Australian Firefighters to Gain Cancer Compensation

South Australia is to compensate firefighters for job-related cancers. The Government says it will give firefighters automatic access to WorkCover payments for cancers including primary brain, bladder and kidney cancers. Premier Jay Weatherill says firefighters are at a higher risk of cancer than other people because of their exposure to toxic chemicals and dangerous materials when tackling blazes. He says SA will be the first state to offer such compensation. Mr Weatherill said certain cancers would be presumed to be work-related and firefighters would not have to prove the link. "It reverses the onus of proof. It makes it easier for those firefighter to get the compensation they deserve for putting themselves in harm's way," he said. United Firefighters industrial officer Joe Szakacs welcomed the promise of better support. "This is possibly the greatest-ever development in the protection, advancement and recognition of the health and safety of our firefighters," he said. "SA will become the first state, in only the third country in the world, to recognise this occupational cancer risk and take steps to better protect firefighters and their families." Country Fire Service (CFS) volunteers say they are disappointed to be missing out on compensation for work-related cancers. Metropolitan Fire Service employees will soon have access but CFS volunteers will not be eligible. Roger Flavell of the CFS Volunteers Association says his members are exposed to equally dangerous cancer-causing substances. "Extremely disappointing because we're of the opinion that it was going to be for all and we certainly do all the things that the Metropolitan Fire Service do, for the rest of the state," he said ABC PREMIUM NEWS (AUSTRALIA)