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Fire service praised for response to damning report

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 25 Jan 2019, 8:01AM
An independent review into the state of New Zealand's Fire and Emergency services found "insidious" instances of racism, sexism and severe threats of violence are examples of the bullying culture that needs to change. 

Fire service praised for response to damning report

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 25 Jan 2019, 8:01AM

Fire and Emergency NZ has been praised for owning up to the organisations problems with bullying and harassment. 

An independent review into the state of New Zealand's Fire and Emergency services found "insidious" instances of racism, sexism and severe threats of violence are examples of the bullying culture that needs to change. 

Staff told report writers that bullying and harassment often came from "the very highest level" of the service, including from fire chiefs who called people "chinks", "slants", and "curries".

Culture Safe director, Allan Halse, told Mike Hosking it's important the organisation takes ownership to repair the culture, that used to be horrendously bad. 

"In this particular case and from our anecdotal experience, it is true."

"There has been a culture of fear within the old New Zealand Fire Service and that's kind of carried through to Fire and Emergency New Zealand, where people who have been bullied and sexually harassed, have been predominately been afraid to speak up because when they have there's been retaliation."

"So the culture has been buried really by fear."

A voluntary confidential survey was completed both online and in hard copy by 1487 participants, some of which were also personally interviewed.

He said even though the number of participants was small, the results are accurate.

""This review...has been very good because people have participated and even though the number participating is not large, it was, I believe, representative from our experience. And we've dealt with some pretty bad cases within that organisation."

Halse said sometimes people who are constantly labelled as "heroes" can start to think they are untouchable, which can lead to bullying and harassment.

"The problem is...because they are deemed to be heroes they are untouchable."

"One of the worst bullies we have worked with was somebody that at one stage of his career was a hero, and that went to his head. He got power crazy and he treated people with absolute disdain, swore at them, just completely acted like a bully and he was."

"That has historically been because of the local fire chiefs...they have just been power crazy and sure they do good stuff but they become totally immune."

He said up until 2017, the local fire chiefs had total control over themselves.

The review found many staff experienced serious psychological impacts such as stress, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts and intentions.

Almost half of the respondents (45 per cent) reported witnessing or experiencing bullying or harassment, and 69 per cent of it was likely to be perpetrated by a colleague senior to the target.

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