Health and Safety News

The new mission of the Government is to reduce the number of smokers to one in every ten people from the current one in five by 2020. It is considering various strategies to achieve this goal.

The smoke-free rules were enacted three years back and they categorised many places and vehicles as smoke-free areas. In these areas, if a no smoking sign is not displayed then a fine to the extent of £1,000 or a fixed penalty notice worth £200 could be levied on the violator.

Those who smoke in such areas have to pay either £50 for a fixed penalty notice or up to £200 as a fine if caught. Moreover, if smoking is not prevented in these places then a fine to the extent of £2,500 can be imposed.

According to the Government’s new initiative called ‘A Smokefree future’, there have been very few violations of the no smoking law and the public has co-operated in making the law a success. The government is now reviewing the law to further assess its effectiveness and the potential areas for improvement and expansion of the law.

Some of the measures that the government is contemplating include making jails and entrances to buildings, including office buildings, smoke free areas. Andy Burnham, Health Secretary said that he is confident that the government will be able to achieve its goal of reducing the number of smokers to ten percent of the total population and slowly eliminating all the health issues that can be caused by smoking.