Nearly a quarter of firefighters ‘feel bullied or harassed’
FIRE SERVICES in England are suffering from a “toxic” culture with some firefighters not treating colleagues with “enough humanity” a watchdog chief has warned.
Cases of “active bullying and harassment” were uncovered by inspectors at some services, while some staff were described as finding the poor treatment of others as “amusing”. The findings are part of the first annual assessment of the country’s fire and rescue services by Sir Thomas Winsor, chief inspector of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
He highlighted a staff survey that found nearly a quarter reported feeling bullied or harassed at work in the past 12 months, with the number rising as high as 46 per cent at one service.
Sir Thomas said inspectors had heard allegations of unlawful discrimination and that some services lacked defined values for people to follow and use to challenge unacceptable behaviour.
“The fire sector refers to itself as humanitarian, yet firefighters in some services don’t treat their colleagues with enough humanity,” he wrote in his report.
Sir Thomas also argued that services were “not doing enough to make sure buildings are safe for the public”.
The report, based on inspections carried out between June 2018 and August 2019, assessed all 45 services in England in the three key areas of efficiency, effectiveness and how well they look after their people.
Overall, just 16 services were rated “good” for all three pillars of assessment including South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service was rated “good” for effectiveness and efficiency, but “requires improvement” for how well it looks after its people.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was ranked as “good” for effectiveness, but “requires improvement” for efficiency and how it looks after its workforce.
Surrey was the only service to be rated “inadequate” in terms of its overall efficiency.