Probe into sleeping on job at emergency call centre

By GREGG WYCHERLEY

The Fire Service is spending thousands of dollars on a private detective to investigate claims some staff who monitor 111 calls are sleeping on the job and going home early.

The firefighters' union says the investigation, at the Northern Communications Centre in Auckland, the Fire Service's largest communications centre, is a waste of money, motivated by petty grudges and anti-union bias.

The investigation began on March 20 after an employee filed an affidavit claiming her supervisor had allowed staff to sleep on duty, run personal errands while on duty or go home early.

A Wellington-based private investigation company, Corporate Investigation Bureau, has been working on the case for nine weeks.

Since the beginning of the inquiry more than 20 staff have been interviewed, the centre manager has resigned, a shift supervisor has been suspended and three of the staff under investigation have been on stress leave for the past two months. Nine staff members have received letters warning of possible disciplinary action.

National communication centres manager Steve Turek would not comment on details of the investigation but confirmed the suspensions and stress leave.

He would not say how much the inquiry had cost. The going rate for a corporate investigation is believed to $90 to $135 an hour, plus expenses.

Mr Turek said he did not know of any other occasion when the Fire Service had used a private investigator but one had been used in this case because "it was the most cost effective."

"The reason we used a private investigator was because of the complexity of the allegations and the time it would take to investigate."

He said the resignation of centre manager Colin Ross was coincidental and not connected to the investigation.

Professional Firefighters' Union president Mike McEnaney said the investigation was a waste of money and had achieved nothing except cutting the centre's workforce by 25 per cent.

"It's a complete overreaction. There is a horrendous amount of money being spent on this - we're talking many, many thousands of dollars."

Mr McEnaney said the work practices under investigation were common in all three national communications centres, and to other shifts at the Auckland centre.

Shift supervisors at the two other national communications centres, in Christchurch and Wellington, also allowed staff to go home early if they were not needed, and were preparing statements in support of their Auckland colleagues.

Over the course of their 12-hour shift staff were entitled to a 1 1/2 hour break and supervisors saw no harm in letting them leave the building. Mr McEnaney said there were occasions on the 7 pm to 7 am shift when there were more staff on duty than were required.

The supervisor would sometimes allow staff to go home early on condition that they be available to return immediately.

He said the investigation was driven by civilian lawyers in Wellington who had "a complete dislike for firefighters."

The investigation had been extended to three out of the four shifts at the centre and five more staff had received warnings of possible disciplinary action.

Mr McEnaney was also concerned about the efficiency of the centre, which handles all 111 fire calls from Taupo north.

Staff have had to be flown in from Wellington or Christchurch and Auckland staff have worked overtime .

Three weeks ago, on a night of heavy flooding, a number of 111 calls went unanswered and had to be transferred to Wellington.