Riccardo la Torre outlines the latest with breathing apparatus policy, and how the Health and Safety Executive is letting firefighters down
Firefighters face one of the biggest threats to health and safety in decades.
Under proposals from the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), now imposed by some local CFOs, firefighters could be instructed to proceed beyond the point of safety at a high-rise building fire without their breathing apparatus or going under air.
We are still battling this life-threatening policy in the face of negligence and inaction.
The supposedly independent safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has utterly failed in its role to protect firefighters.
Its latest report, published in November, is a mess and sides with management; we reject it utterly.
A number of large brigades – namely London, the West Midlands and Manchester – have previously said that they will not implement the NFCC’s proposed breathing apparatus policy. But firefighters all over the UK should now be prepared for a brigade-by-brigade battle over breathing apparatus procedures.
The new policy is being used as a cheap sticking plaster to address failings of regulation and enforcement that have led to the building safety crisis. But firefighters refuse to be treated like cannon fodder.
The FBU’s advice on this policy has remained consistent, and is still unchanged: as a professional firefighter and BA wearer you should not put yourself in a position of danger above the bridgehead with non-activated breathing apparatus.
THE HISTORY
In 2020, the NFCC issued a dangerous new policy which would permit employers to send firefighters beyond the bridgehead without breathing apparatus or under air at a high-rise fire. Under this policy, firefighters in distress would be left out of reach of rescue. In the long term, exposure to carcinogenic toxic fire contaminants increases risk of cancers, heart disease and stroke.
This is a deadly threat to firefighter and public safety. Dead or injured firefighters cannot save anyone.
Modern breathing apparatus was hard won following the deaths of two firefighters at the 1958 Smithfield fire.
Ever since, FBU health and safety reps have worked tirelessly to ensure that BA procedures develop and improve to save lives. BA has proven to be a matter of life and death.
The FBU has no confidence in the HSE’s investigation. It is an insult to the firefighting profession
The Grenfell Tower fire and cladding scandal tragically exposed a crisis in building safety, caused by the prioritisation of profit over safety and human life. Removing BA will not make living and working in high rise buildings safer.
We need to solve this situation with regulation and enforcement, not by sacrificing the health, safety and lives of firefighters.
HSE FAILINGS
This latest attack is an unlawful attempt to roll back these rights, and the union immediately launched into action.
We began legal proceedings, and prepared to defeat the policy on the ground.
In February 2022, a judge ruled that the policy was a matter for the Health and Safety Executive, and not yet the courts.
So in May 2022 the FBU submitted a detailed complaint to the regulator. The HSE failed to act on this complaint for more than a year, a fact for which it later apologised.
Seventeen months later, the HSE concluded its investigation. In a flawed and contradictory letter published in November this year, it has shamefully sided with the NFCC policy.
The regulator has completely misunderstood the safe donning practice and how firefighters are trained to follow it. It goes as far as suggesting that it is acceptable to lower the safety of firefighters and expose firefighters to contaminants for “brief” periods.
This is scandalous.
Firefighters were cut out of the HSE’s investigation at every stage, while the opinion of fire service employers was taken as fact. The investigation relied on assumptions and assertions rather than competent assessment and field testing.
The FBU has no confidence in the HSE’s investigation or its outcome. It is an insult to the firefighting profession, and has undermined the status of the HSE as an independent regulator.
This dangerous decision must be withdrawn and reviewed with urgency.
WHAT IS AT STAKE
Removing BA tears up half a century of health and safety law, best practice guidance, manufacturers’ instructions and firefighter training.
Employers are seeking to cut corners, even if it means putting lives in danger.
And now, the Health and Safety Executive is failing firefighters.
Firefighters keep each other safe in the face of danger – it’s a key part of our job. Now, we must ensure that no firefighter has their breathing apparatus taken away when they need it most.
The FBU will lead that fight, but it’s down to firefighters everywhere to take it on.
■ See FBU circular at: bit.ly/FBU-BA-HSE
