Vic Worksafe executives sacked

Two senior Worksafe executives have been sacked in Victoria as further toxic contamination is uncovered at a firefighters' training facility.

A CFA firefighter puts out a fire

An alarm was raised about water contamination at a Victorian firefighting training centre in 2012. (AAP)

Two senior Worksafe executives have been sacked in the wake of further toxic contamination discovered at a Victorian CFA training facility.

Worksafe chair David Krasnostein and chief executive Denise Cosgrove tendered their resignations at the request of Victorian government on Tuesday.

It follows the discovery on Monday of a potentially harmful chemical in the mains drinking water at the CFA's Fiskville training facility - the same site is the subject of a parliamentary inquiry over a cancer cluster.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he'd lost confidence in Worksafe management after he was assured the site was safe in late 2014.

"How is it in December they told the government, and all Victorians, that it was safe?" Mr Andrews asked.

"They cannot explain how they got this wrong, in fact they cannot guarantee us that they even tested the water.

"I will not be lied to and I will not accept incompetence, particularly when it comes to the safety of those Victorians who put themselves in harms way."

Mr Andrews said Fiskville was now closed indefinitely while testing to isolate the source of the contamination was underway.

Residues from a banned firefighting foam were detected in large tanks used to store mains water for firefighters' everyday use.

The residues contain PFOS, a type of perfluoro chemical used in firefighting foams but banned in 2007 due to carcinogenic concerns.

Operations at Fiskville were downgraded in late 2014 after a parliamentary inquiry was called.

Historic use and dumping of toxic chemicals at the site have also been implicated in a cancer cluster among firefighters who have worked there going back to the 1970s.

Long-held concerns of a Fiskville-centred cancer cluster were confirmed in January.

A study found elevated rates of brain, skin and testicular cancers among 606 firefighters who worked or trained at Fiskville from 1971 and 1999.

Sixteen of those firefighters have died from cancer, and another 53 have battled it.


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Source: AAP


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