BARRY JACKSON has been a firefighter for nearly 30 years. As a member of the London Fire Brigade (LFB), he was one of the first to attend the horrific Grenfell Tower blaze, which devastated a west London tower block six years ago today.

The terrifying fire killed 72 people, injured at least as many and left hundreds homeless. The impact on the local community in North Kensington, where the very poor live streets away from the very rich, was massive.

But for Jackson, a workplace health and safety rep, the tragedy was another reminder of the inadequate – and sometimes non-existent – protections for firefighters as they risk their lives to save ours.

Formal procedures or policies to test and decontaminate front-line workers, who are regularly exposed to potentially deadly toxins when fighting fires, were conspicuous by their absence back in 2017, he says.

“They were doing nothing in London – all we had really was just a poster. You were putting contaminated gear in a bag, covered in crap, and throwing it in the back of your car. There was no process, no policy.”

After a “depressing” meeting with brigade bosses in 2018, Jackson decided to start pushing for change.

“They always try to swerve everything, but the only way you know truly what firefighters are exposed to is by blood testing. Brigades will say: ‘Let’s swab fire stations and fire engines or let’s look at the foam they’re using.’

“No, look at the firefighters. We can see what’s in firefighters, we can surmise how it got there and take action.”

The call was amplified last year when the World Health Organisation warned firefighting is carcinogenic or cancer-causing. Many countries seemingly got the memo much earlier, with presumptive compensation legislation for firefighters who fall sick due to their work having been in place for years in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

“There’s always a money value attached to this,” Jackson warns. “They say: ‘There’s different fires in different countries, there’s no research here.’ So UCLan went out and did the research.”

Indeed, a groundbreaking FBU-commissioned study by the University of Central Lancashire earlier this year found that firefighters are dying of cancer at 1.6 times the rate of the general population, while those aged 35-39 are three times more likely to have the disease than others.

Last month, a frustrated Jackson prepared a “very damning” speech introducing his FBU conference motion demanding regular health monitoring of firefighters, but just before he was due to speak, he was told that LFB had signed up to the move. “My speech was entirely turned on its head,” Jackson stresses.

“Always follow the money. That’s always what you’re arguing against. That’s why in my speech I outlined the cost-benefit of picking up early signs of cancer so you can treat firefighters while they’re in the job instead of having to replace them later on.”

FBU delegates overwhelmingly endorsed the motion, and the fact that hundreds are now volunteering for blood testing “speaks volumes – the tide is turning,” he hails.

“Getting it into policy is massive. Firefighters tend to be quite policy driven, they say: ‘I don’t want to break policy.’”

The union’s Decon campaign, which Jackson helped to formulate, is also having an impact. It is putting pressure on bosses to modernise, and in some cases introduce for the first time, proper decontamination facilities to help protect the essential workforce, which earlier this year was preparing to strike following years of plummeting take-home pay cuts.

Walkouts were eventually averted after the threat of national industrial action forced Tory ministers and employers to U-turn on claims they couldn’t afford any more than the paltry 2 per cent offered last summer. Firefighters are now set to pocket a 7 per cent boost backdated to July 2022 and a further 5 per cent rise from next month.

The deal still represents a below-inflation settlement, but for Jackson, the much-improved offer highlights the importance of “sticking together.”

He says: “London was a key element because we were offered a separate pay agreement, but our members stood firm and rejected it. The reps worked really hard for that – getting across 4,500 people isn’t easy.

“The union used that offer to negotiate for something better. If different regions were negotiating separately, we would have got nowhere, but we stuck together and the fact that the arguments were all in the same arena was vital.

“The strategy was pretty decent from the union – it all came together. We’re the most together union and the key going into any negotiations is that you’ve got to be brave.

“A lot of people who were very cynical about the outcome have now come back on board with the union.”