It should be noted that the Forces are exempt from some of the provisions of the Health & Safety at Work Act, that provides for a realtively hazard free work place, the responsibility being on the employer to reduce risks to a minimum. Smoking is an avoidable risk, and is quite rightly outlawed in most workplaces.
The Navy not only carried out a survey of its sumbarine sailors on this matter and found a 50/50 split for a ban, but also considered it more dangerous to ban smoking as some sailors would inevitably try secret smoking and this could prove many more times as dangerous as the places chosen might be high risk areas Smouldering fragments go undetected as sailors tried to avoid detection.