http://www.ioshmagazine....lth-england#comment-2013 From Public Health England - “We believe workplaces should review their policies in light of this guidance, with the support of occupational health professionals, and that e-cigarettes do have a role to play in stopping people smoking – but it must be approached in the right way.” IMO pragmatic and sensible advice, how many organisations do you think will simply ignore it and continue to treat vaping exactly the same way as smoking, a massive lost opportunity for many employers if they do.

RANT ALERT: I don't think people are using vaping to help them quit, its just that you can't smoke cigarettes anywhere anymore A lot of people use vaping when they are unable to smoke a cigarette; so instead of helping them to quit, it is a case of enabling them to smoke. I smoked for years. When I gave up, properly, I didn't use gimmicks. I had tried before with, gum, patches, etc. but they all just create a false sense of security as you move dependence for one product to a less toxic one. If you want to give up smoking then you do it. I fail to see why letting someone vape at their desk as opposed to outside is somehow helping them to give up. If anything it means they will use it less RANT OVER!

Please, can we all avoid this misinformation around "glycol." We're talking about food grade non-toxic propylene glycol NOT ethylene glycol (antifreeze).

Let's be proportionate here. Let's also consider that not everyone is us. Different people quit smoking in different ways. There is lots of evidence that NRT helps people give up. Vaping provides nicotine in a different way to cigarettes and therefore is likely to help someone stop or reduce their use of tobacco. As much as I would love to see all smokers use an NHS quitting service, not all will. E-cigarettes are very likely a lot less harmful to smokers than cigarettes. The extent of this still requires research. Vapour is likely to be relatively harmless to people near vapers. But we are not sure yet and more research is needed. Therefore, for me, HASWA and COSHH apply in the workplace. Inside - no vaping just as no smoking. However - those who use e-cigarettes are allowed to smoke outside, and not just in the smoking shelter. This enables them to avoid tobacco users. It is simple, straight forward and non-judgmental.

What standards do we state the e-cig must be, the cheaper end are known to have caused fires, do we insist that they are CE marked, PA Tested, do we insist that they do not charge them in work. What about residential homes etc. we have a policy if they are to be charged then it must be in the night station so that they can be odserved bythe night staff. It is not always about just saying 'no' because it is easy there are other matters to be taken into account, not only are they now skiving off for ciggies, now the e-cifggy people want to skive off, try as a non ssmoker stating that you will just pop out side for 10 minutes fresh air and see the reaction. and now they want to steal the electricity to charge them!

We're talking about inhaling a hot, vapourised, known respiratory irritant. I examined the "vaping" device a few weeks ago. That one contained a pair of 3.7 volt, 3-amp-hour lithium batteries. The proud owner informed me that the heating coils usually burnt out after a few hours use, and the batteries lasted about a half hour. Still, spares are cheap. And you can buy them in quantity from China, via ebay. What can go wrong.