1. A brochure on health and safety in the firefighting sector : aims and structure Working Conditions and Health and Safety Issues for Firefighters Vienna, 10-11-12 June 2010 Fabienne SCANDELLA ETUI – Health & Safety Department

2. Fabienne Scandella © etui 20102 Introduction In recent years, the Health and Safety Department of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has launched a collection of brochures on health and safety that offers an overview of current knowledge on a given subject in an easy-to-understand language and from the trade union point of view. We have published brochures on: ● Occupational cancers ● REACH regulation (Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) ● The EU policy on health and safety at work and its players ●…●… These brochures have proved to be useful tools for trade unions for both training and awareness campaigns.

3. Fabienne Scandella © etui 20103 A new project: the focus on health and safety in specific sectors 1. A new project: the focus on health and safety in specific sectors ● The HESA Department has now decided to take its publication project further through the publication of summing-up brochures on working conditions and their impact on health and safety in given sectors, sub-sectors or occupations. ● The EPSU has been the first federation to answer positively to this project and accordingly, it has been decided that the first of these sectoral brochure is going to be devoted to the firefighting sector. Although the firefighters’ activities are undoubtedly at risk in terms of both health and safety, little material has been dedicated to this issue, in particular at the European level. And the brochure we are now working on is aimed to fill that void.

4. Fabienne Scandella © etui 20104 Structure of the brochure 1) Presentation of the firefighting sector, i.e.: ● Scope of the job ● Structure of the sector in national contexts ●…●…●…●… 2) Characteristics of working conditions and employment conditions, i.e.: ● Stability of employment relationships ● Working time (shift patterns, activity between shifts) ● Differences between voluntary and professional firefighters ● Reliability of the equipments ●…●…●…●…

5. Fabienne Scandella © etui 20105 Structure of the brochure (2) 3) Impact on health and safety, i.e.: ● Training on specific health and safety issues ● Medical checks ● Occupational illnesses ● Psychosocial support ● Issues related to the equipments ●…●…●…●…

6. Fabienne Scandella © etui 20106 Structure of the brochure (3) 4) Trade union strategies: recommendations for future action ● Stocktaking exercise to assess the implementation of the national legislation: existing divergences? Room for improvement? ● Do firefighters need a guide for better assessing risks in the sector? ● Do Firefighters need to establish a “communication platform” for better sharing (and solving) Health and Safety problems? ● Involvement of trade unions in the standardisation process (cf. Stefano Boy’s presentation, on the 23 September 2009) ●…●…●…●…