Despite firefighters being more likely to get cancer, few are offered regular screening for the disease, a survey by Municipal Workers shows.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), firefighters are more likely to get cancer than other occupational groups, particularly urinary tract cancer and lung cancer.
However, only 24 percent of the rescue services surveyed in the country reported offering their employees regular cancer screening.
I am concerned about how few take advantage of this opportunity, says Mikael Svanberg, union representative at Municipal to the magazine.
An exception is the rescue service in eastern Blekinge, which offers all firefighters over 50 years old free screening for prostate cancer, which firefighters are also at increased risk of getting.
Municipal Workers' survey was sent to Sweden's 81 rescue services with full-time firefighters. 70 of these responded.
