Woman must sit on an X in her own yard to smoke.
Council touts work at home smoking ban
26 Aug 11
Landskrona municipality in southern Sweden is mulling introducing a ban on staff smoking during working hours, even if they are working from home.
The initiative, which will not apply to politicians in the municipality, has been criticised by the health and safety officer, according to the local Helsingborgs Dagblad daily.
“Moralistic and ridiculous,” said H?gni Hansson.
Several municipalities in Sweden have already introduced a blanket smoking ban on employees during working hours, covering breaks and often lunch. Landskrona is the latest to consider introducing the measure.
The ban under consideration by Landskrona will mean that staff are not allowed to go outside onto the street during, for example, the group coffee breaks in the morning and afternoon which are common practice in many Swedish workplaces.
Causing further controversy is that the ban is set to cover those working in open spaces and even staff working from home.
H?gni Hansson represents the environmental committee at Landskrona council, one of the bodies which have expressed criticism of the policy under consideration.
“Smoking is dangerous but I wonder just how far an employer’s powers stretch,” he said.
The committee writes in its submission on the danger of mixing up how an individual manages their own health and the need to protect others from the damaging effects of passive smoking.
The proposed policy has received support from some quarters however, with the education committee keen for the ban to be extended to the smokeless tobacco products “snus”.
“We think that working hours should be completely free of tobacco and should also include snus. The most important thing is that adults set a good example,” said the education committee chairperson Lisa Flinth to the newspaper.
Court: Woman can smoke in her own garden
August 7th, 2009
by Dissent
A feud in ?karp in southern Sweden between a cigarette-puffing woman and her smoke-sensitive neighbour has finally been put to rest by Swedish courts.
On Friday, the the Environmental High Court made a final ruling that the woman may light up as much as she wants to in her own garden.
In its decision, the court said that the neighbour had been unable to prove that the woman’s smoke “poses such a significant threat to human health” that the environmental code would prescribe prohibiting the woman to smoke in the garden.
Woman appeals garden smoking ban
September 2007
A 49-year-old woman banned from smoking in her own garden has appealed the decision to the Environmental High Court, Sydsvenskan reports.
Last month the woman from ?karp in southern Sweden was ordered to refrain from smoking too close to her neighbour’s hedge, a decision she feels was a violation of her human rights.
In her appeal to the court, the woman claims that the partial outdoor smoking ban has no basis in law.
The temporary ban was to remain in place until the Environmental Court in V?xj? decided how best to resolve the conflict between the woman and her neighbour, a lawyer with a strong aversion to cigarette smoke.
The Environmental Court will however now have to wait for the appeals court to reach a decision before proceeding with the case.
The neighbourly feud took on new proportions in mid-August when the Environmental Court sent a delegation to the woman’s home. Enraged by the new development, the woman refused to allow the two court representatives to inspect her property.
“I thought it was crazy. What were they going to do here? This is just ridiculous,” she told Sydsvenskan.
The lawyer however was only too pleased to be able to assist the delegates. From his side of the hedge he was able to pinpoint where his neighbour usually chose to smoke her cigarettes.
The delegates proceeded to take meticulous notes, resulting in a scale diagram of the two gardens. According to the court’s inspection protocol, the assessment took a total of 40 minutes.
The lawyer also told the court that his sensitivity to cigarette smoke meant he had to wear an oxygen mask every time he left his house to walk to the car.
“He walks around with the mask on regardless of whether I’m smoking or not. It used to annoy me but now I don’t care any more,” the woman told Sydsvenskan.
After reviewing the relevant documentation, the court ruled that the woman was banned from smoking within a nine metre radius of the lawyer’s house
The protracted feud began last year when the woman received a decidedly unneighbourly letter from the lawyer.
“The only way we can get in and out of our house is by passing the path that faces your house. As such, we can no longer accept you poisoning our existence with your disgusting and unhealthy tobacco smoke,” the lawyer wrote.
Woman Banned From Smoking In Her Garden
August 24, 2007
A Swedish woman has been banned from smoking in her garden in a trial headed by the Environmental Court in Vaxjo.
The 49-year-old single mother from Akarp, Sweden, said she is enraged by the decision, but admitted that she will obey the ruling to avoid having to pay a fine, The Local reported Thursday.
“I actually do go and sit outside the area marked with an X. But I don’t do it because I think it’s right — I’m just worried I’ll be forced to pay and that makes me furious,” she said.
The ban came after the woman’s neighbor, a lawyer with an aversion to smoke, contacted the Environmental Court over the issue after attempting to sue the woman for smoking near him.
The lawyer also told the court that his sensitivity to cigarette smoke forced him to wear a breathing mask every time he left his house.
“He walks around with the mask on regardless of whether I’m smoking or not. It used to annoy me, but now I don’t care any more,” the woman told Sydsvenskan.
But, the court took the lawyer’s side and most of the woman’s garden is now off limits for smoking.
