The London Assembly fire committee released its report - Exposure to fire contaminants in London: A hidden, growing risk? – today.
It makes a series of recommendations recognizing the need for urgent action on firefighters’ exposure to toxic fire contaminants.
Controversially, the report also recommends “positive lifestyle changes, including smoking cessation, physical fitness, diet, sleep hygiene, and alcohol awareness”.
Steve Wright, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said:
Firefighters are dying younger and living with life-altering cancers and chronic illness. These are preventable occupational deaths, and this is a national scandal.
The UK is decades behind other countries on this issue, and this report underlines the urgent need for basic, long-overdue measures: stronger prevention measures, regular health monitoring for all firefighters, and re-evaluation of compensation for firefighters’ occupational diseases.
However, firefighters will rightly find the references to ‘lifestyle’ offensive. Firefighters are not getting sick because of personal choices – they are getting sick because they are being systematically exposed to toxic substances in the course of their work.
When so many other countries and international bodies are doing the right thing and recognising the risks firefighters face, it is time for our own government to stop ignoring the evidence and act.”
Anna Stec, Professor of Fire Chemistry and Toxicity at the University of Lancashire, said:
While the report makes positive recommendations on the need for a UK-wide rollout of harmonised contamination exposure tracking and health monitoring for firefighters, the argument that firefighter cancers and diseases could be reduced through lifestyle changes is fallacious.
Lifestyle factors influence health outcomes in any population, but they do not explain the elevated rates of cancer and disease seen in firefighters. Why should firefighters be expected to adopt such changes in order to compensate for the toxic environments they are routinely exposed to at work?”
