Application of UK Laws in International Fire Services - Example

Law and Global Ethics Name: Institution: Application of UK laws in international fire services Our fire authority has realized great concerns in joining hands with our International Search and Rescue Team. The most important thing for each stakeholder to understand is that we are given authority to perform fire rescue operations across England and that it falls within our mandate to be effective and efficient in our duties. In my briefing paper, I am going to critically discuss how various Fire Brigades within and outside England will take part in international rescue operations. I am also going to bring to light the facilities that we are going to use in order to effectively carry out the fire rescue operations. As you all know that dealing with fire is risky, a detailed and a comprehensive method of how to handle fire-fighting facilities will be considered. Manpower, training, early warning systems, and equipment will be discussed, though briefly. In this report also, I have seen that it is important to discuss how fire-fighting brigade got involved in the Haiti earthquake rescue operations. What’s more, I am going to deal with how English and Welsh laws operate internationally as it applies to firefighting. Some of the laws I’m going to give special attention include-Fire and Rescue Act 2004, Health and Safety Act, UK Human Rights Act, European Convention on Human rights and UN Human Rights Act. I am also going to analyze the role of globalization in shaping the fire rescue operations. Moreover, Identification of how ethical considerations are dealt with in fire rescue operations are going to be discussed. Fire and Rescue operations in England have a lot of roles. The main important role is to fight and prevent fire cases all over the country. Year in, year out, we hear of fire episodes affecting businesses, homes, factories, ships, vehicles and farms or forests. When this happens it always leave the affected with so huge pain and sorrow. Millions of assets are lost every year because of a fire outbreak. Therefore as a fire fighting team, we ensure that we deliver immediate and comprehensive rescue by sending our crew of highly trained fire fighters armed with all manner of fire fighting equipment. Apart from fire fighting, my team also performs rescue operations to affected people by giving them first aid, salvaging the remaining items, and cordoning off the adjacent buildings or areas. We also assist people who are affected by floods, road and rail accidents, and other disasters. We also perform regulatory, statutory, and advisory roles also. We normally carry out extensive education on how to fight fire in case it erupts. Our fire fighting departments in various parts of England performs this noble task free of judge. Our statutory role is to ensure that all buildings, homes, bridges, and ships are inspected to ascertain whether they are constructed in ways that conform to the stipulated regulations in acts and rules concerning fire safety. My company is also considering being part of UK’s international Search and Rescue Team. The main purpose is that since fire calamities are worse off in most countries like Africa and other developing countries, we saw it fit to join efforts with this team. This is a journey to a noble course and our service to humanity through sending our personnel out there will serve as an indication of our readiness to tackle the ever-increasing fire tragedy. The formulation of our plans to join hands with the international rescue team was motivated by the fact that we as a nation must do something to curtail fire disasters, which are always affecting some remote places on this earth. The international rescue team is equipped with modern, state-of –the-art facilities used for fire fighting. Moreover, they employ skilled fire fighting personnel who are capable of dealing with all kind of fire disasters- whether electric fires, fuel fires or bomb explosion fires. Disasters and all manner of accidents happen anytime and anywhere in the world. We are not an exception. Therefore, much as we deal with these grim disasters, we need to be aware that it costs us to be vigilant and ready 365 days a year. Fire accidents normally happen without warning, so therefore high level of alertness is required. Professionalism in this international fighting team is enhanced and there deployment to the affected regions of the world is quick and efficient. Our international fire fighting team was one of the first fire fighting teams registered with the UN and the European Community Mechanism. It has been operational for the last 18 years and still having more strength and vigor to reach out and serve. We have been able to successfully carry out rescue, relief, and research missions around the world. The sorrowful Haiti Earthquake disaster attracted the attention of all firefighting teams around the world to voluntarily help the nation. Since Haiti is developing country with poorly developed firefighting infrastructure, immediate response t o quell the disaster was paralyzed. Therefore our UKISAR was the first international fire fighting team to be deployed in order to offer assistance. The earthquake was of the highest magnitude ever registered in the last 100 years. It turned major buildings down caused massive landslides and bridge s was shattered and heaped many meters away. Vehicles were rumpled against the walls, homes buried in deep sand, roads twisted and fires erupted. This made the rescue operations worse. Our rescue team was deployed in order to offer the much needed fire rescue services. Our dedicated and outstanding team took with them search dogs, Delsar monitoring, concrete drilling equipment , rope rescue, hot cutting equipment, search cameras fitted with probes, shoring equipment, portable cutting facilities and GPS machines. Our personnel also displayed various skills like-search and rescue of victims trapped inside burning buildings, communications to effectively ascertain what to do in the shortest time as fire rescue deals with beating time to save live and medical services. Skills like disaster awareness, incident security, collapsed structure operations, environment skills and humanitarian skills were displayed during the blood chilling operation. Facts showed that almost 316000 Haitians died, 300000 seriously injured and over a million left homeless. This is shocking. The Haitian earthquake greatly destroyed cities like Port-au-Prince where notable landmarks like Presidential Palace, National Assembly and Cathedral were brought down by fire. Our team responded swiftly responded to Haiti’s government plea for humanitarian aid and firefighting services. Besides the Haiti issue, I am going to brief you about how laws in England and Wales operate internationally in order to see to it that effective and efficient fire fighting operations are provided. The first act I am going to deal with is the Fire and Safety Act of 2004. This is an act of parliament in UK. It formally received the Royal Assent in 22nd July 2004 and became operational from 1st October 2004. This act is only applicable in Great Britain and number of provisions of this act is only applicable in Wales and England. This act replaced the Fire Services Act 1947 and it brings clarification of duties and powers of UK fire authorities to- promote fire hazards safety, protect citizens and property from fire, deal with emergencies like flooding and acts of terrorism, rescue people from accident incidents on roads and seas and do all other things that pertain responding to the needs of communities. Health and Safety Act of 1974, is a major legislation, which affects the health and safety in the UK. At the start of 2011, the act defined the main structure and authority for regulation, motivation and imposition of workplace safety, health and welfare in the UK. The act defines the main duties of e4mployees, contractors, suppliers and employers in control of the place of work. It enables a broad cluster of regulations, which have generated a broad system of some specific provisions relevant for various disciplines and industries. The Act established a general systematic procedure of all public supervision. It also refers to the law of the EU when it comes to the application of laws (House of Commons Papers (2006). The way in which this act applies to fire services is that it ensures that the health and safety of firefighters is safeguarded. As we all know that fire fighting is very risky, laws that protects the fire fighters have to be effected so that they should be covered in case thing go Hayward. It also provides safety and health for those whose premises got burned down for example students whose dormitory or classes got burned downed. However, the Act ensures that each and every employee has a duty to ensure that the health and safety y of employees against fire or any disaster is upheld. Employers also are required to carry out consultation with trade unions representatives on matters that deal with safety and health at the work place. Teachers or principles should, for example be warned of exposing pupils or any school worker or property to a fire hazard. The Human Rights Act 1998 is also an Act of Parliament of UK. It received the Royal Assent on 9th November 1998 and effected on 2nd October 2000. The main aim of this act is to make illegal any public body to carry out its activities in ways that are inconsistent with the provision, unless the exact wording of the very Act suggests that they have no other option. The Act require each and every UK judge to consider the decisions of what is called the Strasbourg court and thereby interpret the legislation comprehensively in line compatible with the agreed upon convention. The fire rescue and operation team follows this act to the later by ensuring that all their operations should not infringe human rights. We adhere to this act as it stipulates that we need to perform our operations in a safe and right way. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is one of the international act or treaty, which aims at protecting human rights and freedoms in Europe. The treaty was formed in 1950 by the Council of Europe. This convention was effected in 1953. By the all the Council of Europe members are the main signatories to the convention whereas the new members are supposed to ratify the existing convention at the earliest time possible (Alvince, 2002). The convention stipulates that any person who deems that his or her right has been violated can take legal action. This convention protects individuals from all manner of human rights violations. Our Fire Brigade team will ensure that the provisions of the convention are followed and implemented. We need no to violate the human rights in the course of our operations, but rather we need to safeguard them. This is because violation of any of the provision will result in a court case. The team should also come with ways of dealing with operations that seems to be risky – for example during a rescue drill; all people should be evacuated from the vicinity in order to avoid injuries. The UN Human Right s Act is a UN Act, which stipulates that every individual have a right to life, security and liberty and should be respected. This act also espouses the fact that every worker has a right to rest and to work at reasonable hours in reasonable conditions. Workers also must be provided with good food, given health services, good accommodation services and the right to be assured of security in case of illness, unemployment, widowhood, disability or being void of livelihood because of circumstances under ones control. There are very many provisions of the UN human rights act but I have sampled out the ones, which are applicable to the compliance of the team. The team should ensure that at no point should they perform acts which will result to the lose of life of the individuals. During fire rescue operations, the team should ensure that human life ifs precious and should be highly safeguard by mobilizing individuals from danger zones. Any employee of the team who intentionally cause the death of a victim because of recklessness is eligible for prosecution. Our employees also should be furnished with good housing, health facilities, food and security, as all these are stipulate by the human rights act. Failure of the team to do this will result to the violation of the fundamental human rights. Globalization Let me now discuss about globalization. To start with, globalization is the integration of world’s technology, culture, trade and investments. The aim of globalization is to increase goods, material wealth, and trade volume and labour migration. Globalization also describes a way in which various societies, economies and cultures in the world are integrated through transportation, communication and trade. The term can also be used to mean the circulation of ideas, culture or languages because of integration. The effect of globalization in trade is that it has increased trade volumes between our country and the rest of the world. Globalization has enabled us o tap the widest market avenues. In terms of culture, globalization has lead to spread of different cultures worldwide and this has lead to cultural integration, which has promoted peace and understanding around the world. Where there is peace, there is love and where there is love would you find willingness to invest (Beck, 2002). Globalization has also led to advancement in education. A student in Kenya, for example cam study Oxford University modules while at Nairobi and likewise a student in Australia can comfortably enjoy accounting class in Edinburgh University. The issue of globalization has indeed mead education to be accessible everywhere around the world provide that one is connected to the internet. Globalization has also improved the migration levels. People in the third world countries are now able to migrate to UK in search of jobs and better livelihood, thanks to globalization. Of greatest concern to globalization is the reducing of the world into a global village. This has been made possible by the use of Global Information Systems like submarine fiber optic cable, which links all the countries in the world via a internet cable, laid down the subterranean depths of great seas reaching the most distant shores off UK. Mobile telephones, too are greatly improving the effects of globalization. With globalization we can achieve a lot greater in enhancing the efficiency of our operations. Globalization will enables us to link with our international partners in order to improve the effectiveness of our operations. Decentralisation of our offices to other countries has also been encouraged by globalization. This will ensure immediate response to any fire incident. The issue of having one central office will be inconvenient because it will be difficult for us to reach the area of tragedy at the right time. Therefore more offices have to be established in vulnerable zones like a number of African countries, Caribbean islands, Oriental Asia, Eastern Europe and Polynesia. These countries are still far flung from enjoying the effects of globalization. Because of these we want to make them feel part of global spectrum by assisting them in terms of tragedy prevention. Globalization will also enable us to carry out intensive training programmes between international teams. The use of advanced training equipments will enable us pass the right skill to every participant worldwide. Equipments used for fire fighting will be made available in all countries. It will also be advisable if we establish assembly or even fire fighting equipment-manufacturing plants in some countries in order to improve the efficiency of cross border operations. The United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination is one of the international emergencies tackling system. It was created in 1993. UNDAC was specifically formed to help the UN and national governments of all the disaster-affected countries on how to solve the problems caused by the disaster. It also assists in the coordination and planning of international relief either at the national level at emergency site (Creighton, et al 2007). Ethical considerations Before emergency, we conduct emergency response drills. These drills can be supervised via teleconferencing facilities. Emergency drills in UK can be followed by the team’s personnel in other countries. In case of any back up to carry out successful drills, we usually involve other international teams in coordination. During emergency, the teams will carry out communication using advanced communication gadgets in order to effectively carry out operations. Camera probes are used to view those blocked by the debris of burning or collapsing buildings. Search dogs will be of great use when locating individuals who could be trapped deep within the debris, thanks to their highly developed sense of smell. First aid teams will also be assembled and ambulances brought close by. In case of a fire tragedy or earthquake, UNDAC works hand in hand with the international rescue team in which we are the member to deploy rescue teams within 48 hours any where around the world. These services are provided for free and they are affected upon the due request of UN Humanitarian Coordinator or the affected government. Coordination, assessment and information management are the major mandates of UNDAC in any major emergency operations. In response to the Haiti earthquake in 2010, UNDAC response teams set up and coordinated the management of OSOCC (On-site Operations Coordination Centre) in order to help in coordination of International Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) operation teams taking part in responding to that disaster. Our rescue team also worked hand in hand with the UNDAC in coordination of rescue operations (Turner Publishing Company, 2000). Before emergency missions, UNDAC teams first conduct disaster preparedness missions. These missions are used to evaluate the overall national disaster preparedness and the capacity of response and specific plans requested from a particular country. When coordinated properly the fire tragedy response will be a success. Our team should have capacity to handle any nature of fire catastrophe. Equipment s must be ensured that they are working properly. Moreover, globalization should be embraced as it will enable us to respond quickly to international calamities faster. Working hand in hand with UNDAC will ensure the success of our team’s fire fighting operations. A lot of ethical considerations have to be considered during the operation. First, the rescue team must perform the operation without bias or prejudice. All victims are the same and require the same assistance; therefore the team should help all those who are in need. Issues like leaving somebody trapped inside the building because of immature conclusions that he wont make it are inhuman and the team will ensure that this vie is removed. Immediate response to saving one’s life or property should be effected in accordance to professionalism and good conduct. No employee of our team should be allowed to use unorthodox means of rescuing someone or property. The recommended procedures have to be upheld when carrying out any rescue. The acts stipulated above should act as guidelines or roadmaps to both the employers and employees of the fire fighting team. Therefore no one should violate them. Once the victims have been rescued, they should first be given first aid before they are taken to the hospital. It is an ethical thing to give immediate medical assistance to the victim immediately after he or she have been rescued. References Alvince, H. 2002, The Fire and Rescue Service, London: Turner Publishing Company. Beck, U. 2000, What is globalization? London: Wiley-Blackwell. Creighton, B. and Rozen, P. 2007, Occupational Health and Safety in Victoria, London: Federation Press. House of Commons Papers 2006, The Fire and Rescue Service, London: The Stationery Office. Levine, S. 1999, Wildland fires and the environment: a global synthesis, New York: UNEP/Earthprint. Turner Publishing Company 2000, International Association of Fire Chiefs, New York: Turner Publishing Company. , Read More