UNION ATTACKS ODPM’S BREATHTAKING COMPLACENCY

Lives at risk as civil servants bury most important fire service safety research in 50 years

The most important safety research carried out in the fire service for 50 years is being buried by Civil Servants at the Office of the Deputy Prime. The lack of action at national level is putting the lives of firefighters and the public at risk with key parts of the research being ignored.

FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist has accused the ODPM of “breathtaking complacency”. He called for an urgent programme of national action to be led by the ODPM and fire service stakeholders including additional resources.

Commissioned after 9/11, the Buildings Disaster Advisory Group (BDAG) research is the first to measure the effect on the human body of fighting fires in a range of day-to-day scenarios and in extreme conditions such as high rise blocks. It found that a mix of heavy workload and heat from fires leads to dangerously high levels of heat exhaustion in firefighters even in normal firefighting conditions.

In the research trials the core body temperatures of firefighters reached such high levels that most of the tests had to be stopped. It shows that firefighters can only fight fires for between 13-16 minutes before unsafe body temperatures are reached.

Government inaction

Instead of urgent action at national level ODPM civil Servants sent out a non-descript circular to fire authorities outlining the research “for information”. They added that it did not require a response and that it was not relevant to the Government’s fire service policy.

But a DVD film taken of the research trials leaked to the union contains footage of firefighters exhausted with many of the tests being cut short on health and safety grounds. Many took several hours to recover.

Swept under the carpet

General Secretary Andy Gilchrist said: “The most important safety research in 50 years is being swept under the carpet because it shows we need more firefighters. They asked the questions and now they don’t like the answers.

“The inaction of the ODPM is breathtakingly complacent. It is putting the lives of firefighters and the public at risk.

“The research clearly shows that firefighting is dangerously exhausting even for very fit individuals. We also need proper rest periods to recover.

“This clearly suggests that more firefighters are needed in the first response to fires with more needed throughout the incident. This contradicts current Government thinking which is why key parts of the research are being swept under the carpet.

National action plan demanded

“We need a national action plan put together by all fire service stakeholders which must include more resources. Instead we only have suggestions including changes to building design which will take 50 years to have an impact.”

Retained recruitment

A number of fire authorities have been stepping up efforts to recruit into the Retained Duty System, raising hopes that the Union’s campaign to get the Government and UK fire and rescue service to tackle the massive shortfall in retained establishment is starting to have a real impact.

Cornwall, Devon, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and West Yorkshire fire authorities are among those that have mounted recuitment drives in recent weeks.

However, the recruitment crisis remains extremely serious.

Take, for example, the latest figures published by Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue service, which show the availability of retained firefighters has fallen by 12 per cent since last year with Rushden fire station’s availability dropping by 76 per cent.

This reflects the kind of problem in many parts of the country.

Overall, the Union estimates a shortfall of around 5,000, meaning the Fire and Rescue Service is over 40% below complement nationally.

The Union launched a campaign over the recruitment and retention of retained firefighters last autumn.

To find out more, visit www.fbu.org.uk and click on the link from the home page.

Retained Pensions update

The Union has just been advised that our legal battle to obtain pensions for Retained Firefighters will be going to the House of Lords this autumn.

The crucial test case involves the exclusion of retained firefighters from the Firefighters Pension Scheme and worse treatment under the sick pay scheme. The initial 12,000 cases lodged at employment tribunal were whittled down to 12 “lead” cases.

The union says the Part Time Workers Regulations makes this discrimination unlawful.

In the summer of 2004 the appeal court accepted that retained firefighters work to the same contracts as wholetime firefighters, which is a critical ruling for other part-time workers.
But the court accepted the employers’ arguments that retained firefighters did not do the same or broadly similar work and rejected the appeal.

“Retained firefighters are being treated unjustly, unfairly and unlawfully,” says FBU General
Secretary Andy Gilchrist. “We stick by our pledge to retained firefighters that we will fight all the way for fairness and justice.

London FBU asks Gen. Sec. to intervene over acting up

London FBU has asked FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist to intervene in a dispute over acting up arrangements in London, following a break-down in negotiations and failure to reach agreement between London FBU and the London fire authority.

Andy Gilchrist will attend a National Joint Council (NJC) Joint Secretaries Conciliation meeting tomorrow in his capacity as joint secretary of the NJC.

Derbyshire ballot

FBU members in Derbyshire have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action - short of strike action.

The ballot follows a dispute with the fire authority over its move to impose new shift patterns.

Members will not begin action immediately to allow more time for further negotiation.

“We are calling on the fire authority to engage in meaningful negotiation and consultation,” Region 6 EC member Dave Green says.

Regional Controls campaign

Merging East Anglia's fire control rooms into a regional centre could put lives at risk with emergency calls being answered as far away as Cumbria, says the Union.

The FBU has revealed there could be as few as ten staff answering calls from a new centre - equivalent to just three people covering emergencies in the whole of Essex and Suffolk - a figure branded “dangerously low”.

Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire all have county emergency control rooms.

The East Anglia Daily Times has campaigned against plans to create regional fire authorities, branding the move “wrong and dangerous”.

Strike not ruled out

Graham Noakes, regional secretary for the FBU in East Anglia, said the changes meant strike action could not be ruled out.

“What the Government does not do is take into account that it is not uncommon for our control room staff to stay on the phone reassuring a person, giving them advice, and we have turned up on many instances where that member of the public is still talking to control,” he said.

“In such cases other calls will have to be diverted and then emergencies in Essex and Suffolk will be going right across the country, as far away as Cumbria.”

“Catastrophic” consequences

He warned of the “catastrophic” consequences should the national system go down for a length of time in a similar way to air traffic control failings in the past.

“Our fear is that lives will be at risk, this is not going to save lives but will increase the risks and the costing is all over the place - it could cost tax payers more money for a worse service,” he said.

Source: East Anglia Daily Times

For more on the Union’s Campaign Against the Regionalisation of Emergency Fire Controls, and news on the issue from around the UK, visit www.controlcare.org.uk.

Pay and Conditions Grey Book Database update

All of the local agreements sent to LRD are now available in full on the Pay and Conditions Grey Book Database. This includes the new duty systems agreed in Merseyside and Lancashire.

The password protected service should act as a powerful tool in improving conditions for members in the workplace, can be accessed via the homepage of the FBU website.

Brigade Secretaries are reminded to send copies of all existing agreements in electronic or paper format to LRD as soon as possible.

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