Fire and Rescue Services in the United Kingdom - Assignment Example

London’s safety plan The role of any fire and rescue service is to provide a safer place for everyone to work, live and visit. As fire fighting has been traditionally at the forefront of any country or state, there has been a continual improvement in modern services on fire and rescue with the main functions of prevention, protection and response. This has been made possible through promoting safety in the community by means of events works and education in addition to attending various emergencies and incidents from buildings through collisions and fires in road traffic to chemical spills and flooding in industries. The main objective of any fire and rescue service is the reduction in the number of deaths and deliberate fires which is usually set by the government and adopted by different authorities within the country or the state (Local government of UK, 2010). There are various fire and rescue services in United Kingdom that are provided by combined fire authorities or fire services provided through metropolitan and the county councils that follow the guidelines provided by the government. The only regional fire service is the London fire brigade. The fire and rescue services are based on the 2004 Act on fire and rescue services that replaced the 1947 Act on fire services. The duties of the fire and rescue services are preparations on fire fighting and protection of people and properties from the risks of fires, promoting the fire safety, rescuing people from the accidents on road traffic and dealing with other emergencies that are said to be specific such as terrorist attacks and flooding. Data is usually collected nationwide on any incident that has been attended which includes fires and collisions on road traffic, information on operation on fire and rescue services such as safety and health, recruitment and retention, activities on fire prevention which include fire safety on community and premises audits on fire and safety (UK National statistics, 2011). The national framework on fire and rescue sets out the objectives and priorities of the government for the services on fire and rescue. These objectives and priorities act as guidelines to be adhered to by the authorities on fire and rescue. The framework makes the setting of objectives and priorities clear by stating the expectations of the government on the services provided by fire and rescue authorities, stating what the government expects the fire and rescue services to do and the kind of support that the government is providing in order to assist in meeting these objectives. This framework provides a set of opportunities and challenges encountered by the service, the government and its partners for a specified duration of three years, that is, from 2008 to 2011 (Communities and Local Government, 2008). On the other hand, the London safety plan also sets out priorities based on the government guidelines for the same duration of three years, that is, from 2010 to 2013. The Mayor’s priorities set in the London plan on safety are delivered for an effective and efficient fire rescue service with observed reduction on spending in public sector (LFB, 2010). This essay discusses the conformance and non-conformance of the London safety plan that incorporates the 2010 to 2013 IRMP to the guidelines provided by the government in terms of protection, prevention and response, resilience, workforce and diversity and finally, the governance and improvement. London safety plan has publicly produced an integrated risk management plan for a time span of three years as from 2010 to 2013. Prevention is the first strategic aim in the priorities of the London safety plans. The plan is aimed at engaging with the communities in London in order to educate and inform the people about the ways of reducing the fire risks and any other emergencies. This is achieved by new and ongoing activities on community safety, mainstreaming of the activities that are in existence, introduction of a strategy for community safety, a continued development of work through partnership, maximization of the community action task force, team and also station staff activities in order to reduce fires and a safety programme that is targeted to the community which is part of the Paralympics and Olympics (LFB, 2010). The second aim is protection and focuses on regulation and influencing of the built environment for the protection of people, environment and properties from harm. The targets set under protection include regulation of structures such as buildings for protection of the community from fire and also influencing the decision makers, planners and designers to ensure that safety is improved for the Londoners. The achievement of protection is done through a regulatory strategy on fire safety and working in partnership with private and public sectors, targeted prosecutions and enforcement work as the information in buildings is obtained through auditing, making sure that the design and construction of sites incorporates regulatory fire engineering and safety regulations and modern sprinklers are used in structures as they are effective in limiting the spreading of fire (LFB, 2010). The third aim is response which entails preparations and planning for the emergences which might occur and also making an effective, high quality and resilient response to these emergences. The strategies employed are ensuring that the resources are being used in a well-organized and useful manner in arriving at the scene of the incidence as quickly as possible and also to improve and deliver London’s plans that are developed through partnership in addressing the identified risks. This is achieved through creation of four support centres for incidences where fire extinguishing facilities will be erected, creation of five other rescue centres for co-location of rescue equipment and reduction of whole units for incident response from four to two and elevating the number of the alternate crewed to seven from six (LFB, 2010). The three aims of prevention, protection and response conform to the guidelines of the government through a clear demonstration of how the three will be used best in the impact of risk mitigation on the communities in a manner that is cost effective. In addition, prevention, protection and response provide details on the ways in which the authorities on fire and rescue will deliver their objectives and also meet the needs of the communities through partnership (Communities and Local Government, 2008). The fourth aim of the London safety plan is focused on resources and involves risk management by flexibly, effectively and efficiently use of resources and improving the use of public money continuously. The strategic objectives on resources are performance management and improvement of services delivered in a continuous way and cost minimization with provision of value for Londoner’s money while working with others. This is achieved through establishment of new fire control centres that are purpose-built where the centres will have nationally trained skilled personnel. Construction of these centres will ensure that call handlers are able to identify and plot the locations on maps in case of any incident (LFB, 2010). This conforms to resilience where the skilled personnel are able to communicate in a regular manner to the local government and the community through the control centres using the appropriate tools. In addition, the authorities are based on local government and community established contracts for a long term and secure maintenance of their responsibilities in the new dimensional resources (London Action Trust, 2010). The fifth aim of the London plan focuses on principles which ensure that they operate in accordance with their values while ensuring that diversity, safety, sustainability and partnership is running through all the Londoners activities. The strategies on principles are increasing of the workforce diversity for high quality services provision, to coordinate with others for a safer London, review of working practices in a continuous way for keeping the Londoners workforce safe. This can be achieved by delivering an improvement plan on partnership, delivering a development strategy which is sustainable, implementation of a strategy on national diversity and equality and a new framework on fire and rescue services framework (Improvement and Development, 2008). This conforms to the government’s guidelines on workforce and diversity there is implementation of the strategy on fire and rescue services requirements diversity and equality. However there is non-conformance as the implementation strategy on action plan is not viewed at least annually for reporting on the members about the progress (LFB, 2010). The aim on people in London’s safety plan involves working together to ensure high quality services delivery and a positive and safe environment for all within the organization. The strategic objectives include ensuring the staffs acquires the right skills and knowledge in order to perform their jobs, development of a healthy and positive culture with leadership characterised by effectiveness. This is achieved through adoption of a leadership strategy which reflects Londoners specific needs, provision of future training options through adoption of alternative delivery during training and a continued delivery of training characterised with knowledge and skills required in the job (LFB, 2010). This conforms to the governance and improvement guidelines where there is a demonstration of changes in provision of services by reflecting the needs and views of all in the local community (Communities and Local Government, 2008). Conclusion The IRMP has led to reforming and improvement of the works provided by fire and rescue services. This has resulted to a significant reduction of deliberate fires and fire deaths. London safety plan has enabled the Londoners to use the resources in a flexible manner for protection, prevention and response measures which conform to the government’s guidelines in order to deliver improved outcomes and meet the challenges. References Communities and Local Government. (2008). Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008–11, Department for Communities and Local Government. Wetherby, West Yorkshire, Pp. 1-44. Improvement and Development. (2008). Agency Key principles: Fire and Rescue Service Equality Framework. The chief fire officers association. Pp. 1-22. Local government of UK. (2010). Fire and rescue services. Viewed on 11th December, 2012 from: http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=9485004 London Fire Brigade (LFB). (2010). London Safety Plan 2010/2013, London and emergency planning authority. Mayor of London, Pp. 1-84 London Action Trust. (2010). Community Safety and Crime Reduction in London Who Is Responsible for Community Safety? Viewed on 11th December, 2012 from: http://www.lat.org.uk/new/CommunitySafety/CommunitySafety-A%20London%20Overview.shtml UK National statistics. (2011). Topic guide to: Fire and Rescue Services. Viewed on 11th December, 2012 from: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/people-places/fire-and-rescue/fire-and-rescue-services Read More