FIRE and rescue personnel must receive priority coronavirus testing – or risk losing the emergency service, union leaders claim.
According to the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), there are 285 Scottish Fire and Rescue Service staff in isolation –3.75% of the workforce and higher than in Lonon.
Hundreds more are off in the West Midlands and more, it is claimed.
Now the FBU has written to the Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and UK governments calling for priority testing to keep the frontline service running.
It says the change could stop members “self-isolating unnecessarily, when they could be on hand to protect the public”, help reduce the risk of frontline staff transmitting the infection to vulnerable members of the public, and avoid “dangerous shortages” of personnel.
FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “In this time of national crisis, every emergency service worker has an important role to play. The NHS is an obvious priority, but any testing regime needs to address all key public services.
“Without proper testing, the number of fire and rescue personnel available could drop to dangerously low levels. Fires and other non-virus related emergency incidents won’t wait for this crisis to subside and ministers need to consider that carefully.
“It is vital for public safety that firefighters and control staff, like their colleagues in the NHS, receive priority testing and, once available, vaccination.
“We’re pushing for measures to limit our members’ exposure to the virus, but some interaction with the public cannot be avoided and ministers need to manage that risk.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here