Garching – Greens call for more staff for the TU factory fire brigade – district of Munich

The Greens, members of the state parliament, Claudia Köhler and Markus Büchler, are demanding more personnel from the Free State of Bavaria for the plant fire brigade on the research campus of the TU in Garching. The plant fire brigade is responsible for the security of the 4.5 square kilometer research site with all its institutes and facilities, including the research reactor FRM II external staff of a specialized personnel service provider. According to the two Green MPs from the district, this is significantly more expensive than paying your own staff.

According to the Technical University of Munich, the Free State of Bavaria pays about half a million euros every year to external personnel service providers so that the Garching plant fire brigade is staffed with enough staff. But that would be much cheaper, say the Greens. Filling five more permanent positions in Garching with fire chiefs would only cost around 300,000 euros a year, says Unterhachinger MP Köhler. “As a housekeeper, I think it’s outrageous how carelessly tax money is being used here. The better solution would even be cheaper and is still rejected – what a waste of money in times of tight budgets,” criticized the deputy chair of the budget committee in the Bavarian state parliament.

Fire chief Jürgen Wettlaufer sees advantages and disadvantages in working with an external service provider and says: “I can live with both options.”

(Photo: Robert Haas)

The plant fire brigade in Garching was established in the 1970s when the research campus in Garching was constantly growing. The first research reactor, the so-called “Atomic Egg”, had already been in operation for many years. But it was not until the new building for the Faculty of Chemistry, Biology and Geosciences and stricter requirements for nuclear law were established that a fire brigade was set up, which went into service in 1979. Since 1991 it has been a state-recognized plant fire brigade, which today has 61 positions.

A motion by the Greens was rejected by the CSU and Free Voters

In the spring, the members of the governing parties CSU and Freie Wahler rejected an application by the Greens to include five additional positions in the state employment plan for the 2022 budget year. Since the factory fire brigade reports to the TU, i.e. a state university, the firefighters on campus are officials of the Free State of Bavaria and not municipal employees as is the case with other professional fire brigades. The state parliament must therefore approve an additional occupation. Before the negotiations for the 2023 state budget begin in autumn, Köhler and Büchler contacted the Bavarian Minister of Science Markus Blume (CSU) again. They are also concerned with safety, says Köhler. Apart from the financial aspect, she also thinks it is problematic that the different fire brigades have to constantly adapt to each other, “especially in such a sensitive location”.

In practice, Jürgen Wettlaufer cannot report any problems. “We can staff our vehicles at any time with the help of the external personnel service provider,” says the head of the fire brigade at the TU campus in Garching, “and make sure that we are ready for action at all times.” In order for this to be guaranteed, 14 firefighters must be available in Garching around the clock, 365 days a year, according to a review of the 2019 security concept. If the plant fire brigade wanted to fulfill this key with its own staff without external service providers in the future, it would need those five more permanent positions. Wettlaufer, who has been in charge of the Garching plant fire brigade since 2018, sees advantages and disadvantages in both variants.

With a troop consisting only of his own officers, he is authorized to give instructions to everyone, the feeling of togetherness is possibly greater and you don’t have to instruct new colleagues as often. The advantage of supplementary staff from an external service provider, on the other hand, is that they bear the business risk and also have to provide the agreed staff if an employee falls ill. “I can live with both variants,” says Wettlaufer. In terms of training, the staff of the external service provider is not inferior to their permanent colleagues.

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