Health monitoring for firefighters needs to be urgently introduced in the ACT to keep tabs on the effects of exposure to PFAS, a toxic chemical formerly used in firefighting foam, the firies' union has said.
The ACT United Firefighters Union said the ACT government had fallen behind in introducing the monitoring, which it had agreed as part of the negotiations for a 2020 enterprise bargaining agreement.
The union's secretary, Greg McConville, said a recent study which found firefighters who donated blood and plasma could reduce the concentration of PFAS in their blood, along with a Canadian decision to include seven cancer types linked to PFAS in insurance coverage for firefighters, showed health checks were needed urgently.
"Unfortunately, here in the ACT, we have no information or data on the levels of PFAS in ACT firefighter's blood, because the ACT Emergency Services Agency has dragged its feet on introducing health screening for our firefighters, despite it being agreed to in our 2020 enterprise bargaining agreement," Mr McConville said.
Mr McConville said the addition of seven cancers to workplace injury insurance for some Canadian firefighters should serve as a major wake-up call for the ACT Emergency Services Agency.
"To protect firefighters in Canada, authorities have added seven cancers to the workplace injury insurance coverage for firefighters, including many which impact women," he said.
"The cancers added include thyroid, pancreatic, skin, cervical, ovarian, penile and lung.
"While governments overseas are going to great lengths to protect their firefighters from cancer, the ACT government here can't even organise basic health screening to protect ours."
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, have been linked to chronic diseases and were widely used in firefighting foams. The foams have not been used in the ACT since 2004.
A spokesman for the Emergency Services Agency said the agency expected to complete further consultation with the United Firefighters Union and the proposed implementation timetable for health screenings had been in draft since September 8, 2021.
"The ACT Emergency Services Agency has a workplace consultation committee developing an implementation timetable," the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the agency had delivered several health and wellbeing programs to boost the overall performance of ACT Fire & Rescue.
"These include station gyms refurbishment, platoon fitness leaders, comprehensive peer support and access to nutritional and mental health and wellbeing," he said.
A world-first trial using Victorian firefighters found a way to reduce blood levels of PFAS, results published earlier this month showed.
The clinical trial, undertaken by Macquarie University and Fire Rescue Victoria, found that regular blood or plasma donations can reduce PFAS levels in blood. It is the first time an intervention has been found to reduce PFAS levels.
The lead author of the study, Dr Robin Gasiorowski, a senior lecturer in haematology at Macquarie Medical School, said blood and plasma donation could be simple interventions for people with elevated PFAS levels.
"The results from the study show both regular blood or plasma donations resulted in a significant reduction in blood PFAS levels, compared to the control group," Dr Gasiorowski said of the study published in JAMA Network Open.
"While both interventions are effective at reducing PFAS levels, plasma donations were more effective and corresponded to a 30 per cent decrease."
with AAP
