No longer a reality
Students should be aware that smoking is banned in the covered area of the Quad – a policy change which took place in May last year.
With the implementation of a highly -publicised amendment to the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990, smoking indoors, including in all bars and restaurants, as well as other workplaces, including offices, factories and their attached ‘smoko rooms’, became illegal in 2003.
The Ministry of Health publicly announced that “these new requirements were designed to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke”, due to alarmingly high statistics showing that around 350 people have died each year as a result of exposure to passive smoke.
The Quad is considered an indoor ‘public place’ due to its “substantially enclosed” nature, and thus to allow smoking within this area is a breach of the amendment to this Act.
Director of Facilities Management Jenny Bentley has said the University has “no choice but to comply”, due to the threat of prosecution.
To prevent any confusion, tables, chairs and ashtrays usually used by smokers were shifted to the uncovered area of the Quad. The new smoke-free rules on campus have also been extended to include an area of three metres from all buildings. This action is to prevent smoke entering a building and subsequently becoming trapped inside, through both doors and air-vents.