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Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is committed to
achieving a high standard of fire protection in buildings within
the County. Nevertheless, whilst attempting to do so, we also recognise
the damaging effect that poor enforcement procedures can have on
the business community (especially small businesses). We have to
be sensitive to the need to balance businesses priorities with the
safety of people.
Making people safe from fire means more than just expensive engineering
solutions it means connecting and communicating with people in
an effective way to teach fire safety and sell the hard business
case of putting fire safety first. In delivering this new style
of fire prevention and protection we have looked again at the way
we deliver this vital service to the community and the skills,
knowledge and attributes our staff need to deliver it.
Fire safety enforcement in the Brigade tended to be based on
very traditional values. Although many of these values were still
relevant, many of them were not and probably the most significant
of these was the distinction between Operations and
Fire Prevention as two separate disciplines.
In common with many brigades we removed this artificial barrier,
along with the outdated titles and functions that underpin it.
In 1998 Operations and Fire Safety were integrated in one cohesive
team called ‘Community Safety’, with the clear objective
of delivering Fire Safety.
This challenged a number of historic perceptions, not least the
view that a person needed rank to cope with the complexity of “fire
safety” enforcement and that fire fighting and fire safety
were two very different disciplines. Our belief was that firefighters
most certainly could cope with the intricacies of the subject and
that the two areas actually complimented one another.
Some three years later, our firefighters can now regard themselves
as Community Safety Officers having a combined role of fire safety
enforcement, community fire safety and fire fighting.
So how was this significant cultural shift
achieved?
To provide firm foundations for this change, several key
elements had to be put in place. These included:
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Job Descriptions for watch based Junior Officers and firefighters
that clearly defined Fire Safety Enforcement and Community
Fire Safety as major elements of their role. |
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A programme of ‘Role Swapping’ was introduced
for all Watch Commanders to enable them to gain up-to-date
fire safety enforcement experience. |
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Station work routines were revised to ensure that adequate
time was available to carry out fire safety enforcement activities. |
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The primary role of Station Officers in fire safety enforcement
was redefined so they were managers of fire safety activities,
rather than merely Inspecting officers implementing legislation
through routine inspections. |
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The selection process for trainee firefighters was amended
to ensure that they had the communication skills required to
undertake fire safety and community education duties. |
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Training programmes were developed to ensure that watch personnel
were both competent and confident in the basic principles and
skills needed for fire safety enforcement. |
These key changes have been introduced and,
in accordance with the Fire Authority’s strategic objectives,
fire safety activities are now gradually being devolved to the
watches.
Two examples of our successful devolvement of Fire Safety activities
onto the watches are licensing and residential care premises projects
that begun in 1999 with two pilot schemes on stations.
After completing a twelve-month competence based training programme,
which included extended theoretical input in the core subjects
of Fire Safety and specific input in licensing and residential
care legislation, the inspections were handed over to the stations.
It is worth emphasising that this hasn't become yet another
job for the Watch Commander. Inspections and reports are completed
by firefighters with Watch Officers acting in a supervisory role.
This approach to fire safety is a major change to the working
culture for any fire brigade and it would be dishonest to pretend
that it is being achieved without difficulty. However, there are
numerous indications of the benefits that are already being achieved.
Not least of these are the improvements in operational efficiency
and fire-fighter safety arising from the increased knowledge amongst
watch-based personnel of building construction and structural fire
protection.
Further information
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