By John Lord, Owner, SimTrainer UK Ltd

I am a cancer survivor, as is my wife. We have lived firsthand through the experience, and the spectre of the disease has loomed over us for the last 13 years.

During COVID, I ran several webinars to keep the RFFS community in the UK connected during lockdown.

One of the sessions was on contaminants, featuring guests like Abby Hannah, Jo Taylor of De-Wipe, and Dr. Dave Megson from Manchester Metropolitan University.

I realised that retired firefighters and those in aviation and industrial sectors were not involved or counted in the data on contaminants and cancer risks.

I was concerned that the real figures and wider issues were being underreported.

Supported by my good friend and champion on contaminants, Alisdair Couper, Managing Director of Terberg DTS, we realised we needed to scale up our involvement.

Hence, the first conference at Cranfield University in November 2022—”The Invisible Risk”—brought the issue into the open.

This year’s Manchester Invisible Risk conference was a huge success.

Professor Anna Stec and Dr. Emily Watkins, both exceptional in their knowledge of toxicology and firefighter cancer risks, were speakers.

We had over 140 organisations and 235 delegates—the largest event of its kind to date.

Without Alisdair’s kindness, financial support, and passion, these events wouldn’t have happened.

On a personal level, I’ve provided close counsel to eight fire officers across the UK who, after our seminars, took action and were diagnosed.

They thanked me for the support and the fact their cancer was found and treated.

That’s my motivation—saving the lives of my brother and sister responders.

If I had a wish list, it would be to end silo working and remove ego from the campaign.

We need to join together—all agencies—not just score points.

Our female colleagues need better protection, and a greater data set needs to be compiled to understand the risks fully.

Retired firefighters and responders need better support when diagnosed.

Screening needs to be universally adopted—find the issue early, save lives, save money.

We need the SNOMED codes to be used by the entire NHS and ensure a similar process globally to protect those facing the invisible risk.

We must support the family; a cancer diagnosis affects everyone.

For me personally, it’s about completing the formation of the Invisible Risk Foundation to support awareness, train others to be champions at their stations, and support those dealing with a responder cancer diagnosis by people who understand the job.

About the IFSJ Influencer

John Lord is the owner of SimTrainer UK Ltd, a specialist incident command training company founded after his retirement from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service in 2011.

With 32 years of operational experience from 1979 to 2011, he retired as the lead for incident command in training.

He continues to serve the fire and rescue community, contributing nearly 46 years of dedicated service.

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This article was originally published in the December 2024 issue of International Fire & Safety Journal – to read your FREE digital copy, click here.