What is the number of occupational cancer cases identified by Fire and Emergency New Zealand firefighters in the two years prior to the implementation of the Hauora Annual Health checks and what is the number identified in the three years following, if any?

Answer

I am advised that annual health checks have been available to all personnel since Fire and Emergency New Zealand was established in 2017. Similar programmes were also in place across legacy organisations prior to this, including the New Zealand Fire Service for over 20 years. There is therefore no defined implementation point for health checks, and consolidated historical data is not held to enable comparison across time periods. The available data relates to accepted occupational cancer claims. The increase in accepted claims from 2020 reflects the introduction of ACC’s index exposure tool and assessment by the ACC Toxicology Panel, which enabled claims that would not previously have met the evidential threshold to be accepted. The number of accepted occupational cancer claims by year is: 2017- 0 2018- 0 2019- 0 2020- 5 2021 -10 2022 - 7 2023 -13 2024 - 13 2025 - 7 2026 - 4 Grand Total: 59