[Ian101]

Ive employed in the past and the thing that annoyed me the most was mobile phones use by employees.

Been too soft in the past but will need to employ again soon so want to get it right from day 1.

Legally can I insist no mobiles allowed during the day apart from breaks - i.e it stays in the glovebox during work times .... if the dog dies then mummy / girlfriend can call me on my mobile ??

.... also can I insist on non smokers only ?

[Rich Wilts]

We have a smoking rule. Darren who works for me smokes. Company policy is no smoking on customers premises. If he smokes its to be done at the rear of the van, none of this wandering up and down the street with a cigarette in his mouth.

[Rich Wilts]

If you don't want smokers don't employ one. Ask them if they smoke. It's a balancing act for me. I'd prefer a non smoker but Darren can be an asset to the business.

[Matt.]

Hello Ian
I have a policy mate were no mobiles or smoking is permitted on site.
I don't mind them smoking in the van as we drive between jobs or using there phones but if I pull up an they still on the phone and it delays them getting out the van I assume there phoning a taxi home so will send them on there way from there.
No texting
No calls
No smoking

On any site premises - u will be sent home

[sunshine windows]

I thought by law, you're not allowed to smoke in work vehicles Matty. Maybe wrong but I remember an ex girlfriend getting me no smoking stickers about 8 years ago, that had to be displayed In the vehicle

[CleanClear]

I thought by law, you're not allowed to smoke in work vehicles Matty. Maybe wrong but I remember an ex girlfriend getting me no smoking stickers about 8 years ago, that had to be displayed In the vehicle

You're correct.

[Matt.]

Yes your right no smoking in company vehicles .......... But there is my choice, I would rather they opened the window whilst driving than do it on company property. I can live with braking this law for now 

I do work for some companies who insist on any staff or contractors who wish to smoke must leave the site premises, and must not throw the butts on the floor, or face disciplinary action for it. 

[Smudger]

Hi matty,

I know u said you are aware of illegality of smoking in the van, but imho, I would really try and stop this, in a day and age of mobile phones a disgruntled jealous person could easily snap a picture and also and this is a buggy if u plan to further expand and get a non smoker on board, the smoker will be in the habit of lighting up and WILL find this a difficult habit to break, then u are running a real chance of a disgruntled employee causing trouble. It's against the law I would enforce it. We have.  Mrs smudger xx

[Matt.]

 

I always listen when the mrs speak ........... I know what you say is right, I just turn a blind eye to it at the moment.
Ideally I would like to start 2 or 3 young lads that don't smoke  ........ Am a non smokers so would prefer non smokers.

Another suggestion is to make staff take a 15 mins unpaid break every time they want to smoke, now I know they could prob smoke a cigarette in 1 min but the other 14 is a deterrent and to allow the smell to leave them 

I sent mr smudger an email pic of a roof am doing

[Rich Wilts]

I like that idea of the 15 minute break.

[Phil J]

The young lad who works for me was constantly receiving and sending texts. It got to the stage that it was really p***ing me off. I have told him he can text all he wants at lunchtime and to and from work, but if I catch him texting around the back of a property he will be sacked on the spot. No second chance, seems to have done the trick! I suppose it's a generational thing.

[Matt.]

That's right Phil,

A quick important text is not the issue but every time they want to text equipment goes down they dry there hands get there phone out .......... This then becomes a 5 mins text every 15 mins.

Same ere mate if I see u with ur phone out on the jobs ur down the road ........ Am not interested unless it's a matter of health or sutton serious, when am working I leave my phone in the van. U can keep it in ur pocket by all means but don't get it out even to check the time ......... By a watch

[SeanK]

£50 to £200 if caught smoking in a work vehicle and £200 to a £1000 if your not displaying the non smoking sticker
even if nobody in the van smokes.

[Martin-Swinscoe]

Make them work over at the end of the day (without overtime pay) due to time lossed through smoking and texting.

[Phil J]

Hey Sean,
Where do you get the no smoking signs from, and who enforces the fines?
Matty, it does your nut in doesn't it with the bloody mobiles!!!

[Matt.]

Yes Phil, peeeeeeeeeeeeees me off suton silly, my staff all know the rules so don't tempt me to send them home, not just window cleaners but on site cleaners same rules apply, ........ funny story

A lady I know asked me for a job and I explained the rules to her, couple of days later I spoke with supervisor who tells me of her using her phone, tut tut .... I goes down an told her an she told me that she was only on it a second, I says who to ?  she says my sister !!!!!!! I says is she in hospital ?? No she replies ..... I tells her she's not aloud to do that an this is the only time I will remind her and if she's tempted to use it she should leave it in the locked cupboard.......... Next night I gets a call from supervisor saying she's using her phone, so now am not happy the site is about 20 mins away an it 6 in the evening an I been out since 3 in the morn, an I had just got home ......... U no wots coming ... So goes down an sees her an says wot happening u been on ya phone, she says ye but it was only a minute ...... Supervisor already told me 15 so I says well phone the bus station and ask them how long til the next bus. 
I still see the woman but she won't even speak to me, I did explain to her afterwards why she had been sacked but she didn't see it from my point if view and insisted she could do her job whilst on the phone ....... Ok ye wot ever

[SeanK]

Hey Sean,
Where do you get the no smoking signs from, and who enforces the fines?
Matty, it does your nut in doesn't it with the bloody mobiles!!!

I got mine in Halfords they have to be seen from both the inside and outside to be legal, ( unbelievable ) the police/tax collectors
enforce it and hand out fixed penalty's.
Every so often they will set up a checkpoint and pull in work vehicles, I was reading a story a while back that they where actually opening ashtrays and smelling them to see if anybody had been smoking.

[SeanK]

But wait to you hear the best part, in England the sign must be  at least 70mm in diameter but in wales its 75mm. 

[Walter Mitty]

Hey Sean,
Where do you get the no smoking signs from, and who enforces the fines?
Matty, it does your nut in doesn't it with the bloody mobiles!!!

I got mine in Halfords they have to be seen from both the inside and outside to be legal, ( unbelievable ) the police/tax collectors
enforce it and hand out fixed penalty's.
Every so often they will set up a checkpoint and pull in work vehicles, I was reading a story a while back that they where actually opening ashtrays and smelling them to see if anybody had been smoking.

Are you saying that I need no smoking signs on my van even though I'm a sole trader?  I am the only insured driver and a non-smoker - and I work alone.  If so, that is just mental.  BTW.  The vehicle is also 10% personal use taxwise (my only vehicle) so I suppose I could be on my 10% bit if stopped.  Personal vehicles presumably don't need the stickers.

[Walter Mitty]

I've just done a bit of digging around.  It appears that the difference may be signwritten vs. not signwritten - if I've understood correctly.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2272356/Van-driver-fined-200-displaying-No-Smoking-sign--times-penalty-actually-lighting-company-vehicle.html

I've highlighted the bit which may be about being signwritten.

Van driver fined £200 for not displaying No Smoking sign... which is four times the penalty for actually lighting up in a company vehicle
By Daniel Miller

    Non-smoker Freddie Beasley had just picked up the new van from a garage
    Pulled over in a joint police and council clamp down on 'dodgy' vehicles
    Council officers then spotted that he didn't had a 'no smoking' sticker

Published: 11:41, 2 February 2013 | Updated: 16:54, 4 February 2013

A van driver was handed a £200 fine for not displaying a No Smoking sticker on his new vehicle four times more than if he'd been caught actually puffing at the wheel.

Freddie Beasley, 28, from Cleankill Environmental Services had just picked up the brand new van  from a garage when he was pulled over in a joint police and council operation to clamp down on 'dodgy vehicles.

Mr Beasley, who does not smoke, was warned that lighting up in company vehicles was illegal and that he would have been fined £50 if he had been caught taking a drag behind the wheel.

Fuming: Company boss Paul Bates with the £200 fine handed to one of his drivers for not displaying a no smoking sign on a brand new vehicle

Clipboard-wielding council officers then, however, spotted that he didn't had a 'no smoking' sticker on his gleaming van and he was given an on-the-spot fine of £200.

Mr Beasley tried to explain that he had only just picked the new van up from a workshop where workers had painted the Cleankill logo on the side and that he was driving it back to the firm's HQ in Surrey.

The law states that any 'company vehicle' must have a no smoking sign - meaning that if he had been in the van with no logo he wouldn't have been fined as it would have been considered a 'personal van'.

Yesterday Mr Beasley's boss Paul Bates said he was 'fuming' at the fine.

He said: 'Let this be a warning to anybody that drives a company van...we have just been fined £200 for not displaying a no smoking sign in one of our vans.

Offence: Mr Beasley had failed to display a no-smoking sign in the brand new van

'All our vans normally have them, but this was a new van we have only just had sign written, and was driven by somebody who doesn't smoke - but try explaining that to Haringey Council!

'The irony is that if our technician had been smoking he would have been fined four time less, just £50.

'There was no warning or caution - it is absolutely ridiculous and at a time when small business like ours are having a tough time financially.'

The operation - run by Haringey Council, police and bailiffs - was called 'Operation Stop It' and was aimed at cracking down on 'unlicensed waste carriers' - fly-tippers - and other vehicles guilty of 'environmental crime'.

Bosses at Haringey Council said that 95 vehicles were stopped outside the Wickes DIY store in Haringey last Friday.

Among those stopped included six people driving vehicles in such a bad state they were seized by police, one man arrested for possessing drugs, one for stealing a disabled badge and several fly-tippers.

They also doled out 12 £200 fines for not displaying 'no smoking signs' in company vehicles and two £50 fines to people caught smoking inside company vans.

Cllr Nilgun Canver, Cabinet Member for the Environment at Haringey Council, said: 'We will continue to work closely with our partners in the police and the courts to tackle illegal activity around vehicles, especially looking out for unlicensed waste carriers that are responsible for so much dumping in our borough.

'We will continue to protect those workers who are forced to sit in smoke polluted environments because their employers don't comply with the law which bans smoke in company vehicles.'