The decision to move forward with cuts to fire crews at nuclear bases – together with the lack of promised new fire vehicles and updated equipment – has been attacked as ‘an accident waiting to happen’.
Private firm Capita won the contract in 2020 for fire response services at Faslane and Coulport from the Ministry of Defence and plans to the specialist fire safety crew by eight positions, representing 15%.
Trade union Unite says that Capita intends to ‘seek local authority support from nearby fire stations in an effort to back fill’ the roles, while incidents involving breathing apparatus on the naval bases would be particularly affected.
Unite industrial officer Debbie Hatchings said: “Capita’s cuts are an accident waiting to happen, make no mistake about that, and it is not scaremongering on our part.
“This private company is effectively jeopardising the safety response capabilities at the Clyde’s nuclear naval bases as part of a cost saving exercise.
“We really have to ask ourselves whether this country is content to leave the nation’s fire response capabilities to a company hell bent on saving money through cuts which compromises safety.
“This is not about the initial attack team dealing with small fires, as Capita are claiming, but the overall safety on the Clyde not only for the workers but local communities.
“Unite’s members on the Clyde have voiced their despair over the job cuts through a consultative ballot and we now intend to move forward with an industrial action ballot in order to bring Capita back to its senses, which it seems to have completely lost.”
Unite says that Capita promised to provide new vehicles to mitigate the job cuts, but not details of these have been supplied.
They also warn that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s current policies mean staff called to incidents involving radiation or in board submarines would be unable to deliver the same firefighting and services currently provided by specialists on site.
A statement today added: “Onsite fire crews sign up to accept emergency exposures and are fully trained to carry out interventions to save life, and to prevent catastrophic conditions at incidents involving radiation.
“However, this is not the case for SFRS staff who are not trained to the same levels as the Clyde naval bases onsite crews.”
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