Do volunteers have enough accident insurance? Benefits denied for previously healthy female firefighter in Austria

In Austria, a heavily debated topic this Fall is wether or not volunteer firefighters are adequately insured for accidents. 

This is a statement from the the Austrian Federal Fire Brigade Association (ÖBFV) regarding the media coverage and press release by Ombudsman Mag. Bernhard Achitz on the topic: 

"Volunteer firefighters not adequately covered by accident insurance?"

Members of volunteer fire brigades perform their firefighting duties voluntarily and on an honorary basis and are covered by statutory accident insurance. Accidents are treated as workplace accidents.

These firefighters must be able to rely on functioning accident insurance coverage. Especially after events like the mid-September flood disaster, members of volunteer fire brigades are showered with praise, and the importance of this system is highlighted.

However, in specific cases, the performance of statutory accident insurance and thus the coverage of volunteer firefighters is not fully guaranteed by law. If the firefighters cannot rely on this, future voluntary engagement will be jeopardized.

Healthy female firefighter ended up not covered after accident 

The Austrian Federal Fire Brigade Association, along with the Upper Austrian Fire Brigade Association responsible for this case, has already held several discussions with AUVA (General Accident Insurance Institution) after this specific denial of insurance benefits came to light.

The expert opinion was consistently cited, but a solution in favour of the female firefighter, who had no known pre-existing conditions, was not reached.

Fire Brigade President and Upper Austrian Fire Brigade Commander Robert Mayer says: 

"Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case and can have far-reaching consequences for both operational readiness and the voluntary engagement of our members. We increasingly see the issue of not being able to completely rule out pre-existing conditions as a problem. It is perplexing to me that an expert can make a statement without providing evidence. In this case, assumptions are being interpreted 'in favour' of AUVA. There is a need for action here, at least for a review of the legal regulations by the competent Ministry of Social Affairs."

Government called on to provide clarity

The next federal government is called upon to place the insurance coverage of our volunteer firefighters in Austria on a more stable footing and to provide clarity:

Care must be taken to ensure that the special circumstances of firefighting service are properly acknowledged. From the moment of the alarm, the volunteer firefighter is exposed to a stressful situation, which must be taken into account when assessing causality and making decisions.

It must be ensured that statutory accident insurance considers these circumstances in its interpretation (if necessary, through an interpretation of legal provisions by the supervisory authority) or that the legislature changes the legal basis so that these circumstances must be considered.

 It is the task of politicians to ensure the framework conditions for members of volunteer fire brigades so that they can perform their voluntary service with the certainty of being well insured.

Illustration Credit: Illustrations depicting generic injured firefighters. From an idea by Bjorn Ulfsson / CTIF, executed by Chat GPT.  These illustrations have no reference to the specific case in the text.