Most smokers around the world support bans to prohibit lighting up in the workplace, according to a new survey published.
The international poll of nearly 5,000 people by research institute RTI International and Harris Interactive showed that nearly three-quarters of workers who smoke and 87 per cent of employers support a smoke-free work environment.
The strongest support for smoking bans was in India where 85 per cent of people voted for smoke-free workplaces, followed by Japan with 75 per cent. But only one-third of Germans and 27 per cent of Poles thought bans should be in place.
The researchers also found that smokers estimated that they spent about one hour a day puffing on cigarettes, although the majority of people polled did not think the habit had a negative financial impact on the company.
Ireland was the first country to introduce a workplace smoking ban in 2004, a number of other countries including France, Spain and Britain have followed in their footsteps.
Smoking is a leading cause of preventable death. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says some 200,000 workers die each year due to exposure to smoke at work, while around 700 million children, around half the world's total, breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke, particularly in the home.
According to the WHO almost one billion men and 250 women worldwide smoke some form of tobacco.
South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, India, Britain, Italy, Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Turkey and Brazil participated in the poll which involved 3,500 workers, smokers and non-smokers, and more than 1,400 employers in the 14 countries.
Reuters