Members' Petition to Change ACC Legislation for Volunteer Firefighters
The UFBA is proud of our members standing up for what they believe in.
Katherine Lamont from the Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade has put together a parliament petition to change the ACC legislation to give volunteer firefighters the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid colleagues.
We are proudly supporting our members’ initiative, as it has strong alignment with the UFBA’s Strategic Priority on our Fairness and Equity Campaign to get volunteer firefighters more coverage under ACC.
We encourage all our members to get behind this petition and help push for ACC fairness and equity.
Click here to sign the petition today - https://petitions.parliament.nz/5872f736-ed2f-443c-f919-08dd5b668762 (closes 30 April 2025)
As a collective voice, we must be heard. It is important that this petition is led and supported by our members, so it is not just the UFBA as an organisation calling for change – it is the 12,000 individuals, and their families, who deserve better support.
The UFBA will continue to advocate at a national political level, but as one of the 12,000 volunteer firefighters, it is you who can drive this change from the ground up. The aim is that our combined efforts mean we will meet in the middle on the doorstep of the decision-makers.
Background details on the inequitable treatment of volunteer firefighters receiving compensation under ACC for illnesses and injuries caused by their firefighting duties.
While this is a very complex issue, we have tried to simplify it as best we can, to help everyone understand the challenges volunteer firefighters face with ACC:
- Volunteer firefighters are not covered under the Accident Compensation Act 2001 (ACC Act) for any work-related illness or injury, because under Section 6 “Interpretation”, the term “employment” is defined as; “means work engaged in or carried out for the purposes of pecuniary gain or profit”.
(the Annual Reimbursement volunteers firefighters receive is not tax deducted; therefore, no ACC levy is paid for their work as firefighters)
Simply put; Volunteer firefighters are not covered for work-related illness or injury resulting from their firefighting duties because they do not receive a taxable payment for this work.
- ACC Act, Section 21B “Cover for work-related mental injury”
While paid firefighters are eligible for compensation under this section, they must prove a single incident as the cause. Gradual process mental injury is not covered – whereas most firefighters are exposed to traumatic situations/incidents over a long period of time, resulting in a negative cumulative or gradual effect on their mental health.
Even if volunteer firefighters did receive a taxable payment for their firefighting duties, they would still have to prove a single incident has caused the mental injury (ie. PTSD), which does not support those who have serious mental health concerns because of their years of exposure to many different types of traumatic incidents.
- ACC Act, Section 30 “Personal injury caused by work-related gradual process, disease, or infection”
This section is relevant for firefighters who suffer from gradual injury or illness as a result of their firefighting duties – such as cancer, asthma, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, hearing/vision loss. Schedule 2 in the ACC Act describes a limited range of illnesses and injuries that apply to firefighters, but there are many more that can be evidenced as a direct result of firefighting.
Paid firefighters also have access to a toxicology panel to assess their ACC compensation cover if they are diagnosed with cancer.
Again, all paid firefighters are covered for compensation under this section, however, it does not apply to volunteers in any way simply because they are not paid to do this work.