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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

..to think that it's wrong that my daughter shouldn't have to stink of cigs?

87 replies

neiljames77 · 26/04/2014 11:13

She's got a job as a care assistant and a lot of the houses and flats she visits have smokers living there. One old woman in particular is a chain smoker, as is her daughter who is always there. They never even open a window. I said the laws of smoking in the workplace should still apply even if it's someone's home.
AIBU because some of them haven't got long left and see it as their only pleasure?

OP posts:
BelleateSebastian · 26/04/2014 13:36

It may have been an incorrect interpretation of the law and if any client dug to deeply then we may have had to back down but it protected the staff that were expected to spend up to 3hrs per day with each client.

eta - I didn't run a 'company' I meant to say 'service' I obviously have delusions of grandeur!!

Sirzy · 26/04/2014 13:39

So you lied to clients. Nice start to a relationship with them!

maddening · 26/04/2014 13:40

I thought that the smoking ban included this and that if you had someone to work in your home then you were not to smoke in it for an hour before and during their time there.

Caitlin17 · 26/04/2014 13:42

monica to not want to have your clothes and hair smell like an ashtray is "hysterical"? Or is that a misquote as well and you didn't really call the OP and her daughter hysterical?

monicalewinski · 26/04/2014 13:47

Caitlin, I did say hysterical, that is correct .

Unfortunately many jobs come with an inherent risk of 'smelling of whatever you have been working with'.

There is no law against odours in work, however unpleasant you may find them.

If there was, I would defend your right to avoid that odour.

BelleateSebastian · 26/04/2014 13:47

All for the greater good Sirzy Smile

Caitlin17 · 26/04/2014 13:50

Wellmonica the only hysteria I'm seeing is your response which really is a hysterical reaction to a reasonable opening question.

NurseyWursey · 26/04/2014 13:51

Belle That's ridiculous. Lying to your clients to force them to do something they don't want to do - in their own homes.

BerniesBurneze · 26/04/2014 13:51

YABVVVU

monicalewinski · 26/04/2014 13:52

Whatevs.

SoonToBeSix · 26/04/2014 13:55

Yabvu it is the clients own home . Your dd must have known people smoke before she took the job.

BelleateSebastian · 26/04/2014 14:02

Oh ffs, I wasn't 'lying' to clients, it was company policy and in the intro assessment (if and when it was brought up) we would say it was company policy and if challenged say it was to do with the law regarding smoking in the workplace, it was a national company/charity and to be honest I thought it was law as that was what I was told by the chief exec when I started.... but it's okay I'm not lying to them anymore as I left about 5 years ago so you can sleep easy tonight.

Caitlin17 · 26/04/2014 14:08

Does anyone know if Liverpool City Council implemented its "hysterical" response to protecting the health of its social workers? I.e asking users of the service to not smoke 30 minutes before and during the visit and permitting health visitors to curtail the visit if not complied with?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1554997/Do-not-light-up-at-home-council-tells-smokers.html

PacificDogwood · 26/04/2014 14:14

The community nurses I work with as a matter of course ask patients to refrain from smoking and opening windows before they arrive as is their right by law (in Scotland - don't know about England).

I personally have never bothered asking, but think I will in future as my car will still smell of other people's smoke at the end of the day - not because anybody has smoked in it, but because I've sat in it for 10 min after having spent 10 min in a smoker's house Angry.

OP, YANBU and your DD has every right to be more assertive in asking people to not smoke and/or open windows.

5madthings · 26/04/2014 14:15

Actually I was visited at home by social workers and mental health team after I had post natal psychosis, they stated I could not smoke in the house when they visited. As it was I smoke outside anyway as I have children! And many of the workers who visited me smoked, so they would often arrive early, sit in their car and smoke and then come and visit.occasionally whilst they chatted with me I would stand in the garden and have a fag, they were not allowed to smoke with me when I did that. It seemed crazy but those were the rules.

iliketea · 26/04/2014 14:25

In the trust I work in, clients are told that they are expected to refrain from smoking during a professionals visit. They are also told that dogs / cats should be put in another room while they are receiving treatment / care (ever tried to do a "sterile" dressing with a cat or dog climbing all over a wound or playing with your dressings). I think I'm fortunate to have an employer who is strict about employee safety, and I'm not sure that if a patient sued / complained that any worker could be forced to go into an unsafe environment to work.

PacificDogwood · 26/04/2014 14:29

Oh good grief, don't talk to me about dogs!! I love dogs, I wish I had a dog, but I don't know your mutt. And he does not know me. And I am sure he is just friendly, but he is also the size of a small pony and all teeth and very snarly. So. Put. Him. Away. Apart from the fact that he is casting like crazy and smells bad.

Caitlin17 · 26/04/2014 14:40

It seems to be the norm in Scotland for Councils to require service users not to smoke during home visits. Link is to the Policy document for West Lothian Council which requires no smoking the hour before and during a visit failing which the service will be provided outwith the home. So not at all hysterical.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=s7VbU6LoFoKiO4DGgPgO&url=www.westlothian.gov.uk/media/downloaddoc/1799479/Strategies/tenanthandbook2012&cd=2&ved=0CCkQFjAB&usg=AFQjCNFrHLak3ljD2bc2IOwFeCE78xntqg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=s7VbU6LoFoKiO4DGgPgO&url=www.westlothian.gov.uk/media/downloaddoc/1799479/Strategies/tenanthandbook2012&cd=2&ved=0CCkQFjAB&usg=AFQjCNFrHLak3ljD2bc2IOwFeCE78xntqg

5madthings · 26/04/2014 14:44

I thought it was perfectly fine for them to ask me not to smoke whilst they were there as they were working, it just seemed daft as several of them smoked themselves. It was a non issue anyway as I don't smoke in the house as I have children. But I think asking them not to smoke whilst you are there or at least in the same room would be perfectly reasonable.

Is the law different in Scotland? I am in England and when they explained the request to me they said something about workplace riles re smoking. Don't remember exactly as it was years ago and I was unwell at the time, hence the visits.

candycoatedwaterdrops · 26/04/2014 15:45

Well, I work with severely mentally ill people and even though I hate the smell, I won't ask them to stop while I am there. They are often in distress and in crisis. It's their home. I chose to be a social worker, they did not choose to be so poorly and need the intrusion.

Topaz25 · 26/04/2014 15:46

I used to work as a home carer in England and our clients were not allowed to smoke when we were in their home. Your DD should check the policy of the agency or local authority she works for and check it complies with employment law.

Caitlin17 · 26/04/2014 16:02

candycoated NHS Lothian's policy in your situation.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=iMlbU_3NFYSdO5WTgbAB&url=www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/Community/EdinburghCHP/Services/Documents/Community%2520Mental%2520Health%2520Services%2520Booklet.pdf&cd=3&ved=0CCsQFjAC&usg=AFQjCNHn8hAWLyloAMM88tKK8U68eIlWRw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=iMlbU_3NFYSdO5WTgbAB&url=www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/Community/EdinburghCHP/Services/Documents/Community%2520Mental%2520Health%2520Services%2520Booklet.pdf&cd=3&ved=0CCsQFjAC&usg=AFQjCNHn8hAWLyloAMM88tKK8U68eIlWRw

candycoatedwaterdrops · 26/04/2014 16:05

Caitlin Unfortunately, I cannot read that because my dinosaur, broken laptop will not let me open PDFs. I'm in England I am aware that I make a choice to allow clients to smoke. I would feel very mean asking clients not to unless I had a condition that was exacerbated by smoke. Plus, to be honest, the chain smokers' homes are so full of smoke anyway, another few cigs is just a drop in the smoky ocean.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 26/04/2014 16:17

When you are visiting people in their homes you have to be tolerant of their choices. I have been to smoky homes, smelly homes, dirty homes, homes with nail clippings all over the carpet, homes with horrible scary dogs, homes with cat litter trailed over the floor, all sorts. I have left someone's home and gone straight home for a shower due to the stink and filth I had all over me (I had been helping her to sort out the mess to be fair) but that's just part of the job. You don't take a job where you visit people in their homes if you are precious about it.