Aspects Pertaining to Fire and Rescue Activities - Report Example

A Critical Reflective Report Introduction The subject critical reflection report is based on the research project conducted on fire and rescue service. The conducted research was based on some fundamental elements regarding fire and as well as the entire process of controlling and managing the same. As it is well known, fire outbreak is considered being one of the destructive and disastrous catastrophes that are experienced day in and day out in nature. This critical reflective report revolves around the fundamentals of fire as well as the rescue experiences concerned to fire as presented in the research project. Services concerning fire and rescue services are prone to deal with various emergency cases. There is a great variation in the duties and responsibilities geared to control and prevention of the situation by both the fire rescue team and non-fire rescue team. The non-fire rescue team is known for performing the non-fire rescue activities that comprise of the chemical spillages on road crash work thus superimposing a great responsibility to the fire fighters within the community. Aims of a Critical Reflective Report The research report is mainly developed to create awareness to people on various aspects pertaining fire and rescue activities. A clear perception is created on the essence of imposing knowledge of responsibility to every individual in the fire outbreak vicinity. The report aims at venturing into various duties and responsibilities of the fire and rescue services. A fundamental ideology to note in this report is that, the research conducted basically dwelt on the services rendered to the fire incidences with aim of controlling. The entire process is actually facilitated by the fire and rescue team that their performance if based on the training capacity to nurture and streamline professionalism. Critical Reflective Report Objectives The following are some of the proposed objectives in the critical reflective report based on the research study regarding the fire and rescue services. 1. To deduce various procedural implications of fire and rescue services in the community. 2. To evaluate the core duties and responsibilities pertaining the practice of fire and rescue service under procedural implications of fire 3. To lay a discovery on whether the entire public and community are a ware of the procedural parameters of controlling fire as well as stipulating various rescue services of fire. 4. To establish various elements that hampers the effective prosperity of fire and rescue services in the community. 5. To come up with a clear recommendation on the effective means of controlling fire outgrowth. 6. To establish various recommended effective means to control the fire menace with the suppression of its effects in the community. After carrying out research on the fire and rescue service, it was discovered that, fire can effectively be put at stake by employing machineries. Consequently, fire risks can be controlled by the efforts of fire fighters. As one of the fighters with experience, there were various roles I used to do in the research activities of fire and rescue. Duties and Responsibilities of Firefighters However, most of the people are aware that the core value of firefighters in relation to fire and rescue service is to respond to various emergency situations or cases, such situations include: incidents of fire outbreak, attending to collapsed buildings, and finally taking charge of the road accident incidences. There are various extended roles and responsibilities that need to be accomplished by the firefighters for the effective control of fire outbreaks and other disastrous events as a rescue service. Some of the responsibilities I performed as a firefighter comprise: To try and ensure that controllable accidents don’t take place, especially road and fire accidents. Enlightening people on how to strategically plan the escape routes that facilitate the locomotive practice of the victims during the occurrence of fire accidents. To respond rapidly to the incidences involving fire and road accidents as well as other avoidable controllable accidents in the community. To actively mobilize and seek valuable understanding from diverse individuals as well as groups thus enlightening them on the control measures of such accidental scenarios. Currently, most of the fire rescue services in the vicinity not only respond to fire and rescue services calls instead; they do respond to non-fire calls like the collapsed building accidents as well as road accidents. Firefighters also participate actively in the processes of initiating preventive strategies of fire. However, firefighters also play a fundamental role in supporting the architectural works, as well as planning authorities on building safety like structuring of fire exits, fire alarms, water sprinklers and jets, fire extinguishers and finally emergency lighting. As the formulation of new laws continues with time, various duties and responsibilities have been evolving all a round. Much of these evolutionary changes are being experienced with changes in technology as well as frequent introduction of new equipment in the system. As the fire fighters roles change so as their commitments in the community and society as a whole. As the firefighters respond to the emergencies, there is a relative close interaction with the community members hence attributing to the states of integrity, adaptability as well as resilience among others to enhance effective communication system Grussing, 2008 p1). Stress in the Fire and Rescue Service Stress as the major hindrance of success in the fire and rescue services has actually delimited the operational moral of fire fighters. Stress in the fire services is believed to occur in different perspectives whereby it takes varied forms of psychological torture. To deal with fir is like killing one self hence need to maintain the peace of mind. Stress in fire services has actually delimited the performance of the firefighters thus posing challenge to of the set goals. Causes of stress to the firefighters in the fire rescue services comprise of: poor or low remuneration scale and absence of rewards, ineffective as well as poor working conditions, lack of freedom to enjoy their job opportunities, and poor or inappropriate working environment as well as poor management. Stress has been considered being one of the most disgusting hazards that has greatly affected the modern fire service. This reflective critical report has actually focused on various effects of stress on the health of the firefighter. Stress has also know to extend an impact on job performance, family life, morale, as well as the decision making process in career-wise. Stress is one of the major causes of deterioration in the health of human beings being of its inner sense of feeling and harm. It is highly recommended that, employees of fire rescue service be highly protected from the ideology of stress. Stress can easily affect everyone’s performance at work so it is important for the fire rescue service to save their employees from such disastrous elements of life to avoid high risks of loosing jobs. This prospect however, creates harmony and peace in the community as they interact in the society. This reflective critical report has actually focused on various influences of stress on the work performance. The report is based on the research conducted based on the influence of stress in the fire and rescue services. Stress is usually triggered by the introduction of targets as well as goals at the service as put across by various firefighters. Stress in the fire services not only affect the employees but also impinge some challenges to various departments like the administration due to redundancies. This ideology gives the administration hard time to carryout their duties and responsibilities in their organizations (Creswell, 2003 p71). Evaluation of the Performed Duty The point to underscore in the evaluation of the performed duty liaises in the nature and kind of the duty that was performed. In the practice of fire and rescue services, the research was conducted in groups thus giving a varied experience in the field. One of the memorable incidents experienced for that matter was the practice of making the fire drill. The practice seemed tiresome thus demanding much of the input. Now that it was the very first time to be encountered in the researcher’s life, it was sort of excitement scenario though nervousness cropped in. fire drill practices were exercised majorly to provide an elderly response for all individuals occupying the building, to facilitate faster as well as organized process of evacuation during the time of emergency, to offer training services to firefighters so as they can be well versed with their duties and responsibilities in the efforts to bring down fire in rescue services. Consequently, the practice was done to test the working conditions of all fire as well as emergency equipment in the building. Finally, the fire drill was conducted mainly to ensure that, all exit routes as well as stairwells are not obstructed in the case of emergencies. During the practice of fire drill, the researcher’s responsibilities as a firefighter were to ensure that all occupants as well as the buildings to be entered are safe. The safeness of the location was attained courtesy of the coordination with the emergency officers in the community. For effective attainment of the fire and rescue service objectives, there must be an effective communication system. Fire and rescue services team should communicate with each other very well as well as other to other sectors and to those who are evacuating the operational buildings. For instance, on the assessment of the incident, the fire and rescue team ought to give advisory services to the emergency services like the ambulances. Such practices need proper coordination in addition to early invention to injured evacuees thus becoming a fundamental aspect of the rescue service. However, not only communication aspect can lead to effective functioning of the fire and rescue service instead, teamwork takes a key role in facilitating the whole essence. Teamwork in the fire and rescue services ensures strong coordination with much of flexibility focused among various individuals to achieve their common goal and objectives. With reference to the fires and rescue services in England, the team comprise of more than 50,000 firefighters who are full-timers. In addition, there is one unique element that prevails amongst the team in that, they work together inclusive of professionals, individuals, as well as volunteers thus becoming hard to depict the difference between the group members and non-members. In this case, teamwork aids in the achieving the se4t goal and objectives within the stipulated organization like the fire and rescue service. Teamwork is also vied in the fire and rescue service as the foundation of each and every activity partaken in the practice of dealing with accidents whether road, fire or collapsed buildings. Teamwork operation is usually of great benefit to the fire and rescue service because it enhances work efficiency, accountability, and effectiveness. With teamwork, it is easier to carryout tasks in an easier way. Considering emergency cases, tasks are performed in a safer manner thus providing safety precautions to the co-firefighters due to their partnership models of working. In most cases, firefighters are not allowed to enter the burning house alone (Team-wise, 2011 p1). Challenges Experienced In the Fire and Rescue Services As far as the profession itself is concerned, constrains may arise thus hampering the well doing of the services. The research has focused on various challenges arising in the process of achieving the set goal in the fire and rescue services. Some of the limitations experienced in the research are: Financial problems: raising money to come up with the required facilities was a problem. For any operation to be attained effectively, the issue of money has to serve as the epicenter of the entire process. For instance, for such research to be successful there is need to travel so as to get access to the community by travelling, printing questionnaires to the responses as well as mailing them. Time factor: the most critical factor for any research in performing his or her task is time. Time management is a fundamental element in attaining success of any activity. For this case, time management is a critical task for the researcher in terms of conducting interviews, waiting for the feedback from the respondents, scheduling the time limit to each chapter among others. Difficulties in getting the correct respond to the administered questionnaires whereby, the respondents were giving false information hence not reliable. Inadequate research materials like the secondary data. Difficulties in attaining access in terms of convincing managers to approve the research interviews. Reflection and Recommendation on How to Enhance Improvement in the Research If I happen to conduct a similar research work in future, there are various elements as well as some minor mark-points that need to be changed. For instance I would prefer to work with data collection device that is of focus on both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. I may decide to limit the use of questionnaires due to their high costs and then venture into a different tool like one on one interview. This is more important because a researcher is likely to be in close conduct with the respondents thus becoming easier for one to come up with a conclusion. Moreover, a good research tool should be able to give in a wider scope of research in order to attain both qualitative and quantitative results. For that case, I would recommend in future the use of interviewing as well as observation methods so as to attain qualitative and quantitative results. On the same note, the use interviewing would probably grant an opportunity to the researcher to directly deal speak to a firefighter on-one-on one basis. Another fundamental point to be remembered in future regarding similar research whenever conducted is that, the researcher out to be keen when developing a topic of study. A research topic like the one handled in this report is actually too wide thus need for a lot of information. Therefore, many sources need to be consulted so as to attain the major goal of the research. There are various topics to be discussed under fire and rescue service. One can as well research on the health and safety measures in the fire and rescue service. For this case, considering the aspect of stress as the major challenge or limitation that attribute to ineffective attaining of the valued set goal of the fire and rescue service was wider to be contended within a certain limit. However, it is recommended in such critical reports that, whenever conducting such kind of research, the researcher needs to be eligible to future expectations. It is an involving process thus much of attention and commitment is needed for effective achievement of the set goal. However, for any research to be made effective there must be a sense of incurring costs as well as need for magnificent time (Moon, 2004 p185). In order to attain future improvement in the fire and rescue service, it is recommended that, regular training programs be introduced on all firefighters. Regular training activities are important because it keeps the firefighters alert as well as updated on the use of fire extinguishing and modern disaster management gadgets. Consistency in training facilitates the ideology of being aware of specific roles and responsibilities regarding fire fighting career as well as fire and rescue services. Conclusion A reflective research conducted has greatly imparted a positive change in the minds of the aspiring firefighters whereby, an open knowledgeable experience was learnt. This reflective critical report has presented the ideology of teamwork as being a fundamental aspect in establishing an effective rescue service. It is through teamwork that the performed duties emerge to be efficient, effective, proficient, and productive. For instance, communication as another fundamental element in this case study has been reflected as being effective only by considering the antiques of teamwork. This reflective critical report has actually created awareness to people on various aspects pertaining fire and rescue activities. A clear perception is created on the essence of imposing knowledge of responsibility to every individual in the fire outbreak vicinity. The report aims at venturing into various duties and responsibilities of the fire and rescue services. A fundamental ideology to note in this report is that, the research conducted basically dwelt on the services rendered to the fire incidences with aim of controlling. The entire process is actually facilitated by the fire and rescue team that their performance if based on the training capacity to nurture and streamline professionalism. In addition, high quality standards of working should be established in the working place to ensure comfort to the workers. There should also be good management system that supports motivation to firefighters so as to control stress that tends to affect most of the firefighters. Reference List Creswell, John. (2003). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. London: Sage Publications. P.71 Grussing, John. (2008) Fire & Emergency Careers, and Fire Safety Info/Teamwork Accessed: May 21, 2001, p.1. from [http://en.allexperts.com/q/Fire-Emergency-Careers-1532/2008/1/teamwork.htm] Moon, Jennifer A (2004). A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: theory and practice. New York: Routledge, p. 185 Team-wise (2010) Benefits of Team Building. Accessed: May 21, 2011 from http://www.team-wise.co.uk/benefits_of_team_building.htm Read More