The National Fire Agency said on the 21st that an analysis of the "fire service organizational culture diagnostic survey" conducted after the death of a female firefighter found a need to improve certain practices, including pressure to attend team dinners.
The survey was conducted from July 6 to 19 on 65,973 firefighters nationwide, and 16,111 (24.4%) participated.
Among the firefighters who took the survey, 4.9% (785 people) said they had received "requests for private gain" over the past year. The response rate for having experienced an "unfair drinking culture" over the past year was also 4.3% (686 people). Around 40% identified the Head of Team level as those who engaged in such acts.
Those who said they had experienced "disrespectful treatment" over the past year were 6.4% (1,036 people). The main actors of disrespectful treatment were colleagues and senior-junior peers (35.7%).
In a group-by-group analysis, mid-career staff and women showed relatively higher rates of experiencing misconduct. For example, the rate of having experienced disrespectful treatment was 5.8% among male firefighters, but 12% among female firefighters.
Only a very small number used official channels, such as reporting to the inspection department, after experiencing unfair conduct. Only 1.8% of those who experienced requests for private gain, 0.8% of those who experienced an unfair drinking culture, and 3.3% of those who experienced disrespectful treatment used official channels. Around 70% said they "could not say anything." Concerns about workplace or personnel disadvantages and the perception that raising issues would not change the situation were cited as major reasons.
Other comments raised issues about fairness in personnel decisions and promotions based on school, regional, or blood ties, or favoritism toward specific factions, and there were also calls for measures against so-called "bullying from the weaker party," such as subordinates' negligence of duty or indiscriminate reporting, in addition to superiors' abuse of power.
The National Fire Agency sees boosting trust in whistleblower protection, inspection expertise, and fairness in handling procedures as key tasks for improving organizational culture going forward.
The National Fire Agency plans to compile a "comprehensive plan to renew organizational culture" next month by combining these survey results with the activities of the special inspection team and focused anonymous reports, and to flesh out detailed execution tasks and monitoring systems.