A permanent contract with the fire service through Werkse!

Afghan-Dutch Mohammad Mirzai waited 10 years for a residence permit. When he finally got it, it was time for work. He delivered pizzas for a while, but could not support his family on that. Via the municipality, he ended up at Werkse! Now, a year later, he has a permanent job with Veiligheidsregio Haaglanden (VRH). ‘We are very happy with Mohammad,’ said team chief Jaap van der Meer.

VRH and Werkse!, have had good contacts for some time. Among other things, Werkse! handles cleaning at VRH. ‘When a vacancy became available in the ‘personal protection’ team, we got two candidates via Werkse! They both rotated in for a month. Mohammad immediately had our preference, so we offered him a contract. He now works in the respiratory workshop,’ says Van der Meer.

Testing oxygen masks
Mirzai is right at home there. ‘I clean the breathing air masks and test whether they still work. I refill the breathing air cylinders, wash the dirty firefighters’ clothing and make sure everything is in the right place to be collected again.’ For this, he took the level 2 respiratory protection course. He also obtained his theory truck driving licence at Werkse! and is now continuing with his practical driving licence. ‘I would like to learn a lot and driving a truck seems like a lot of fun,’ he said. That too was one of the reasons for offering Mirzai a job. ‘It is very valuable that he will soon be able to drive a truck. Within the team, I try to do as much