Boss fuming over 'ludicrous' order

BY SAM MCKNIGHT

A Southland Fire Service boss is fuming about a union directive forcing all fire trucks to be parked outside because they have been labelled a health risk.

The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union said diesel fumes when the trucks left or returned to fire stations were a health and safety risk and until extractor systems were installed fire trucks throughout the country were to be kept outside.

Fire Service Southland area manager Brendan Nally slammed the decision as ludicrous and said it could put his staff at risk.

"There's more immediate and substantive risk for my guys running out to the trucks on an icy or wet morning."

Invercargill's three frontline trucks, one spare pump, a tanker and the service's new hazmat vehicle have not been allowed in the station garage since after Christmas.

Mr Nally said a national safety and wellbeing committee study found no evidence the service's personnel suffered poor health effects from diesel fume exposure.

"There's just no direct link."

The organisation was stuck because the Health and Safety Employment Act said all practical steps must be taken to limit any risks, he said.

The New Zealand Fire Service agreed to install the systems in May last year.

"It was always going to happen, but it takes time. I don't understand what the union is doing. They're putting their own firefighters at risk. It's crazy."

Because the vehicles were kept outside, $3000 had been spent to fit the Invercargill yard with power supplies to keep the radios charged, sump oil warm and everything needed for a fast response, he said.

"It's just embarrassing. We are spending public money on this."

There are about 15 stations throughout the country in the same situation.

New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union president Steve Warner said the union had asked the Fire Service seven years ago to fit extraction units to stations that did not have them. Fed up with the wait, the union issued a directive to leave trucks outside until the extraction fans were installed, for the welfare of its members, he said.

Prolonged exposure to diesel fumes could be dangerous, in some cases causing cancer, Mr Warner said.

Fire Service operations and training director Paul McGill said of the 77 stations with fulltime paid staff throughout the country, 15 were yet to be fitted with the systems. It was expected all work would be complete within six months, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News