ASH to support smoking legal actions

Anti-smoking lobby group ASH has pledged legal support for court actions brought by bar staff affected by passive smoking.

Law firm Thompsons, which specialises in employment rights and personal injury cases, is working with ASH to provide 'information and support' for hospitality trade employees wanting to sue for damages.

ASH said the move brings legal actions for compensation over secondhand smoke a step closer.

Working with Thompsons, ASH has produced a guide for employees who believe their health may have been affected by breathing smoke at work. Thompsons has also set up a freephone helpline. Thompsons solicitor John Hall said: "We intend to give employees whose health has been damaged by secondhand smoke at work the information and support they need to bring cases for compensation. "And we intend to use court actions to oblige irresponsible employers to face their legal and moral responsibilities for the health and safety of their employees."

ASH said the move has been made in response to the hospitality trade's "stubborn failure to act" over the smoking issue.

In January, ASH and Thompsons sent a registered letter to a range of hospitality trade employers, warning that under health and safety legislation employers who continue to allow smoking in the workplace could be held liable over damage to their employees health.

Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, said: "The Government should follow the Irish example and legislate.

"But if it doesn't, and if the hospitality trade and other employers continue their stubborn failure to act over the clear warnings they have now received, then the issue will be decided in the courts."