Trident safety fears: Clyde nuclear base 'accident waiting to happen' as fire crews are slashed

Now there are plans for a full industrial action ballot over strike action.

The move was confirmed to staff by management of outsourcing services firm Capita which won the contract in 2020 for fire response services from the Ministry of Defence and insists the cuts would actually improve safety.

Capita said the move was approved by the Ministry of Defence and that impact to personnel was "minimal".

Four crew have left through voluntary redundancy and four that on the Faslane and Coulport bases have not been filled.

It is understood Capita are set to seek local authority support from nearby fire stations in an effort to 'back fill' the specialist safety response.

Capita said local authority fire and rescue service cover has "always been provided at these sites and "those arrangements have not changed".

It comes as official figures revealed there were 443 nuclear safety incidents recorded at Scotland's the naval base over the past three years, with the frequency of incidents soaring.

It is nearly half the number of incidents recorded at Coulport and Faslane over the 12 years to 2018 when there were 789 nuclear safety events.

Some 505 incidents had taken place at Faslane, where the majority of the UK’s nuclear submarine fleet is based.

But defence minister Jeremy Quin (above) told the MP in a letter that the "safety significance" of the latest reported events was low, with none causing "harm or resulting in the unauthorised discharge of radioactive waste".

Unite Scotland say the firefighter cuts have happened despite the fire crews lacking the specialist training required at the naval bases.

Her Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde is the navy's headquarters in Scotland and is best known as Britain's nuclear weapons base, in the form of a fleet of four Vanguard-class submarines equipped with Trident nuclear missiles and five other Astute and Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered attack submarines.

The development raised concerns about the splitting of defence work into smaller work packages for outsourcing to create more competition which some unions fearing it endangers the country’s military power, including the Navy’s Trident submarine nuclear deterrent based on the Clyde.

Unite believes the Clyde cuts "seriously impair" the abilities of the onsite fire crews to do their jobs properly, particularly in relation to incidents that would involve wearing breathing apparatus.

The union says that Capita in response to repeated concerns raised have stated that they intend to mitigate any safety risks due to the cuts through an "investment in new technology to reduce fire risk".

But the union says that both naval base stations have not received any new vehicles, new technology or any new training ahead of the job cuts.

Officials say that due to breathing apparatus procedures, crews with only five staff would be unable to commit wearers at certain incidents without back up from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) who normally provide incident assistance at the nuclear naval bases.

The union says it understands that this ‘back-up’ service would be difficult to deliver due to SFRS’s current policy regarding radiation incidents and incidents on board submarines.

That means that their staff who attend these incidents would be unable to deliver the same firefighting and rescue actions that the current onsite specialist firefighters are trained to deliver.

"Onsite fire crews sign-up to accept emergency exposures and are fully trained to carry out interventions to save life, and to prevent catastrophic conditions at incidents involving radiation. However, this is not the case for SFRS staff who are not trained to the same levels as the Clyde naval bases onsite crews," the union said.

The union has also accused Capita of failing consult on the detail of the new fire services model at the Faslane and Coulport bases as well as the "integrated management risk plan".

The latest disputes come amidst growing concern about what the union say is a lack of discussion over the future shape of the base.

Debbie Hutchings, Unite industrial officer, said crews were informed of the implementation of the cuts last weekend.

She said an internal risk management plan was done but has not been shared.

“Capita's cuts are an accident waiting to happen make no mistake about that and it is not scaremongering on our part," said Ms Hutchings.

"This private company is effectively jeopardising the safety response capabilities at the Clyde’s nuclear naval bases as part of a cost saving exercise. We really have to ask ourselves whether this country is content to leave the nation's fire response capabilities to a company hell bent on saving money through cuts which compromises safety.

Nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard arrives back at HM Naval Base Clyde, Faslane, Scotland following a patrol.

"This is not about the initial attack team dealing with small fires as Capita are claiming but the overall safety on the Clyde not only for the workers but local communities. Unite’s members on the Clyde have voiced their despair over the job cuts through a consultative ballot and we now intend to move forward with an industrial action ballot in order to bring Capita back to its senses, which it seems to have completely lost.

"A big part of the problem is a lack of real meaningful consultation."

Unions had written to Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, raising concerns about the claiming that splitting work into smaller work packages.

Unite has warned that splitting national security contracts into smaller work packages endangers the country’s military power and nuclear response capabilities.

The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions has warned that breaking up work between multiple companies risks responsibility falling through gaps between them, creating “a significant risk to national security”.

Capita insisted that no additional responsibility was being placed on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

A Capita spokesman said: “We have conducted a thorough review of fire risks at Faslane and Coulport with input from all relevant MOD stakeholders. This included consultation with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and accounted for our investment in new technology to reduce fire risk.

“The review’s recommendation to adjust resourcing levels at both sites was ultimately approved by the MOD. This followed a lengthy process of scrutiny and four successful validatory exercises by our on-site fire station teams, which confirmed our recommendations to be suitable and sufficient. We are committed to the delivery of better fire risk outcomes for the Ministry of Defence, its personnel, and our firefighters.”

Capita said it had introduced several new technical systems to "enhance fire safety and operational delivery" across all stations, including at HMNB Clyde.

They include a global fire station log as well as a new procedure to manage risk assessments.

It said both Coulport and Faslane are due to receive new firefighting vehicles which would "reduce the training burden for firefighters, increase maintenance efficiency and increase flexibility".

It said it was also in the final stages of agreeing the location of onsite breathing apparatus training facilities at Coulport, to "improve firefighter safety and minimise the need for firefighters to travel for training".

Capita added that it "fully engaged in meaningful consultation" with colleagues and Unite on the proposed changes, including hosting eight individual station briefings for personnel.

"Colleagues were involved in the review process, the confirmatory exercises and in individual briefing sessions," the outsourcing company said.