Surely this shouldn’t be allowed in an office?

When i was pregnant an older guy started doing little bits of work in my office (Small company). One day he sat down, took out a vape and started puffing away. I kind of just stared in disbelief and he said oh don't worry the boss has told me I can vape in here to save myself going outside as I feel the cold.

I made it VERY clear to him and later to my boss they could both absolutely fuck off with the vape, or I would from the job. Never happened again. Vaping is as rank as smoking and the smell of it is vile.

I would ask my boss to either eliminate vaping in the office or facilitate a permanent more to working from home.

The smell alone would drive me crazy

"Hi manager, I need to speak to you about the office environment. Bill and Ben are vaping at their desks and it's causing me to have headaches. Is there a policy on vaping in the building? I can't continue to work next to people who are vaping, so either I'll need to move desks or they'll need to leave the office to vape."

This is wild, I don’t even vape in my own house !

That’s horrendous. I would approach your manager right away & say you assume from what you are seeing that vaping is permitted; that this won’t work for you; and that as the result you need to work in a different office (or if there is not one, from home).

I have lung issues & would not in a million years be prepared to work in an environment where I am inhaling the chemicals from vapes. I would not be prepared to be part of an experiment - which is what this is, given that the long term effects of passive vaping are not known. I’d have to leave (which makes me suspect that allowing vaping is probably indirectly discriminatory for the purposes of the Equality Act, in that my lung condition amounts to a disability- ie, allowing workplace vaping looks like it is indirectly discriminatory against people with lung conditions such as severe asthma & bronchietasis let alone COPD).

What makes it worse is that you have no way of knowing whether the vapes your co-workers are using are bought from reputable sources & actually comply with the regulatory requirements as to their chemical contents. Plenty of vapes do not (at least according to media reports) - god knows what you could be inhaling.

We had this in an office space a few years back Pre Covid when vaping was just becoming a thing…… It took several discussions with HR to get him to stop and even then he felt he was being discriminated against 🤦‍♀️ It actually damaged his reputation and his relationship with most people in the office. He was furloughed during Covid and eventually made redundant.

I would take it up with your manager and not mince your words.

One thing that I’m struggling with Martin and I mean it really bothers me is that Steve, Sarah and Fred are allowed to vape in the office. Surely that’s not ok? Not sure I can put up with it much longer, should I say something? Or are there rules from HR I need to adhere to? Obviously I don’t want to ostracise myself so early on, but I’d be amazed if it’s not bothering anyone else.

Do you have windows? If you do i’d open them all. Make it as freezing and blowy as you can. Then negotiate.

This, dont think its legal.

Edited - I looked it up and vaping isn’t covered by the smoking ban, but imo should be.

It is not illegal. Vaping is not treated the same as smoking by the HSE etc. There is no evidence that breathing in second hand vape is harmful anymore than someone’s perfume etc. All that said it is normally banned in workplaces by their own internal policies not least because it looks unprofessional. So raise it if you are uncomfortable just as you would if the heating was set too high etc

Tell HR!!! Not ok at all!!!

I vape and that's ridiculous! I would absolutely approach management

There is no recognised risk. Check out "Myth #8" in this NHS info.

UK e-liquids (purchased legally) are very tightly regulated for the ingredients.

www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/ready-to-quit-smoking/vaping-to-quit-smoking/vaping-myths-and-the-facts/

It sets off the smoke detectors in our office, as we discovered after trudging down seven flights of stairs recently when the building was evacuated, all because some nicotine junkie couldn't be arsed to go outside and was vaping in the toilets!

I agree with PP who said it would be as shocking in my office as sparking up a real cigarette.

Op I'm assuming this is a fairly small business so not somewhere with a big policy making HR Dept.
I'd start with speaking with your manager.

While theres currently no evidence about harm, did people not think that about cigarettes and asbestos?

Absolutely unacceptable and you should definitely bring it up.

Unfortunately, there is no legislation on the statute books around vaping yet, so you will need to address this with HR by asking where is the policy on vaping, if they do not have one when will it be written and remind them that, although there is little constructive research on second hand vaping, you would hate them to e deemed liable after you have asked them about it...

Personally it wouldn't bother me, and I doubt there's much solid evidence of second-hand vapour inhalation being harmful (as in, clear scientific evidence you could take to HR). But that's not the point.

The point is, it's simply unacceptable in an office environment. You also shouldn't wear a bikini to the office, or fart all the time. Nothing wrong with those things per se, just not in the office.

It would NOT fly in any office I've ever worked in - they wouldn't get away with it anywhere else.

Does your company have a smoking policy? I’d suggest they update it to include vapes and other e cigarettes etc as the long term effects aren’t known and it’s full of chemicals and so vile.

That’s awful! It can’t be legal surely?! At my work there is a vaping shelter outside

They don't no - it was the Health Act of 2006 which banned smoking indoors and it didn't include vapes, so various bodies decide for themselves whether or not to ban them

Edited to add the current NHS advice: https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/ready-to-quit-smoking/vaping-to-quit-smoking/vaping-myths-and-the-facts/

"While secondhand smoke from cigarettes causes serious harm to others, there is no evidence so far that vaping is harmful to people around you, and any risks are likely to be very low"

Cardiologists and lung specialists around the world have seen the damage vaping does!!! Just because you want to be an ostrich and pretend it doesn’t affect you or anyone else doesn’t mean it’s not harmful! Smoking cigarettes was PRESCRIBED to patients for stress, pregnancy symptoms and allsorts until they realised it was causing cancer etc

No, and one of my local pubs does allow vaping in one section.

Yes it is - you’re inhaling nicotine and chemicals which aren’t good for you!

Do your employers own the office or is it a managed office? If it’s a managed office you could raise it with them, surely that would be a problem for insurance etc.