Victory for our union: Fire prevention systems to be installed on all buses

Our union has had a big victory this week with the NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance finally agreeing to fit all State Transit Authority buses across the state with fire suppressant systems.

Drivers and passengers have until now been put at the very real risk of a serious incident or death because buses have been on the roads without a fire prevention system in place.

Over the last few years we’ve seen too many of our buses catch fire while on the road, creating an extremely dangerous situation for drivers and passengers. A spate of incidences earlier this year highlighted how risky it is to have buses on the roads without any fire prevention system installed.

Members have been going to work concerned that they are driving buses that could catch fire at any moment without any system in place to either notify them or extinguish the flames.

The union has been campaigning for all buses to be fitted with the fire safety systems for a number of years, and this commitment by the NSW Government is a big win for us.

The suppressant systems work by detecting a potential fire, notifying the driver and extinguishing the fire before it turns into a safety hazard.

Find out more by watching Channel 7’s report here.