Bullying rife among firefighters

Report damns fire service culture

Staff members at Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) have been threatened with violence, and bullying within the organisation is widespread, a new report reveals.

The review, written by retired judge Coral Shaw and released yesterday, made 33 recommendations on how the organisation could better address bullying and harassment.

One staff member told the review that what they were experiencing was ‘‘almost insidious’’.

Another said: ‘‘I was told to shut the f... up. If we want something out of you, we’ll kick it out of you.’’

Another said they were threatened with violence: ‘‘He often threatened to smash and kill me.

‘‘He’d say, ‘Come down to the engine bay’, and what he would do too would be the old punishment drill.’’

There were also reports from those spoken to of racial discrimination, the report said.

‘‘I mean . . . general racism towards our clients, coming from the very highest level,’’ one said.

‘‘Even from the ‘chief’, who calls Chinese people ‘chinks’, ‘slants’, and calls Indian people ‘curries’.’’

Another reported they had seen team leaders openly make sexist, racist, homophobic, and transphobic comments with no repercussions.

The review was called for last year after the merging of almost 40 firefighting branches across New Zealand into one organisation in July 2017.

There was almost ‘‘unanimous acceptance’’ among those spoken to that FENZ needed to address its culture of bullying, but there was uncertainty about what constituted bullying or harassment, the report said.

While 45 per cent of people reported witnessing and/or experiencing bullying or harassment at the organisation, more than half did not report it.

That was commonly because of fear of repercussions or harming working relationships, or because they felt it would not make any difference.

FENZ chief executive Rhys Jones said the report was ‘‘wideranging and confronting’’.

He acknowledged it would be difficult to change ingrained behaviour among many staff members, but was confident those people wanted to change.

‘‘It’s a tough environment we go into, physically and mentally, and our training, therefore, has to be physically and mentally tough as well to cope with that,’’ he said.

‘‘Too many times, though, individuals have crossed over that line through inappropriate behaviour.’’

The first step would be outlining what inappropriate behaviour was, and how to deal with it, Jones said.

‘‘The core thing that came out of the report is our people know that they need to change, and they want to change. It is not going to be a choice – it is the direction that we’re heading in.’’

The report was a defining moment for the organisation, and one it wanted to seize, Jones said.

He thanked everyone who was brave enough to share their stories, and said the organisation was committed to making sure all of its 14,000 staff felt respected and included regardless of gender,

age, ethnicity, orientation, or beliefs.

The report’s recommendations included adopting a new set of values and code of behaviour, and ‘‘removing barriers to reporting bullying and harassment’’.

CultureSafe NZ director Allan Halse said he had dealt with many big bullying cases in the Fire Service, with one of them being probably ‘‘New Zealand’s worst bully’’.

‘‘We still get a couple of cases with them at a lower level.’’

CultureSafe was now working on two cases, one in the central North Island and one in the South Island. Both were cases of bullying against station volunteers.

‘‘Historic bullying has been bad, it’s caused a lot of harm and we had a client who attempted suicide. That’s been resolved.’’

The service had worked really hard to change the culture, he said.

‘‘There’s still historic cases that they’re trying to resolve, but in the nation, they’d be currently one of the most proactive employers that we’ve dealt with. ‘‘If you were to ask me 18 months ago I would have said they’re the worst employers . . . but now they’re one of the best.’’

Nationwide, bullying had significantly reduced in the past two years, he said.

It was important to recognise that FENZ was trying hard, and offering support.

In 2016, a Christchurch firefighter took sick leave and lodged a bullying complaint to senior Fire Service management over a bizarre prank.

He was called into a meeting with a senior officer, who claimed one of the firefighter’s boots had fallen off a truck, injuring a member of the public, and police had been informed.

Meanwhile, another colleague filmed him at the door then showed the video to other staff.

A source said the firefighter felt guilty and anxious until he found out it was a prank days later from another colleague.

In 2014, former Kaiapoi volunteer firefighter Brent Cairns went public saying his station had fought ‘‘offensive, intimidating and humiliating’’ behaviour by management for years.

Cairns is still in the process of suing the service, claiming he was unlawfully investigated five times in 20 months.

Yesterday, Cairns said the report had ‘‘finally’’ shed a light on the bullying culture.

FENZ needed a ‘‘broom to sweep the toxic culture and people out of the organisation’’.

A name change was not enough, he said.