Staff reported shocking cases of harassment and abuse at fire and rescue services across England, watchdog says

• Aparna Sreevalsan
• 31 March, 2023

 

NEW study report reveals that misogynistic and discrimination complaints have been reported by staff at a quarter of fire and rescue services in the past five years in England.

It also says that the fire service has made the least headway towards achieving diversity and has the least ethnically diverse workforce in the public sector.

All services were implicated in accusations of bullying, according to their report, and inspectors fear that this could be “the tip of the iceberg”. As a result, officials have asked for immediate action to clean up the service.

The findings include:

• A senior officer accused of calling a black colleague the N-word dismissing it as simply “having a laugh”.
• The senior officer in question then threatened “to make his life hell”.
• Two male firefighters mockingly told a female colleague they were “going to rape her”, before simulating it with her.
• Some staff being reluctant to speak up after being told it would be “career suicide” to do so and another expressed concern that their “card would be marked” if they reported offensive behaviour.
• A reported instance involved male firefighters using the restrooms intended for women, but female co-workers did not feel comfortable objecting to the behaviour.
• The report also emphasised that there was no requirement that employees submit to background checks and asked for modifications to the hiring process.

On Thursday, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Police and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) provided shocking examples of despicable behaviour. The efficacy and efficiency of police forces and fire and rescue services are independently evaluated and reported on by HMICFRS.
The inspectorate used data gathered from inspections conducted since 2018 to examine the values and cultures of all 44 fire and rescue services in England.

In its report, it claimed that 11 of these were the subject of accusations of racist, homophobic, and misogynistic behaviour, but it declined to identify the individuals in question because the claims were made in confidence and some of the incidents were continuing.

The fire service was compared to a “boys’ club” by those who spoke with inspectors, and they claimed they were afraid to disclose inappropriate behaviour for fear of retaliation.

It offers 35 suggestions, such as:

• appropriate background checks on all firefighters and staff.
• the introduction of new misconduct standards including a national list of barred personnel.
• better systems to help staff raise concerns.

Roy Wilsher, from the inspectorate, said: “Firefighters can be called upon to do an incredibly difficult job. They should be able to trust each other implicitly, just as the public need to be able to trust them.

“Unfortunately our findings show this is not always the case. Instead, we found trust and respect is too often replaced with derogatory, bullying behaviour, often excused as banter.”

He told the firefighters that it was “time for this behaviour to stop,” but he claimed that he had thought such actions belonged to “the dim and distant past.”

“The majority of fire and rescue staff act with integrity and we are in no doubt of their dedication to the public,” said Wilsher.

Trade minister Kemi Badanoch has vowed to root out discrimination from England (& Wales) Fire & Rescurle Services following damning findings in a new report published yesterday.
Badenoch was responding to questions from journalists in the usual round of morning interviews (31).

She told she was “someone who tries to educate people what institutional racism actually means.”

“There is a very specific definition, it doesn’t mean what people think it means,” the Minister said it was “about the way institutions deal with issues around discrimination and prejudices.”

Branding the report “very disappointing”, Badenoch said: “all incidents of prejudice and discrimination” needs to be “rooted out.”

A little more than a week after Scotland Yard was accused of institutional racism, misogyny, and homophobia in an equally damning report that revealed the lowest level of public confidence in the force, the report shifts the focus to the fire service.

Additionally, it comes after the London Fire Brigade (LFB) was put under special supervision in December after a different investigation exposed instances of misogyny, racism, and bullying. The mother of a young fireman who committed suicide after becoming increasingly upset about racism and bullying at his Wembley station applauded that decision.