Emergency services / Three fire stations are breaching health and safety law, HSE says
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has been ordered to improve facilities at its Bressay, Walls and Hillswick stations
THE HEALTH and Safety Executive (HSE) has taken action against the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) for failing to provide sufficient welfare arrangements at three fire stations in Shetland.
An improvement notice has been lodged against the SFRS relating to the stations in Bressay, Walls and Hillswick.
The HSE said the SFRS has failed to provide adequate facilities at these stations in “that there are no fixed toilets, rest facilities, showers or changing areas at any of the facilities”.
The HSE also said there is no running water at the Walls station and no portaloo at the one in Hillswick.
“These arrangements are insufficient for any workplace but cause particular difficulties in the event of having to decontaminate after a response to a fire,” the HSE said in a letter to the fire service.
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said in response: “We are aware of the Health and Safety Executive notices which have been made in relation to community fire stations at Bressay, Hillswick and Walls in Shetland.
“We continue to work through an action plan with stakeholders and partners across Shetland to address these concerns.”
The lack of facilities at the three stations has regularly been raised by chairman of Shetland’s community safety and resilience board councillor Allison Duncan.
Representatives of the Fire Brigade Union made a visit to local stations last year, with one saying that Bressay was the “worst station” they had seen in 20 years.
In a letter to the SFRS dated 10 February, HM inspector of health and safety Graham McEvoy said he had identified contraventions of health and safety law at the three stations.
The letter lists a range of actions the fire service could take to remedy the situation, including providing sanitary, wash and changing facilities.
The HSE said these could potentially be located within a “shipping container style welfare cabin”.
There was also a suggestion that the fire service could design and implement a “hub and satellite model”.
This would be where crew members spend most of their operational time at a “central hub” that is served with full facilities.
This would then also see fire fighters return to these hub facilities after a fire to allow for appropriate decontamination.
The SFRS has until mid-August to respond to the HSE to confirm revised arrangements.
The issue of a lack of shower facilities at Shetland’s fire stations has reared its head at a time when research into the illnesses being contracted by firefighters across the country is making for uncomfortable reading.
Firefighters are 1.6 times more likely to die of cancer than the general public, the University of Central Lancashire found in 2023.
And it found firefighters were also developing cancer at much higher rates at younger ages than average.
In recent community safety and resilience board meetings the fire officials have spoken of funding difficulties across the entire service.
Last year the SFRS went out to consultation on its Shaping Our Future Service scheme, which will that decide the future of the fire brigade in Scotland.
Local fire chief Matt Mason previously admitted that “nothing is off the table”.
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