smoke indoors. I'm saying that im fine smoking outside, but not in the middle of a field burning in the sun. Just a few meters away is ample shade, but it falls outside of the designated area.

Most people these days have vitamin D deficiency, so take it as your recommended 15 min of direct sunlight per day. That or start a revolution to over throw the imperial overlords who squat on you from their ivory towers of capitalism.

 

[Cespian]

Yeah, not saying i want to smoke indoors. I'm saying that im fine smoking outside, but not in the middle of a field burning in the sun. Just a few meters away is ample shade, but it falls outside of the designated area.

Well, if it is meters away from an entrance or windows (I think the minimum is 5 or 10m if I'm not mistaken) then you have a pretty good case to approach them with. Or team up with the enemy and club for a Gazebo of some sorts?

 

[Cespian]

If the pool is full of 6ft blondes I wouldn't mind, I usually have to pay big bucks for that kind of thing.

Thanks man, I love spewing coffee from my nostrils

 

[Feliks Karp]

Thanks man, I love spewing coffee from my nostrils

No problem, makes a change from people just generally spewing in my direction when they see me.