It’s come to light that cancer claims, by Hamilton firefighters are being filed at twice the overall provincial rate.  That is confirmed by data from Ontario’s Workplace, Safety and Insurance Board which looks into cases of work related occupational diseases.

The Hamilton Professional Firefighter Association has been aggressively screening for cancers since 1997.  That’s the year Hamilton firefighters took on the largest plastics fire in Canadian history at the Plastimet Plant.

Dan Santoli, the WSIB Representative with the firefighter’s union says the high rate of claims may be the result of the work the board has done over the past twenty years.