Our brave emergency service personnel selflessly work to keep Tasmanians safe, but it’s crucial the government ensures these employees and volunteers are kept safe too.
Alarmingly, the government continues to oversee a pattern of work health and safety breaches and refuses to guarantee crucial safety equipment is replaced.
The Greens understand that in the past three years the Tasmanian Fire Service and the Department of Police Fire and Emergency Management have been issued with at least 30 statutory notices for various WHS breaches. This is a concerning pattern, and our emergency service personnel deserve much better.
We’re really concerned by reports about many vehicles in the emergency fleet not being fit for purpose, mould growing in breathing equipment, and cases of firefighters responding to hazardous material incidents without the training or equipment they need. These issues require urgent fixes.
During the pandemic it is understood that WorkSafe Tasmania became aware that most government departments do not have the capability to complete a basic risk assessment, the bare minimum safety procedure.
Despite the seriousness of WHS concerns, the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management failed to guarantee our emergency services will be funded to have the personnel, conditions and equipment they need to do their work safely. That’s not good enough.
It’s the Liberal Government and Minister Felix Ellis’ responsibility to keep our emergency service employees and volunteers safe while they look out for Tasmanians. They must make the safety of emergency services staff and volunteers a priority and step up to ensure basic WHS protocols are being met.
