Hello,

We retro-fit fire sprinklers to blocks of flat where some tenants smoke heavily for the duration of our works.

Can someone please advise on what I can do to impose a rule on the tenants to limit the risks of passive smoking?

Kind regards

Dan

Why are the tennants still present during your works?

For you to set site rules it needs to be a closed site i.e. no members of the public.

As the tennant will be present then you need to compromise with them just as Social Workers, Home Helps etc. do during their vists 

Legally, there is nothing that you can do to stop people smoking in their own home. The Smoke-free (Exemptions and Vehicles) Regulations 2007 reg. 3 provides an exception of private accommodation,  from being classed as a smoke free area unless that area is  workplace but that does not apply if the work is solely undertaken to

4. To install, maintain or remove any service provided to the dwelling for the benefit of persons living in it.

There might be something under the terms of the lease but I doubt it.

Essentially the principle is, you can do what you want in your own home.

Originally Posted by: Dave5705

Originally Posted by: danielrsp

We retro-fit fire sprinklers to blocks of flat where some tenants smoke heavily for the duration of our works.

Can that be done safely with the tenants still there? I'd have thought that was quite intrusive work, surely it becomes a construction site? How do you exclude them from the working area? Or don't you?

We encourage the tenants to leave during the works but sometimes this isn't always possible. We often spend about half a day doing the works with a team of 2 people to ensure the areas are appropriately managed and worked efficiently. We carry out a brief induction to the tenant highlighting the hazards so they know where and when to seek assistance. Retro-fitting these systems often means the sprinkler pipes are surface-mounted then housed in trunking so not much heavy drilling at all. Also, we work closely with Hilti to ensure the best kit is used to minimise noise and dust as much as possible, along with battery-powered drills to avoid trailing cables.