Fenz staff under fire

NINE Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) staff in the South have been sacked or resigned in the past four years, following upheld allegations of bullying, harassment, inappropriate behaviour or poor performance.

They were among 35 Fenz personnel in OtagoSouthland investigated for allegations of misconduct since 2014.

Information released under the Official Information Act shows most of the staff (30) were volunteers, while five were paid professionals.

Twentysix of the allegations were upheld, seven were found to be unsubstantiated and two are ongoing.

Fenz would not disclose which stations the sanctioned staff were based at or provide further details

on the breakdown of paid staff and volunteers for each type of misconduct, citing privacy concerns.

The most common type of misconduct investigated in recent years was ‘‘inappropriate behaviour’’ — 18 such incidents were recorded and 15 substantiated.

The substantiated allegations led

to two dismissals, two resignations, four final warnings, one written warning, one verbal warning and five staff being retrained.

A Fenz spokeswoman said inappropriate behaviour was defined as any breach of its standard of conduct.

‘‘This ranges from inappropriate comments to conflict between brigade members.’’

Five incidents led to harassment or sexual harassment investigations, two of which were substantiated, leading to both staff resigning.

Three allegations of bullying were substantiated, resulting in one dismissal, one final warning and one resignation.

An assault earned one Fenz staff member a criminal conviction, and another assault led to a diversion.

The sole ‘‘health and safety’’ misconduct incident led to the staff member involved being demoted.

All three allegations of poor performance were substantiated, resulting in one dismissal and two demotions.

The percentage of upheld complaints as a proportion of staff in region 5 (Otago and Southland) was 1.67%, out of 159 paid employees and 1400 volunteers in the region.

Fenz people and capability director Brendan Nally, of Wellington, said the organisation had a ‘‘zero tolerance’’ policy towards bullying and harassment.

‘‘However, as with any large organisation, there is the occasional instance where individuals don’t behave according to the high standards of conduct that we all expect in the workplace.’’

Fenz was formally established last year following the amalgamation of the Fire Service, the rural fire authority and dozens of rural fire districts and territorial authorities.

Earlier this year, it commissioned an independent review, led by retired judge Coral Shaw, of workplace policies to address bullying and harassment.