A healthy town

The Smokefree Watford Task Group developed an action plan to help smokers, employers and licensees prepare for the smoke free legislation, which was introduced in England on 1 July 2007.

It held a seminar at Watford Football Club in September 2006, where partners and employers found out more about what the legislation would mean for them and carried out an audit of the current smoking policies of partner organizations to identify any gaps that would need to be addressed in time for the legislation.

Smokefree Watford officially launched on 14 March 2007 (National No Smoking Day) at Watford Football Club’s Vicarage Road Stadium, where an invited audience learned about the legislation, the health and safety perspective, implications for fire safety and a case study from Watford New Hope Trust, which went smokefree ahead of the legislation.

Information and advice was also available from experts on smoking cessation, complying with the legislation, planning advice for smoking shelters, trading standards, health and safety at work and fire prevention.

Finally, partners attended a stall in St Mary’s Churchyard on Sunday 1 July to mark the start of the legislation, offering information on exactly what the ban means, as well as bringing people up to date with the change in the law which will mean it is illegal to sell tobacco products to under 18s. Smokers also had the opportunity to find out how much carbon monoxide was in their blood, and were given information on how to quit smoking.

If you would like to find out more information on how to give up smoking, click here or visit your GP.

Smokefree Watford launch a success (19th March 2007)

Welcome to Smokefree Watford (1st July 2007)