A NEW health unit has opened to keep Lancashire's firefighters fighting fit.

The Occupational Health Unit is designed to ensure that fire service personnel are not laid low by the stresses and strains of their arduous profession.

Lancashire's chief fire officer, Peter Holland, said: "A healthy workforce is fundamental to the provision of an effective and efficient fire service and it is recognised that a major contribution to achieving this is the introduction of an in-house occupational health unit."

Mr Holland attended the official opening of the centre at the Eastway Business Village in Fulwood, Preston, along with the chairman of the Combined Fire Authority, Coun Niki Penney.

She said: "Prevention is always better than cure and for a caring and responsible employer the provision of an occupational health unit committed to promoting fitness and good health among our workforce, in addition to ensuring the speedy recovery of staff who have fallen ill or who have sustained an injury makes perfect sense."