Surely this shouldn’t be allowed in an office?

[Haaaalp]

I started a new job on Monday and the man in the desk next to me is sitting here vaping. It stinks and has given me headaches.

I am not the most senior but relatively senior and I feel if I say something (he’s not as senior as me), then it looks like I’m coming in and making a fuss.

I am quite fearful of cigarette smoke and I don’t really drink much so I don’t know if I’m making a mountain out of a molehill. Nobody else seems bothered though there’s only 4 others.

Absolutely unacceptable and you should definitely bring it up.

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?

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.

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/

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

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

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

This, dont think its legal.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

"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."

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

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.

Personally I would get a can of wasp spray and discharge into his face but then I am in no mood to be trifled with today.

Where on earth do you work that permits this sort of thing, anyway?

Small companies are a bit messy on that front and you’re new, I’d probably suss out what the others think before saying anything.

It’s grim though, one of my coworkers always has an assortment of vapes and energy drinks in her desk and I always think to myself how rank it looks if a client ever comes in.

She hides in the toilets to vape tho, like most people. I’ve never heard of it being allowed like that.

Yeah that's horrible. You're definitely not being unreasonable and I'd bet you're not the only person in that office who hates this. Grim.

It's not against the law, it isn't covered by the smoking ban. I don't believe there is anything you can do about it.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c2f5412e5274a6599225de8/PHE-advice-on-use-of-e-cigarettes-in-public-places-and-workplaces.PDF

I’d have to speak to a boss or HR about it, I’m highly sensitive to artificial scents so I would an actually have to resign from the job if people were vaping in a confined space. Was the interview held somewhere else, did you not get shown where you would be working? I would have withdrawn my interest in the job at that stage and avoided the whole situation.

That gross! I can't believe someone would be allowed to vape in an office... I would say something and get it sorted. Far too intrusive.

Most places have a policy of no smoking OR vaping on the premises. Im not sure whether its illegal indoors as smoking is, but its antisocial anyway. As an ex smoker i hate the sickly smell and would rather be near a smoker than a vaper. I also don't believe its any less harmful than smoking either

I vape, and I work in an office. I would never vape in front of my colleague (there is only 2 of us). We work in separate offices, and if he is in my room .... the vape would never be used.

We used to work together in the same office (moved buildings in April) and I would take myself outside on the way to the loo for a quick puff.