"Please put that out"

The proposed new anti-smoking law to take effect in January will apply to the family home if you have someone working there. Home help, child minder, whatever. If someone works in your house, you will no longer be allowed to smoke in your home (at least that part of it that the home help has access to) while they're working. That's what the Health & Safety Authority are proposing.

From today's Irish Times (free to all):

People working in other family homes will be able to complain to the HSA about any potential breaches.

However, the HSA spokeswoman said she did not expect many complaints from this sector.

"People who work in family homes usually have a very good working relationship with their employers," she said.

I'm not sure what authority the HSA would have to enforce the proposed ban, but I had thought that the law would be such that anyone could complain about smoking - even if that person's not an employee. A nosey neighbor or (more likely) a spouse of a home worker should be able to call the smoking ban hotline.

If employees can agree with employers that smoking can be allowed, which seems to be the essence of what the HSA is saying here, then what if bar staff waive their rights to have the smoking ban enforced? Can they do that? I assume the public can say no, but what if 20 workers in a small office or factory all agree to allow smoking? What then?

I would have thought that either smoking is banned from the work place or it is not. If smoking is banned from the work place, then that should mean that anyone who has people working in their house would be violating the law if they allowed smoking in their home regardless of whether it bothered the house owner, any resident of the house or anyone working there.

Smoking should also be banned in any work-related part of a house that provides Bed & Breakfast. So, kitchen or any living quarters for guests would be off limits for smoking - even when there are no guests present.

I don't accept the premise that few people will complain therefore we shouldn't have any concerns about going ahead with this proposed change in the law.