Fire & Rescue NSW has backed the Auditor-General's call for ongoing mandatory fitness tests for professional firefighters.
In a police and firefighting workplace injury report released on Thursday, Auditor-General Margaret Crawford said many Fire & Rescue NSW health and fitness programs "are voluntary and do not adequately ensure all firefighters remain fit for duty".
She also said some firefighters may be avoiding tests out of fear of being discharged over poor results.
Ongoing mandatory fitness tests were recommended by the auditor's office in 2014.
Fire & Rescue NSW said it supported periodic mandatory health assessments and was in the process of implementing a program.
But the Fire Brigade Employees' Union, which had long supported a "properly planned, adequately resourced fitness assessment and training program", was angry volunteer firefighters had been left out of the report.
"Why have one standard for FRNSW and another for RFS?" state secretary Leighton Drury said.
"If the Auditor-General's concern is the risk to community safety allegedly caused by unfit or unwell firefighters, it makes no sense to leave 70,000 volunteers out of the report."
