New legislation to protect emergency workers

Date published: 20/02/2007

Specific legislation designed to protect emergency workers from being obstructed or hindered whilst responding to emergencies will begin to be enforced as of Tuesday, 20 February. The Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006, brought about by Alan Williams MP, follows a high profile campaign by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service to highlight the unacceptable attacks that fire crews and other emergency service workers are facing on a regular basis. There were 248 reported attacks alone during 2006. 

The new legislation makes it an offence to obstruct or hinder certain emergency workers who are responding or preparing to respond to emergency circumstances. This includes firefighters, ambulance workers, those transporting blood, organs or equipment on behalf of the NHS, coastguards and lifeboat crews. It also makes it an offence to hinder or obstruct those assisting emergency workers responding to emergency circumstances. The maximum penalty under the Act will be £5000 (level 5 fine). 

GMFRA Representative on Rochdale Council, Councillor Colin Lambert said: "This is great news for emergency workers who have faced terrifying attacks in recent times.
 
"The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority have led on this issue and I am proud to have been the elected member who has led on this for the authority.
 
"Now the new legislation is in place, I hope those responsible for such attacks will realise how dangerous their actions have been; I hope the courts will deal severely with anyone caught taking part in such attacks in the future.

County Fire Officer, Barry Dixon said: "We are delighted that the new Act is being implemented and we will be looking to work very closely with the Police in terms of its enforcement. This Act would not have been introduced without the support and commitment of Alan Williams MP and I would like to thank him for the incredible work he has done."

He continued: "Attacking or obstructing any emergency worker is unacceptable and it is sad that we have even had to campaign for such legislation to be introduced to protect those who save lives on a daily basis. Whilst this Act will hopefully be a deterrent, we are under no illusion that it will completely solve the problem. We remain committed to initiatives such as the use of CCTV cameras on fire engines and working with those who carry out such attacks to educate them as to the potentially devastating consequences their mindless behaviour can have for fire crews and their communities." 

Chief Superintendent Phil Hollowood said: "As police officers we see first-hand the great work our firefighter amp; ambulance colleagues do, and like most right thinking people we are appalled when they are attacked whilst trying to save lives on the streets or in casualty departments.

"We work with our Fire amp; Ambulance counterparts on a variety of schemes to try and prevent or reduce the number of attacks they suffer. We hope that the new laws will help spell out to people that attacks on men and women in the fire, ambulance and police services are intolerable."