A non-smoking secretary worked in an office with colleagues who smoked. After a review, smoking was banned in her office but permitted in adjoining offices but she found this still unsatisfactory as ventilation in her office was poor and smoke still drifted in. She resigned and claimed constructive dismissal. The tribunal upheld her claim, ruling that the employers had been in breach of an implied term in her contract, namely a duty to provide and maintain a working environment that was reasonably tolerable to all employees. They pointed out that it would have been practicable for all smoking to be banned. This decision was upheld by EAT.

The emphasis is not just on healthy physical working conditions, such as heating, lighting, ventilation, sufficient space per employee and noise levels. There is an onus on employers to take initiatives to attempt to alleviate some of the sources of employee stress, which is estimated to be at the root cause of 60% of all work absence (HSE, 2002). These initiatives can be individual, looking at cases where employees appear to be suffering from occupational stress, or group, such as promoting healthy living or introducing an EAP.