Smoking - Employer's duty of care
Section 16 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 places a duty of care on employers to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect the health and safety at work of their employees and contractors.
There is a duty for employers to provide a workplace that is safe for employees and without risk to their health. Employers must also maintain a means of getting into and out of the workplace that is safe for the employees and without risk to their health.
These requirements mean that in the case of smoking and the workplace, there are two distinct issues, the duty of care to employees who choose to smoke during work hours and to those that may inhale their environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).
In deciding what steps are reasonably practicable, employers should weigh up the magnitude of any identified risk to employees, contractors and third parties with the cost (both monetary and non-monetary) of taking steps to eliminate those risks.