Department of Defence looking for contractor to fix fire safety problems ahead of release of audit

The Defence Department has failed to deal with problems affecting its fire protection systems in facilities across the country and is now scrambling to hire a company to handle the issue before an auditor general’s report on its poor performance becomes public, according to a leaked DND email.

DND is worried the auditor’s findings will cause embarrassment since the department has known about the problems with fire protection equipment and systems for the last three years, according to the document.

But a union representing DND employees says the department’s failure to properly maintain fire safety equipment is putting workers at risk.

The email sent to Chief of the Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk and Deputy Minister Robert Fonberg calls for immediate action since the “audit findings regarding fire protection breaches present a severe reputational risk for DND/CF in this core health and safety area of management responsibility.”

The email was sent by J. Scott Stevenson, DND’s assistant deputy minister for infrastructure and environment, after the department received a May 14 letter from the office of Auditor General Michael Ferguson about the upcoming audit.

Stevenson’s message has prompted the department’s largest union to raise concerns about the safety of those working in DND and Canadian Forces offices and installations.

“We’ve raised the issue about the safety of employees but we haven’t got many answers back on that,” said John MacLennan, president of the Union of National Defence Employees. “We’re trying to find out what bases’ employees are at risk.”

Stevenson’s email stated that a “get well program for testing and maintenance of fire and life-safety systems” would be put in place.

Last month Defence Construction Canada issued an information request to private contractors, asking for details about fire protection system inspection, testing and maintenance. Such a move is usually the first step in putting in place a contract to perform the work.

In his email, Stevenson told Natynczyk and Fonberg that a contract will be in place by the fall, shortly before the auditor general releases his report, and that all fire protection systems will have to be inspected “to identify the scope of repairs needed to reach compliance” with fire and safety codes.

The move is “designed to demonstrate the DND/CF are taking decisive steps to address this area of non-compliance and thereby mitigate the reputational risk,” Stevenson wrote.

In a statement sent to the Citizen, a DND spokesperson noted that, “As the custodian of one of the largest infrastructure inventories in Canada, DND remains committed to its effective management and to the safety of its personnel.”

Incidences of fire at DND and Canadian Forces sites are among the lowest in the country, highlighting the effectiveness of the department’s fire prevention program, the DND response added.

“DND/CF have a comprehensive fire protection program dealing with the inspection, testing and maintenance of our fire protection systems. People’s safety has not been put at risk,” the statement pointed out.

But the Stevenson email points out that DND and Canadian Forces senior staff were ordered in January 2009 to deal with the fire code breaches but “failed to do so.”

Stevenson also noted he met with various military leaders or their representatives and most “expressed a preference for more-in house resources (e.g. hiring more civilian inspectors) and an examination of other options” before entering into a contract with a private firm.

Stevenson, however, told them that was “unacceptable” because the department has to reduce its numbers of full time employees “and therefore cannot hire the necessary inspectors.”

MacLennan said DND imposed several years ago a freeze on hiring staff for its construction engineering group, which included inspectors. “They put the safety of workers at risk by that decision,” he said.

MacLennan said he agrees with the senior staff from the army, navy and air force that more in-house personnel should be hired to do the job, instead of farming out the work to a private firm.

He noted that at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown there are 8,900 pieces of fire safety equipment. MacLennan said he doubts a private contractor will be able to effectively manage such systems at one base, let alone at all bases across the country.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: David Pugliese