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Smokefree: Residential Care

Smoking in Public Areas

The public areas of residential care homes and hospices are required to be smokefree. This means that sitting rooms, dining areas, reception areas, corridors and all other communal areas which are enclosed places and structures which are 'substantially enclosed' are legally required to be smokefree.

In addition work vehicles used by more than one person will also have to be smokefree.

Can residents smoke in their bedrooms?

If it is the management's policy to allow smoking in bedrooms and if the following conditions are met, residents can smoke in their own bedrooms:

• The person in charge of the premises designates a bedroom as one in which smoking is permitted
• A list of rooms designated for smoking is kept and available if requested by an enforcement officer.
• The room is clearly signposted as a room where smoking is permitted 
• The bedroom's ventilation system does not link into the smokefree areas of the premises
• If a bedroom where smoking is permitted opens onto smoke free public areas, the door is fitted with a mechanical closing device to prevent smoke drift.

What if management disallows smoking in bedrooms

The management can designate a smoking room for residents (but not staff) if it wishes. A designated smoking room has to be fully enclosed by solid, floor to ceiling walls and meet the conditions outlined above.

Staff are not allowed to smoke in a designated smoking room.

Staff who have to go into 'smoking' bedrooms or designated smoking rooms

The legislation does not cover people providing personal care or domestic work in a person's home or personal accommodation. Since employers have a duty of care to take reasonable precautions to protect the health of their employees, management need to undertake a risk assessment to reduce the level of exposure of staff to tobacco smoke as far as is reasonably practicable.

See the Royal College of Nurses document, Protecting Community Staff from Exposure to Secondhand Smoke, www.rcn.org.uk for suggestions, e.g. asking residents not to smoke when a staff member is in the room and opening windows to fully ventilate the room during and after smoking.