Advertisement

75% Of Fire Brigades Struggled To Access PPE At Height Of Covid Crisis, Union Says

More than three quarters of the UK’s fire services struggled to access personal protective equipment (PPE) at the start of the Covid-19 crisis, and had no guidance on how to manage the shortage.

In a new report seen exclusively by HuffPost UK, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said that firefighters on the frontlines – delivering PPE, food and medicine, and transporting bodies to mortuaries – faced severe shortages of safety and hygiene supplies at the height of the pandemic.

With the UK now firmly into a second wave of the virus, the FBU is calling for increased testing for staff. The government announced in April firefighters could be tested – but only those showing symptoms. The FBU, which estimates testing rates of below 5% of workers, wants weekly testing for all firefighters.

The report states that despite lessons learnt during the swine flu epidemic and the global release of additional health advice, the government’s guidance for fire services in the case of a pandemic has not been updated since 2008.

“Pandemic Flu: Guidance for the Fire and Rescue Service”, created by what was then the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency more than a decade ago, does not even address what firefighters should do in the case of a shortage of PPE during a pandemic.

By late March, the FBU said, more than three quarters of fire and rescue services reported PPE supply chain issues – with masks, hand sanitiser, wipes, cloths and coveralls all in short supply.

The lack of equipment and supplies extended into April, with members of the union across the country reporting problems with accessing essential cleaning products for specialist breathing equipment, as well as other basic PPE.

Some services also reported that European lockdowns meant staff could not access spare parts and tools to maintain firefighting equipment, while other teams said they had difficulties with computer systems and hardware during the peak of the crisis.

FBU general...

Continue reading on HuffPost