Leaked documents obtained by the Citizen show the government will dismantle the national Fire Protection Program by March 31, 2014.
Members of the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) program are responsible for ensuring federal office towers and major buildings in aboriginal communities meet National Fire Code standards.
They conduct inspections of existing buildings and review design plans for new ones. They’re also responsible for reviewing fire safety plans, which are supposed to be in place for every federal office building in the country.
After March 2014, the federal government says, it will rely on private firms to do the same work.
That decision, cast as part of the government’s deficit reduction strategy, means 55 fire protection engineers and inspectors will lose their jobs across Canada, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
“I think it’s going to be a disaster,” said Doug Marshall, president of the Union of National Employees, which represents some of the affected workers.
“It doesn’t make sense when we have an auditor general’s report saying that more of this kind of work needs to be done. And now the government is doing the exact opposite.”
The federal government employs about 278,000 people who work in 1,400 office buildings across the country.
HRSDC is responsible for enforcing a fire safety policy in all of those buildings.
Members of HRSDC’s fire protection program were informed they would be losing their jobs via a teleconference on June 27.
In a presentation to assistant deputy ministers the next day — documents from that meeting were obtained by the Citizen — bureaucrats were told that individual departments will eventually assume responsibility for ensuring their buildings meet fire safety standards.
A working group was established to support that transition, which is to be completed by the spring of 2014.
As part of its messaging on the issue, the government will stress that it remains committed to providing the same level of fire prevention services, and that the decision to terminate the fire program will only change the way those services are delivered:
“Fire protection services provided by the FPP are available from private sector providers who will be well-positioned to provide effective and efficient services for taxpayers.”
In 2009, the Auditor General of Canada reported on the state of health and safety in federal office towers.
Auditors found that few government buildings were prepared for emergencies. Only one-third of the 54 buildings studied held a fire drill in the previous year and less than half of them had a fire safety plan in place.
The audit concluded that the government had “not effectively managed” the risks related to the health and safety of its workers.
Members of the Fire Protection Program say their service has been chronically understaffed since taking over the job of inspecting schools, daycares and other key buildings on reserves in 1992.
Doug Marshall said privatizing federal fire inspections will only make matters worse — and is unlikely to save the government any money.
“How many contracts are they going to have because there are aboriginal reserves and government offices all across Canada? And how is that work going to be controlled?” he asked.
The government did not consult with his union before deciding to shutter the fire prevention program, Marshall said.
Jack Almond, a retired fire inspector who worked for the federal government for 16 years, said he doesn’t think private inspectors will be able to hold departments to account for safety failings.
Government inspectors, he said, were able to work within the bureaucracy to bring pressure to bear, but private inspectors will not have that power.
“I really can’t rationalize how they could do that with private inspectors,” said Almond, who retired from his post in Edmonton four years ago.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Andrew Duffy
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