Community Safety - Fire and Rescue Services - Essay Example

Name: xxxxxxxx Tutor: xxxxxxxx Title: Community Safety: Fire and Rescue Services Institution: xxxxxxxx Date due: xxxxxxxx Introduction The UK community is exposed to several disasters of both human and natural origin. Fires are a global risk that put human life, property, the economy and natural resources at risk. Whenever individuals are exposed to risk of fires, risk prevention becomes a very vital task. Fire safety is a significant community issues and continues to require consistent attention and strategic management. It is vital that the individuals realize that they might contribute to outbreak and the result of a fire. The issue of fire protection and prevention has been the role of emergency services and fire authorities. Traditionally, these organizations have focused on controlling environmental variables so as to minimize chances of a fire outbreak and intensity of the damage it causes. Currently, the responsibility of fire prevention and protection has been widened to include the whole community. It’s the responsibility of emergency and fire service organizations to offer the public education essential to prepare for, prevent and make rational decision in the incident of a fire. Role of UK fire and rescue services in community safety Fire and rescue services have the responsibility of ensuring community safety through fire prevention and response. The fire and rescue services Act 2004 is the British law designed to modernize fire and rescue services in Wales and England. In Britain, the fire and rescue services in every region are under the regulation of local government. This law permits increased national control in fire and rescue services ad presents fire prevention as a legal duty, through requiring local governments and fire departments to promote community fire safety. The Act requires every fire rescue and service to prevent fire and promote fire safety. Majority of fire deaths happens before fire services are reached and the superior way to avoid injuries and death is to minimize the total figure of deliberate fires. The Act also requires the local governments to come up with plans that recognize regions that are at an increased fire risk and target prevention programs in these areas (Britain House of Commons, 2006). Through the fire and rescue Act fire and rescue services are given additional duties of responding to key non-fire emergencies which are a threat to community safety such as terrorist attack and floods. The Act offers the government the authority to coordinate diverse fire and rescue services in case of a key emergency. According to Britain House of Commons (2006), the Act needs the British government to establish orders that direct local and regional fire and rescue services how to equip, plan and respond to key emergencies. These orders stipulate what the fire and rescue services must and must not do when respond to particular forms of emergencies that are not fire related. This permits the government to demonstrate a coordinated response these forms of key non fire tragedies. The Act allows fire and rescue services from diverse regions of UK to work jointly. It also permits pubic fire services to work together with private fire services, like airport fire services, in order to improve efficiency and flexibility. The fire and rescue service Act also permits fire services in diverse regions to work in partnerships in events of severe emergencies without obtaining separate approval of the local government every time. Additionally, fire and rescue services work jointly with other organizations such as private organizations to offer fire safety education in learning institutions. The Act requires the national government to establish a fire and rescue national framework for the fire and rescue services. The framework should explicate the goal of national government for fire and rescue services and offer guidance on precisely what the fire and rescue services are supposed to do indoor to achieve these goals. The Act also permits the national government to intercede when a fire and rescue service does not meet the goals. The fire and rescue service play a greater role of keeping UK citizens safe whilst assisting those in need. The service has several purposes within its community and beyond. The fire and rescue service has the responsibility of putting out and controlling fires at business at homes. Other forms of fire they extinguish are barn fires, field fire and car fires. The service also offers first aid to citizens who have been injured during calamites or those suffering from health emergencies. It is the role of the fire and rescue to rescue victims from fires, flood waters, natural disasters and rescue people trapped in cars after road accidents. Fire and rescue service promote safety through teaching the community on fire prevention measures, how to respond during emergencies and how to reduce risk. The fire and rescue service also makes sure that all buildings, including business and residential houses are up to fire standards. The service makes sure that all fire protection and fighting devices such as smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are functional (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority, 2010). In the non- emergency and emergency stages of an event, the intervention of the fire and rescue service can considerably minimize the effect that firewater runoff and spillages that have environmentally degrading substances might have on the community and the environment at large. Such actions might also offer considerable civic health benefits. Britain House of Commons (2006) notes that the activities of fire and rescue services to safeguard these waters through decontamination will assist protect supplies of drinking water and subsequently public health, thus fulfilling the responsibilities under section 79(1) of fire and rescue services Act 2004.Non-fire events like flooding also results to environment effect from a location which the fire and rescue service might be able to work together with agencies involved in responding to the floods and mitigating the risk. Fire and rescue service pollution control and prevention activities re linked with the fire and rescue services stated goal of protecting public safety. Environmental protection is thus an objective in the fire and rescue services’ dynamic and systematic risk assessment procedure. Role of Fire & Rescue National Framework in community safety The National Framework requires all United Kingdom to produce a local integrate risk management plan that establishes the strategy of the authority in community fire safety, in collaboration other organizations, for minimizing social, economic and commercial impact of fires as well as other emergency events. The fire and rescue national framework 2008-2011 requires every fire and rescue authority to develop a publicly accessible integrated risk management plan that covers a 3 year time span. The integrated risk management plan is frequently revised and reviewed and reflects updated risk information together with assessment of service delivery results, displays how protection, response and prevention activities will be hest utilized to alleviate the impact of hazard on communities in the most cost effective manner and offer details of the way fire and rescue authorities deliver their goals and achieves needs of local communities via working together with partners (The United Kingdom Government , 2009). Whilst the fire and rescue authorities have a legal liability of ensuring that efficient arrangements are established and available to deal with an event that could negatively influence the natural environment via both response and planning, an ethical responsibility also subsists to make sure that the superiority of life of the civic communities are improved via the model f sustainable development. According to the United Kingdom Government, (2009), the safeguarding of environment via development of pollution control and prevention is viewed as a central role in an integrated risk management plan which is intended to improve safety of UK community. The fire and rescue service framework 2008-2011 encourages fire and rescue communities to locally work with partners to recognize targets and that are priorities in their local regions and to provide suitable contributions both in resources and time, to achieve these. In the framework a strong importance is placed on creating community safety to avert emergencies happenings, and working jointly with other provides to make improvements in life safety services. With support from UK government for partnership working amid local public services, its commitment to increased emphasis on the prevention of avoidable disability and morbidity and fire fighters absolutely assessing an expended risk base, substantial social, economic and personal benefits in community is achievable (United Kingdom Government, 2009). Risk assessment and management of health and safety of fire and rescue services The management of safety and health must be an integral portion of managing every element of the fire and rescue service. In an agency is well managed, the safety and health of workers is also managed. When evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of fire and rescue services, the manner in which safety and health is managed must be utilized as an indicator of the entire status of the service. Risk assessment is central to every decision on hazard management. Risk assessment is the procedure of identifying what activities are performed, what risks are presented as a portion of those activities, the probability of the risks happening and the appropriate measure to controlling the risk. Within the fire and rescue service the nature of work implies that majority of these evaluations should be generic. It’s neither desirable nor generic for the evaluations to deal with each permutation of actions that fire and rescue service performs. Nevertheless, there must be assessments, in adequacy but not surplus, for each form of activity to determine adequate building blocks which enable suitable procedures and systems to be put in place and implemented according to the real situation faced within an actual fire event (Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Authority, 2006). Numerous of the available assessments in UK tackle very universal issues such as firefighting in buildings, whilst others tackle very limited situations such as rescues from escalators and lifts. Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Authority (2006) notes that there exists a nationwide set of standard risk evaluations, which the individual fire and rescue authorities take ownership of, incorporating them into their individual procedures and practices. Risk assessments are aimed at identifying and offering some priority to risks faced by the staff of fire and rescue service and also identifying suitable measures of minimizing risks. In addition to the generic risk assessments, the fire and rescue service employees must use the system of dynamic risk management in order to enhance all fire and rescue service staff, especially officers in charge at events, to make a continuous assessment of the risks and hazard during an operation and execute suitable decisions on the most effective and safe response to at that particular time. The dynamic risk assessment identifies that the extent and nature of risks differ during an event and that devotion to a standard course of action can even result to increased hazard to fire fighters and the whole community as well as an inefficiency response. Information, training and instruction are major activities for enhancing fire and rescue services perform their roles in a safe and effective way. Safety and health training must be incorporated into training so that a suitable culture is developed and fire and rescue service staff and the entire community respond to fire events in the manner which maximize their efficiency in tackling the situation as well as their individual safety (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority, 2010). Communication of community fire safety as a strategy of minimizing risk Fire safety organizations must increase public consciousness about fire safety and fires. Creating public awareness on fire risks and prevention assists to improve behavioural changes. The elderly, the disabled and young children are the populaces with the greatest risk of a fire related death or injury. The youth can be trained on fire risk and safety measures and be involved in educating the rest of the community in fire safety. The youth should be informed that fire is a major community issue and affects the social, personal and economic aspects of every community member. Fire safety agencies should direct most of their efforts in educating youth groups who don’t seem to realize the negative impacts of fire to the community. In regard to fire safety, community awareness entail the understanding of probable fire hazards, detection of subsisting fires, preventive measures and appropriate actions to take in case of a fire. Emergency service and fire organizations should aim at increasing public awareness through offering information to make the public knowledgeable especially the youth who are the major causes of deliberate fires about fire safety and fires, and be capable to understand and recognize their risk so as to efficiently safeguard their homes, public utilities and themselves. Creating community awareness will not only be aimed at preventing destruction of property and minimizing fire risks but also at attaining the long term behavioural changes the future. When the youth become informed of fire risks and impacts of fire, they will change the behaviour of initiating fires. Offering the community, particularly youth groups with motivation, skills, and resources enhance them to take action. The level of problems linked to fire in UK needs a greater awareness of general public concerning fire risk (Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Authority, 2006). There is the requirement to bring a broad range of security to public attention. generally several organizations such as fire and recues services, fire and rescue authorities and fire brigades and government authorities such as local authorities are capable of taking responsibility of increasing awareness and educating the general community of fire risks and safety. Department for communities and local government (2007) notes that in order to develop an efficient set of delivery schemes for community safety messages, it is significant to first understand what community safety messages really are, the way they are communicated and as well as to what level the communication is efficient. Fire rescue and government organizations can promote safer behaviour concerning fire safety through enforcing and implementing fire protection laws. Fire safety messages are important in UK due to high number of fires. There are two forms of fire safety messages that fire fighting partners can use, namely reactive and preventive. Preventive messages aim at encouraging community members to take initial measures and prevent fire risks. Reactive messages are aimed at making sure that the community is aware of the way to respond in case of a fire. Community fire safety is effective when performed by a group. Working alone consumes a lot of resources and time and is seldom efficient in minimizing the problem of community fire safety. The most time wise and effective approach is to develop a partnership around a subsisting network. Fire departments must be prepared and committed to offering their consumers with a quality of service that entails appropriate equipment as well as trained personnel to alleviate emergencies. In addition it is the responsibility of jurisdictional fire departments to have a means of proactively assisting communities to prepare for emergencies prior to their occurrence. Minimizing community risk is a vital strategy to operations of UK fire and rescue services. Therefore, fire and rescue services should foster prevention by the utilization of training, information and education ( Kiurski, T, 2008). Commitment to risk minimization should be prioritized in societal activities by inspection officers, support personnel and operational staff. The inspection department of fire and rescue services must enforce actions to safeguard residents from fire at premises, to offer safe escape routes from buildings minimize damage to the environment and property and reduce the hazard presented to operational crews involved in fire intervention activities. Fire and rescue service should gauge how their different initiatives contribute to a safer community so as to make sure that the things they are doing are appropriate in driving down risk. The fire departments should offer value for money, effectiveness and efficiency. The threat to life as a result of fire is radically minimized through offering education on fire causes and preventive measure (Department for communities and local government, 2007). Conclusion Creating public awareness on fire and fire safety is an effective strategy that can be used to minimize deliberate fires in UK. Through communication of fire risks and prevention measures can enable people to effectively respond to fire incidents. Public awareness should be the role of fire and rescue authorities, local governments and other emergency service organizations. Making the community aware of fire risks will help save lives and properties and better respond to fire emergencies. The level of problems linked to fire in UK needs greater awareness of community regarding fire risks and is the need to bring a wide range of fire safety to public attention. Generally several organizations such as fire and rescue authorities, fire and rescue service, fire brigades and government authorities such as local authorities have the role of increasing public awareness through education the general society on fire risks and fire safety. Bibliography United Kingdom Government, 2009, Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008-2011, The stationery office, London. Britain House of Commons, 2006, The Fire and Rescue Act 2004, The Stationary Office, Britain Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Authority, 2006, Community Safety Strategy 2006-2011: Driving down the risk to make Derbyshire a safer place to live, work and visit, United Kingdom. Retrieved on December 7, 2011 from www.derbyshire-fire-service.co.uk. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority, 2010, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Community Safety Strategy 2009-14. Department for communities and local government, 2007, The new performance framework for local authorities and local authority partnerships: single set of national indication. London. Retrieved on December 7, 2011 from http://www.communities.gov.uk. Kiurski, T, 2008, Creating a fire safe community: a guide for fire safety educators, Macmillan, England. Read More