“It’s time to turn up the heat at both an Irish and European level and give firefighters the protection, working conditions and compensation they deserve,” the message delivered by Midlands-North-West MEP, Maria Walsh, when she met with her colleagues on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL ) in the European Parliament this week.
Retained firefighters have announced that they will resume strike action this week, having voted to reject a Labour Court recommendation aimed at resolving a dispute over pay and conditions.
“There is no doubt that firefighters play an indispensable role in protecting lives, the environment and infrastructure. This particular should never have been allowed to get this far and we need to return to the table to reach a more favourable conclusion for all sides,” MEP Walsh said.
In Ireland and across the continent, firefighters operate under extremely difficult working conditions and are exposed daily to highly carcinogenic combustible and chemical substances and intensely stressful situations. Of course, this has serious impacts on their physical/mental health and safety and of their families, with firefighters having up to 300% higher chance of getting cancer than the general population. European and national OSH legislation aims to protect workers regularly exposed to carcinogenic substances but is not suitable to protect workers facing ad hoc high levels of exposure.
“The EMPL Group met this week to discuss the issues and challenges facing this community and following on from this, we will bring a number of questions to the Commission. It is vital that we ensure the protection of firefighters in Ireland and across the EU, and first, we want to know how will the Commission – jointly with Member States and social partners – ensure the protection of firefighters and their working conditions, including compensation for overtime? Moreover, we want to know will the Commission take further action following WHO’s recognition of firefighting as a carcinogenic occupation,” MEP Walsh explained.
In addition, the group is calling on the Commission to consider, following a consultation with the social partners, putting forward an EU proposal on minimum standards for firefighters’ gear and PPE, as well as training, awareness-raising and operating procedures around such things as medical surveillance and decontamination.
Continuing, MEP Walsh said the EMPL Group is asking the Commission to consider more investments in new research and technology in the sector and querying how the Commission plans to ensure victims’ protection from secondary exposure.
Addressing the situation in Ireland, the Fine Gael MEP said the safety of all must be considered.
“We need to protect both the firefighters and the public, and it is far from ideal to see plans for strike action to resume this week. There has been an overwhelming rejection of the proposals by firefighters, and we must reach agreement to ensure no lives are put at risk,” she concluded.
