Key findings from damning report into workplace culture at South Wales fire service

Sexual harassment and domestic abuse were "tolerated" by South Wales' fire service, with a damning report making 82 recommendations to help change its culture.

An ITV News investigation in 2022 reported on a victim of sexual harassment who accused Chief Fire Officer Huw Jakeway of being untruthful about what he knew about her case, prompting the review.

It was headed up by Fenella Morris KC and has revealed allegations of sexism and abusive behaviour towards staff.

The review calls for significant changes to be made to help transform the service's culture.

It challenges the behaviours within the service and the way in which it has been governed from the top down.

Following its publication, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service's Chief Huw Jakeway announced his plan to retire.

Inappropriate behaviour:

Almost a third of survey respondents said they had experienced inappropriate behaviour In the last year at work.

"(I was told)...be a good girl, maybe we'll let you go in that department…Be a good girl and you might get a chance," one respondent said.

It found women were objectified with inappropriate messaging on social media or instant messaging often in circumstances of "power imbalance”. Pictures of "genitals" were also sent to women.

The report's authors heard testimony claiming: : "I've reported incidents of sexual harassment twice in work.

"Neither incident was properly dealt with. I was told to just ignore it."

The report says there was also a culture where the service "tolerated the use of Instagram and OnlyFans by firefighters" to post what was described as "sexualised images" of themselves alongside pictures that made clear their membership of the service.

Several complaints were made by female members about such postings by other staff, but the review found the service failed to heed them.

One female firefighter said: “I wanted to complain…that she's all over everything, doing everything wrong and somehow she gets a pass for everything. So I wanted to complain about that.

"Then I was more or less put back in my box. But also I then raised it later because I was asked by a guy on my station whether I have an OnlyFans account.

"So I tried to complain about it in the first instance because I wanted her held to account…” 

Domestic abuse:

There were "a number of employees" who spoke about domestic abuse and the report found it was "more prevalent within the service than anticipated".

"We were struck by the number of cases of assault, domestic abuse, and harassment we saw," the report's authors said.

They found the service "is not an inclusive place to work", with some senior female officers, becoming "hardened to sexist behaviours".

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service became the first in the world to be awarded "white ribbon" - a sign of the commitment to ending violence against women committed by men.

The report's authors said the service had done work to raise awareness, but felt that "not enough had been done to stamp out such behaviour, among its own staff and to provide support to workers who themselves had been victims".

Racist abuse:

The review found examples of racist behaviour and comments by members of the service, even during the time of the Culture Review.

This was both about "overt and direct racism, for example, racist abuse at a Chinese restaurant and urinating on the floor, as well as the use of serious racial slurs".

One respondent described how they had been subject to abuse: “It's always a joke made about the crossing the boat crossing.

"Obviously, I'm an immigrant myself, but I came in a very different way … You know, like, okay, now we're on to race ...it's disguised as this banter thing.”

The report found that such comments were a "common occurrence" saying they have "no place in the workplace, especially within a public service".

'Not listened to':

When concerns were raised, respondents said they felt they were not listened to and were afraid to put their heads above the "parapet" with "concerns about reputation and sensitivity inhibiting them from speaking up".

One respondent told the survey: "If you do say these difficult things, your card’s marked; you're spoken about in HQ, which obviously was the case with myself."

Another said: "I think it is more difficult when you're female because if you go and make a complaint…You don't get ownership of that complaint.

"It's not your complaint anymore. It's gone into a system and the system is now going to do something with it.

"You might not even want that. Does that make sense?"

The focus group was also told: "You might not want a disciplinary.

"You might just want mitigation to sit in a room and for that person to apologise to you."

Culture within the service:

The report found misconduct, including criminal conduct, had previously gone insufficiently addressed, to the detriment of the service's culture.

It observed staff had an ingrained sense that you cannot challenge someone who is above you in the hierarchy - and, if you do, you will be punished, usually by being prevented from progressing. Survey respondents said: "It’s a man’s world and it comes from the top" and "you'd have to murder your own mother to get sacked from this place…"

The review says the service should face an annual culture assessment, possibly by an external independent body, to track its progress.

As well as an action plan to build positive cultural change, it says there should be a campaign to ensure sexual harassment and inappropriate comments are not tolerated and reported appropriately.

The review says all new recruits should be given training about domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Complaints, even anonymous ones, should be investigated and appropriate actions taken.

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