THE Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFESB) needs to take big steps to improve how it deals with workers taking unplanned leave, according to a new report.
The Victorian Auditor-General Management of Unplanned Leave in Emergency Services report, tabled in State Parliament last week, found staff of MFESB, Ambulance Victoria (AV) and Victoria Police (VicPol) take more unplanned leave than other public sector staff as they are more likely to suffer injuries and emotional stress.
On average, just under 12 shifts per firefighter were lost to unplanned leave in 2011-12 — the highest of the emergency services and a steady increase since 2000.
MFESB is taking steps to address the issue such as improving firefighters’ health awareness. Three in five firefighters are aged over 45.
Acting auditor-general Dr Peter Frost said the MFESB had the poorest unplanned leave performance and needed to improve considerably. “MFESB’s management has been aware of the causes of personal unplanned leave since 2000, but it has not adequately addressed them,” he found.
But Brimbank leading district firefighter Steve Warnock said the report did not accurately reflect the pressures and psychological stress firefighters were under.
He said firefighters were more frequently being asked to attend incidents where people were affected by drugs, suicides, murder scenes and traumatic car accidents where they had to cut the victims from their vehicles while relatives and friends looked on.
“It’s extremely traumatic for the firefighters, especially when they are first on the scene to an incident like that,” he said.
United Firefighters Union of Australia secretary Peter Marshall criticised the report as “flawed and politically motivated in timing”, designed to be used as a basis for reducing their conditions of employment ahead of EBA negotiations.
He said Dr Frost declined an invitation to spend a shift with firefighters. “How can Dr Frost possibly present a balanced and fair report if he hasn’t even taken time to speak with the workers at the heart of his investigations?” he said. “To demonise firefighters when they don’t get the help they need is a disgrace.”
MFB acting CEO Russell Eddington said the authority had welcomed and accepted all recommendations in the report.
