The Delta firefighters union says it's good news that the provincial government is adding three cancers to the Firefighters Occupational Disease Regulation, saying it provides additional health security and peace of mind for its members.
"We have been working on this for a long time, just taking the science and putting it to government year after year and we finally got the climate right where they approved three more cancers," said union president Mike McMillan. The province recently announced that it intends to add presumptions for breast cancer, prostate cancer and multiple myeloma as occupational diseases for firefighters by way of amendment to the Firefighters Occupational Disease Regulation under the Workers Compensation Act.
A presumption means if a professional or volunteer firefighter develops one of the listed cancers after a certain period of employment, it is presumed the cancer arose from their employment. The firefighter is then eligible for workers' compensation benefits without having to provide evidence the cancer is work-related.
The province first recognized certain cancers as occupational diseases for firefighters in 2005. Cancer presumptions for firefighters are already recognized for: brain, bladder, colorectal, kidney, ureter, testicular, lung, esophageal, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and leukemia.
As well, in 2014 the province restored heart disease and heart injury as a workers' compensation presumption for firefighters.
"We as a member of the BC Professional Firefighters go to Victoria every year and try and meet with the MLAs from our region and put our lobby issues across to them and the science behind it," added McMillan.
"We have slowly been adding more over the years and the science certainly backs it up. When someone does get diagnosed it certainly makes things a lot easier on them and their families. Dealing with WorkSafe can be quite stressful on an individual and getting a diagnosis accepted as opposed to presumed I think is going to make their life better."
