News

Tuesday 6 November 2007

Report highlights violence against firefighters

A new study has shed light on a worrying culture of violence and abuse being experienced by fire and rescue service personnel. Experts in the Emergency Services Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University have heard firsthand how firefighters have been subjected to a range of shocking verbal and physical attacks, including stone-throwing, being shot at with air rifles, and even stabbed.

The findings of the study, Violence at Work: Experiences of Fire and Rescue Service Personnel, will be presented at the 12th Fire Service College Annual Conference: Fire Related Research and Developments (RE07) on 7 - 8 November 2008.

A key finding to emerge from the study was that the attacks have become such a part of everyday life in the fire and rescue service that they often go unreported.

“The consensus regarding a ‘typical’ or ‘normal’ attack, would consist of a gang of youths, mostly teenagers but sometimes as young as five-years-old, throwing stones or bricks at the firefighters and appliances,” said lead researcher Vivienne Brunsden.

Ms Brunsden, from the University’s School of Social Sciences, said: “This is regarded as so everyday that it is accepted as part of the job. It is not seen as an attack on the individual but an attack on the uniform and the role it represents. Because attacks are not generally seen as personal firefighters are able to cope with these aggressive incidents; there is a normalising of the abnormal and an acceptance of the unacceptable.”

Ms Brunsden said that the findings from the anonymous study, drawn from the experiences of staff at one UK Fire and Rescue Service, are likely to reflect others’ experiences of what is an ongoing problem for firefighters.

Verbal abuse – often attributed to alcohol consumption – is also described as a problem firefighters face whilst performing their duties.

Ms Brunsden said: “In other professions, being sworn at and verbally harassed, let alone being spat at or stoned, would never be acceptable under any circumstances. This may be a reflection of the wider job, where many other activities that would be abnormal to most people are part of the normal occupational role. Walking into a fire or confronting fatalities and serious injuries when attending road traffic accidents can make these type of attacks seem trivial in comparison.”

Other incidents highlighted in the study are of a far more serious nature, including one when a firefighter was stabbed by a 14-year-old boy after going to the aid of a colleague who was being assaulted by a group of youths while attending a call-out. The firefighters also recall separate incidents of being shot at with air rifles while trying to attend incidents.

Ms Brunsden’s research shows that the Fire and Rescue Service personnel perceived both economic deprivation and poor parenting as possible reasons behind these verbal and physical attacks. These attributions can allow firefighters to have sympathy for their attackers’ situations whilst still condemning their violent behaviours.

“Installing cameras on appliances, working with children who are seen as the prime instigators of such attacks, and prosecution, are the three major steps being taken by the Fire and Rescue Service to address this problem; however, more in depth psychological and sociological research may reveal a range of further solutions” said Ms Brunsden, who is planning to continue her research further.

ENDS

Notes for editors: click here for more on the Fire Service College Research and Development Conference.

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Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on +44 (0)115 848 8774, or email therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk.