Fire service facing mental health epidemic - union

A fire service signed off 85 employees over the past year as it tackled what a union branded a "mental health epidemic" among staff, new data revealed.

Figures obtained by the BBC showed the staff at Essex County Fire & Rescue Service (ECFRS) took time off due to stress, depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Crews were being "asked to do more with less" and this led to "transient and unstable" working lives, the Fire Brigades Union said.

An ECFRS spokeswoman said increased staff sickness was partly due to an improved culture on reporting mental health issues.

A Freedom of Information request found of the 85 people signed off in the year to September 2024, nine had subsequently left the service.

ECFRS also released figures for the year to September 2019, when it signed off 82 employees and saw 51 of them resign or retire.

The figures showed 92 firefighters were absent due to stress across both years.

Riccardo la Torre, a national officer at the Fire Brigades Union, said there was a "postcode lottery" on fire cover due to a lack of investment.

"There is a mental health epidemic across the fire and rescue service, and Essex is no exception," he said.

"Every year, firefighters are asked to do more with less. They’re being mobilised to incidents over longer distances, with less equipment and fewer people.

"They regularly arrive too late or with inadequate resources."

In May, the BBC revealed ECFRS spent £350,000 plugging staffing shortages thousands of times in 2023.

Crews were asked to travel across the county to cover their colleagues, making journeys such as Waltham Abbey to Braintree and Hawkwell, near Southend-on-Sea, to Witham.

Mr la Torre added: "On a personal level, it makes people's working lives even more transient and unstable than they otherwise would be – exacerbating a situation already made difficult by the cuts.

"No amount of counselling can address the root causes of this crisis, we need to remove the hazard."

ECFRS previously told the BBC its resources were flexibly deployed to ensure the best protection for the public.

In March, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) told ECFRS it must do more to improve the values and culture it promoted.

The report said the average number of days not worked per firefighter due to short-term sickness increased by 26% in the year to 31 March 2023.

The ECFRS spokeswoman said it took the mental health of employees "very seriously".

"We are committed to fostering a culture of acceptance where our staff feel safe to speak about their mental health without stigma," she said.

"The increase in the number of staff signed off due to mental health issues reflects a growing recognition of the importance of mental wellbeing in the workplace, particularly in high pressure roles."

She added "significant strides" had been made in promoting mental health awareness, including access to counselling services and providing mental health first aiders.

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