Pubs and bars should have a cigarette smoke detectors to protect their businesses from some of their more careless customers.

Why?

Well, in the summer, when it is warm and sunny, most smokers are quite happy to stand outside in the street and enjoy the sunshine and have a chat with others while they indulge their habit.

However, in the depths of winter when it is freezing cold, the wind is blowing, and it's pouring with rain, it is a very different matter. Nobody wants to stand in the street in conditions like that and even though the law says that they must, after a few drinks some people don't think about the consequences of their actions.

The Landlord Can Be Prosecuted

Unfortunately, it is open to the Environmental Health Officers to prosecute a pub landlord if people are caught smoking on his premises. This has resulted in fines, and in at least one case a six month jail sentence after a convicted landlord failed to pay a fine and and subsequent legal costs totalling over £10,000.

In that case the landlord ended up selling the leases to his two pubs.

Even A Bouncer Cannot Be Everywhere

Even if you have a bouncer, he can’t be everywhere at once and keep an eye on everybody. For instance, how often have you seen a pub where people have a crafty cigarette standing in doorways while the bouncer is elsewhere? Not to mention, if the pub has a stairwell, it can be an excellent place for people to have a sneaky cigarette.

In addition, many smokers will try to get away with smoking in a cubicle in the toilets, and there is not much that you can do about it until they choose to come out, even if you know they are doing it in the first place.

Protect Your Customers

Cigarettes can easily start a fire, so having cigarette smoke detectors is very important. Most pub landlords care a great deal about their customers and know that having a fully qualified engineer to install a fire alarm system is the only way to get peace of mind that they've done everything they can to protect their customers.

Inexpensive Cigarette Smoke Detectors

Fortunately, technology comes to the rescue.

Though there are specific cigarette smoke detectors on the market, other alarms also work to pick up cigarette smoke.

However, not all conventional fire alarms will detect smoke from cigarettes. This is because of the way that these alarms detect a fire.

Two Main Types Of Fire Detectors

The first type of alarm, and probably the most common, uses ionisation to detect tiny smoke particles in the air which then sets off the alarm. This type can be used instead of specific cigarette smoke detectors.

The second type, and not the one to use as a cigarette smoke detector, is a heat detection alarm. By the time cigarette smoke rises to these alarms most of the heat has dissipated and so will not set off the alarm.

Read more about the main four types of smoke detectors here.

What should you do?

Well, here at Spy Alarms, safety is paramount so we would always recommend a free fire security survey. Our fully qualified engineers can design and quote for a system that's tailored specifically to your pub's needs.

As we do not provide specific cigarette smoke detectors the type of alarm we would suggest is the ionisation alarm, along with a text alert to your phone so you know when the alarm is triggered.

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