Work now trying to ban e-cigs - need some help!

[BostonVape]

So my work has been pretty great with vaping in the office since I started 5 months ago - but now some uninformed person has complained so it looks like they are trying to ban it.

Got the word that an email will be coming later this week.. and when I tried to explain to one of the Directors - he compared it to openly using chewing tobacco and spitting in a cup! He didn't want to listen to any of our arguments and continued to say i was 'Wrong'.

When I told him that there is no tobacco and its 100% harmless to 2nd hand people, he compared it to 'sniffing asprin at his desk' since that is also harmless but isn't OK in the workplace? I felt like I was talking to a 2 year old.. Actually a 2 year old might make a better argument

It seems like they are just trying to ban it in our department and not in the entire company.

There is nothing in the HR employee handbook that states e-cig's cannot be used..

Honestly, I'm pretty aggravated and I will fight this all the way to heads of HR if I need too.. It just drives me crazy that one dumb person who knows nothing about the subject can ruin this for the 5 people in the office that use them
-----------

So my question is: Does anyone have some really good sites/sources that show all the benefits and can show data to back it up? vs tobacco/cigarettes

I did some quick searches but didn't really find the type of stuff I need to present to the Directors here at my work.

Thanks for any help!
(looks like I have a PowerPoint to make in the next couple days)

 

[alopezg1]

Can't you just go outside?

 

[BostonVape]

Can't you just go outside?

I do.. on my breaks. That's not the point.

The point is the arguments they are trying to make and the fact that they had NO problems with any of us using them until 1 person decided they didn't like it.

 

[BostonVape]

If you do not inform people they they will continue being ignorant and this is the reason why so many e-cig bans and taxes are coming down recently.

 

[alopezg1]

It seems director has a problem taking drugs at the office
In public view I suppose..... But then what about coffee?
I suppose coffee doesn't give off anywhere near as much vapour
As e-cigs.there is just a lot of stigma still around from smoking I suppose

 

[alopezg1]

There are lots of good statements by Michael Siegel and Joel nitzkin and many others on
The relative safety of vapng......you could even e-mail one of them I suppose and ask them to
Make a statement for you. I emailed Joel nitzkin about safety , but then I am quite neurotic

 

[bnrkwest]

you could tell them you are cleaning the office air. Give then some research on the rats that had been exposed to Flu virus, then divided the rats and one set of rats exposed to PG vapor and one set not. The exposed to PG rats lived and the ones that weren't died of the flu. So since it is like working in an office rat maze, you could be doing your own flu reduction experiment LOL Good luck! bnrk

If you do not inform people they they will continue being ignorant and this is the reason why so many e-cig bans and taxes are coming down recently.

 

[charly1954]

I do.. on my breaks. That's not the point.

The point is the arguments they are trying to make and the fact that they had NO problems with any of us using them until 1 person decided they didn't like it.

Its not ignorance. Its the arrogants of the non smokers.

Non Smokers think of smokers as low lifes and bad people. They relate smoking to vaping and they want no part of it.

YOu could put a ton of evidance infront of some Non-Smokers and you will never get their ok to let you vape around them.

 

[Lessifer]

Learn About Electronic Cigarettes

While you're there, join, it's free.

BUT... in a private office, they can pretty much ban whatever they want.

 

[MissAmerican]

If they do decide to ban it (which I hope for your sake and fellow vapers that they don't) you might want to check out "stealth vaping"? I'm sure there are some threads on here about it, there are a lot of videos on youtube that talk about it too.

 

[Caridwen]

CASAA has a lot of printable material

CASAA Printable Material

Lots of information here

The ECF Library

Also you could print out the "Dark Truth Behind E-Cigarettes"

 

[Evap[e]orate]

I can't vape on company property...so be happy you can just walk outside. I vape further away from the building than dumpster sits...

 

[qreepii]

As a private company they can decide what they want, regardless of their "evidence". You are right that education is the key to changing minds, but when it comes to smoking many people will not change their mind regardless of anything you do. As an Adult Educator I see this with many preconceptions that no matter what material you present, some people have already made up their mind. The entrenchment of the "Smoking = Death" mentality is very similar to erroneous Political or Religious Views. I wish you the best but you will most likely be regulated out to the smoking area, like where I work. My company doesn't have an official vaping policy, but all of us have simply conformed to vaping outside with the smokers since fighting the system would be pointless.

Companies will take any employee complaint seriously, primarily because of insurance/hr/legal gray areas they simply want to avoid dealing with. It's ten times easier to make all the vapers go outside then attempt to educate every employee about the subject. In addition to it being unrelated to whatever the company does to generate income. Man hours wasted on a Vaping debate are Man Hours not generating income.

On Rereading my post, you may have that as an option. If the company requires you to use the smoking area like mine kind of does, you could make the complaint that requiring you to vape with the smokers puts you in a hazardous environment. But good luck getting that promotion after all the toes you'll be stepping on and additional thinking your superiors will be doing.