The Fire Brigades Union has won unanimous backing from the TUC for the firefighters' concordat on health and wellbeing, in a step forward for the union's DECON campaign.
Congress welcomed the government's announcement of the concordat, and applauded the union's long-running campaign highlighting the risks firefighters face from contaminants released by fire.
The motion also said new government funding for research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and a commitment to increase health monitoring for firefighter was welcome.
The World Health Organization's cancer agency, IARC, classified occupational exposure as a firefighter as carcinogenic in 2022.
The FBU commissioned research from the University of Lancashire into firefighter cancers, diseases and mental health.
Steve Wright, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said:
"For decades, firefighters have been exposed to toxic contaminants with no routine health monitoring and no proper recognition of the risks they face.
"Our DECON campaign exists to say cancer and other chronic diseases are not simply part of the job.
"Firefighting is classified as carcinogenic and changes need to be made.
"Ultimately we want to see legislation brought forward creating the presumption that specific cancers contracted by firefighters are occupational and caused by their work."
