The Lancashire Fire and Rescue Organizational Assessment - Case Study Example

Name) (Student’s number) (Institution) (Grade/Course) (Module number) (Tutor’s Name) 17th Dec 2009 Introduction The Lancashire Fire and Rescue department lists five strategic objectives as the guidelines to the department’s service delivery. These are: reduce the number of emergency incidents and their consequences; ensure a safe, healthy, competent and representative workforce; reduce our impact on the environment; help build stronger, healthier and more sustainable communities and deliver affordable, value for money services. These core objectives are to be achieved with the aid of five key priorities namely: reduce risk enhance resilience tailor services to meet local needs promote equality and diversity and improve value for money The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008–11 is a document that was drafted to provide a guideline from fire and rescue service authorities to follow in adopting policies to continuously improve on service delivery and enhance performance. In order to deliver and meet the objectives, the guideline has six core elements as follows through which individual fire and rescue services departments would base their own integrated risk management plans: Policy Organising Planning and Implementing Measuring performance Review Performance Auditing This first part of this paper analyzes the validity and benefits of the documents against each element, appraise the appropriateness of any QA system and reviews the application of evidential outputs from the QA systems to ensure consistent proof of quality enhancement within the organisation. Policy The department has incorporated a number of polices to facilitate the delivery of services to the community and ensure the proper function of the department as a whole. In this respect, The Lancashire department has a number of policies pertaining to training the community, fire prevention, employee safety among others. One of the most visible areas that the department has scored highly is educating and creating awareness in the community on fire fighting and prevention measures. Prevention is one of the main policies that the department has given weight and dedicated alt of resources. As a result, there have been reduced cases of fire year in year out recording a 26% decrease between 2007 and 2008. The community has also learnt well from the awareness program as shown by the increase in the number of uninjured person in such fire incidents increasing by 50% since 2005 (Lancashire Fire and Rescue, 2008). Prevention: The Lancashire department has embarked more on preventing the incidence of fire rather than fighting it. In collaboration with the local police and local authorities, the department works as delivery partner for the Princes where they give visits to school children and train them of fire fighting and prevention measures. The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008–11 calls for increased measures in fire prevention. According to the report, “Fire prevention programs will remain at the heart of the work of Fire and Rescue Authorities in local communities. In taking forward this work authorities will be seeking to influence the behaviour of many of the same groups within communities as other public service providers – for example the elderly, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, those living in poor quality housing, drug and alcohol users and those involved in crime and disorder.” Fitzgerald (2004) says that the core element in fighting fires is the demarcation between fire fighting procedures and activities with fire fighting procedures and activities. The fact that the department has identified the need and differences in fighting and preventing fire meets the international standards in fire fighting and control. The department has thus organized different fire prevention strategies and training for the community depending on the type of fire. There are tow broad categories; home fires and outdoor fires. Categorization of these fires helps in clear articulation of knowledge and resources in fire fighting and prevention. Again, each type of fire carries with it its own set of ideas when it comes to community training and prevention measures. Safety in home fires is handled through a number of measures: Smoke alarms- these are offered free of charge by the department and are fixed within the house to detect any smoke and warn the occupants of the house. In fact, research shows that one is twice more likely to die of fire at home if there is no fixed fire alarm than if one was fixed. The alarm gives an early warning of fire by detecting higher than normal concentrations of smoke in the air thereby allowing occupants time to react and escape. The department offers and fixes free smoke alarms in every household. Households re also trained on the maintenance of such devices to ensure that they are in good working order all the time. Hard of hearing alarms: these are the same as smoke alarms only that they tend to serve people with hearing difficulties and the deaf. For those with hearing difficulties, the alarm sound is louder while those for the deaf are fitted with a bright light that flashes in case of detecting smoke. The alarm also allows one to use text relay services to communicate with hearing people. The department, in collaboration with the national charity for the deaf has been conducting awareness programs that argues people to test their fire alarms and ensures that they are compatible with their hearing abilities. Escape plan: this simply entails educating households on the importance of having an escape plan in case of a fire outbreak that involves all members of the household. Officers from the fire department are involved in training and helping households develop efficient and working escape plans. Electricity safety: electric wiring faults and faulty electric appliances are some of the leading causes of home and industrial fires. The Lancashire fire department provides a comprehensive guideline to the public on how to ensure that such fires risks are kept at bay. For instance, the guideline argues households to use appropriate fuses that are recommended for a particular type of appliances depending on the power requirement to avoid fuses heating up and blowing up which is a very viable fire risk. Bed time routine: this is similar to the escape plan. It advices households on routine check ups for fire risks such as burners left on, and unused electric appliances left on. The guide recommends that they should be switched off before bed time. Cooking safety: Over half of all home accidental fires originate from cooking. The department offers a guideline to households to follow in order to avoid chances of fires from cooking mishaps. Rented accommodation: the guideline advices landlords to be responsible for the maintenance of the building and ensuring all fire prevention and cautions are in place. This is also a requirement by the law which says that the landlord should ensure that gas installations are in good working condition and that all the furniture and furnishings in the building meet fire resistance regulations. Smoking: the department lists smoking as the highest ranking cause of death by fire. The department offers some tips to smokers as follows: Outdoor fires are basically different from home fires in the causes, effects and prevention and control measures. The Lancashire fire department makes it a point to highlight all the possible causes of outdoor fires and provides a comprehensive guideline on care and ways to ensure safety in such situations. These are listed as: Barbecue: this follows the same guidelines as for in door cooking highlighting the causes of fire and the need to avoid distractions while cooking. Bonfires: these have far reaching effects other than fires only. Te type of material of rubbish being burned determines the type of smoke and fumes being released in the atmosphere. Such smoke may have far reaching health and environmental risks. Again, excessive smoke may blur vision and pose a traffic risk to drivers. Given that the fire ad rescue services cover all types of safety, the guidelines are timely. However, it is important o note that other requirements pertaining to bonfires are covered by the law through the environmental protection act of 1990 and the highway act of 1980. Fireworks: these are mostly used for celebrations. Fireworks may pose a fire problem if they are handled incorrectly or the devices are faulty. As such, users should ensure that the fireworks being used meet the required national standards and that all safety concerns have been observed. Resilience The scope and dangers of fires and risks that are relevant to the department have increased over the last few years as prompted by the threat of terrorism and other modern dangers. The Lancashire fire department has responded well to these new challenges by enhancing the training of employees to equip them with knowledge and skills to handle these new threats. Again, to increase the department’s reach, it works in collaboration with neighbouring fire departments to handle large-scale emergencies and exchange of knowledge and ideas. Unfortunately, the emergency cases are rare thereby making evaluation of such trained skills and knowledge almost impossible. The department has also been working with other stakeholders to achieve their objectives in the environmental front. As a significant regional player in environmental conservation, the department has a Carbon Management Plan for buildings and vehicles that target to reduce carbon emission from vehicles and buildings by 20% by 2013. Given that fires are a major source of carbon emission and other harmful gases, fighting fire in itself works along way in conserving the environment. Planning and implementing While polices may be good looking on paper, the actual implementation and planning for their implementation requires a lot of dedication and more effort than drafting the polices. In realization of this, the department incorporates the community as the greatest stakeholders in informing and education them on issues pertaining to fire ad emergency situations. As aforementioned, prevention is the cornerstone in Lancashire’s policies in fighting fires and averting emergency situations and incidences. The Lancashire department prides of visiting over 50 000 between the year two to year six children. While these children have very little potential in fighting fires, they are an integral part in prevention of the same. Fire fighters consider young children as potential causes of domestic fire outbreaks given that they are not fully aware of the risks posed by literally playing with fire or any hazardous situations. Such visits to children entail sensitizing them on the outlines issues in the prevention policy. To implement some of the requirements made in the Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008–11, the department has to modify some of the requirements and tailor make them to suit the specific needs of the Lancashire community. For instance, in Blackpool, most of the residents are elderly fellows and other households are of high occupancy thereby increasing the risk of fires in that are. As a result, the department conducts inspections at a higher frequency more than the recommend one in what is named “Beat sweeps” which are also aimed at reducing antisocial behaviour. The focus on training has shifted from adults to the impoverished youth who are prone to committing crime. In the Blackpool area also, the minority young people are impoverished. As such, they tend get involved in crime more and are in need to training than the elderly who are also prone to causing accidental fires in their homes. As such, the shift in focus according to the department has reduced the number of fatalities and reported cases of emergencies. Measuring performance Being a service industry, output measures in any fire and rescue services program are not physically measurable. However, there key performance indicators that show the success or failure of the policies being implemented. Such indicators provide an evaluation direction for the department. The measures in the prevention and awareness campaigns by the authority have reduced the number of fire incidences in the county by 26% since 2005. The number of deaths and injuries has also gone up. The number of person able to respond well to fire incidences and escape uninjured doubled up since 2005. Unfortunately, the number of fatalities to fire-fighters remains unpredictable as the scope of fire risks increases with increased threat in terrorism. Such improvements pinpoints to the success of awareness campaigns carried it by the authority and household training on preventing and controlling fire. Review Performance The department through the local county is constantly assessing and trying out various ways to increase the value for taxpayers’ money without compromising safety and service delivery. Efficiency is a key concern in the department that examines utilization of all resources from employees to fire engines. This helps in cutting down on unwanted costs and doing away with unnecessary spending. For instance, the department is working towards reducing the number of hoax calls and false alarms. This is being worked by sensitizing the public on he effects of such hoax calls and also implementing further verification of emergency calls. Auditing The department is constantly carries out internal audits on its progress and performance. Additionally, the Comprehensive Area Assessment is reviewing its level of service delivery and customer satisfaction. Such reviews are constant and are aimed at ensuring continuous improvement in service delivery and increasing the value of quality for taxpayers’ money. An external audit by Oneplace, an independent reviewer of local public services, awards the department points as follows. The department has also been carrying out internal audits as noted in the Lancashire IRMP for 2009. A case in hand is the valuation of the availability of risk information to all staff. The report notes that the authority realized, through an internal audit, that it does not have adequate means to deliver risk information to all employees. A number of recommendations were made that include collaborating with other government agencies in cases of responding to distress calls and new charges to be levied to recipients of services. Managing performance 4 out of 4 Use of resources3 out of 4 Managing finances 3 out of 4 Governing the business 3 out of 4 Managing resources 4 out of 4 Appraisals The Fire and Rescue Service National framework document 2008 -2011 calls for an integrated approach to prevention, protection and response in order to enhance service delivery. To achieve this, the report calls for research into the local, regional and international areas to collect relevant data. For the Lancashire department, collaboration has only been maintained at the regional level where it seeks to forge partnerships with neighbouring and fire and rescue departments in case of large-scale operations. As such, evidence of collection of international data and any exchange of knowledge beyond the local and regional levels is absent. However, the size of the county and the number of people residing there is relatively small (1.4 million people) to seek international collaboration while the same can be obtained locally. The Lancashire fire and rescue department is committed to ensure a safe, healthy, competent and representative workforce. These efforts are supplemented by the government’s support to fire and rescue departments to formulate their own Integrated Risk Management Plans (IRMPs). According to the audit by Oneplace, the department has very low sickness levels and therefore fire-fighters and other staff have excellent training and support to deliver quality service. The Lancashire IRMP notes that the department is keen on availing all risk information to its employees involved in service delivery. In the Blackpool region, the department conduct more patrols as the region is prone to more crimes and has is a high risk area when it comes to fire. This shows the department’s commitment to safer neighbourhoods and not basically a response unit to distress calls. However, labelling Blackpool as a high risk area just because it houses impoverished youth and the elderly is social stereotyping that may hinder the residents’ willingness to cooperate with the department. References Fitzgerald, R. (2004). Building fire performance analysis, (New York: John Wiley and Sons) Lancashire Fire and Rescue, (2009). (Retrieved online on 24th Dec 2009 from) http://www.lancsfire.gov.uk Oneplace. (2009). Lancashire Combined Fire Authority organizational assessment 2009, (Retrieved online on 24th Dec 2009 from) http://oneplace.direct.gov.uk/infobyorganisation/organisation/Pages/default.aspx?orgId=985 Read More