Child Fire Safety Awareness Project in Birmingham - Case Study Example

CHILD FIRE SAFETY AWARENESS PROJECT IN BIRMINGHAM 1. INTRODUCTION Planning for a project that intends to improve fire safety awareness amongst young children in primary school requires a lot of consideration since there a number of factors involve. Primarily, the projects should work in accordance with the latest organizational and national Risk Management Plan. The aim to educate primary school children in Birmingham is another concern because it will require additional staff that would handle the delivery of the project on a full time basis. The recruitment alone will entail some expenses and there are policies that need to be complied with. In addition, the resources that will be use during the implementation of the project may be too costly and may not be considered by management. In order to realise this project and achieve its objectives, it should be planned following strategies and best practices in recruitment, procurement, project implementation and evaluation. These may include reviewing the organisation’s latest IRMP, National Procurement Strategy for the Fire and Rescue Service, organizational recruitment policy, equality and diversity legislation, use of project management tool like S.M.A.R.T, and applying the principles of operational assurance. The following section discusses the recruitment process for the new community fire safety practitioners, the cost of recruitment, and their nature of employment. The fourth section discusses the resources required by the project and their corresponding cost while the rest of the sections discuss the job description of the new staff, the legal and health issues that must be address on their entry to the organisation. In addition, the project management tool that will be use to monitor and evaluate the success of the project along with the application of the principles of operation assurance to the fire safety awareness project will be discuss. 2. THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS The national government already set out a national framework for the fire and rescue service and in Birmingham, the fire and rescue authority is already accustomed to providing fire safety education to children (West Midlands Fire Service 2010a, p.1). The need for additional community fire safety practitioners therefore can be easily accommodated and the search for a qualified applicant can begin. There are several steps in the recruitment process and these may include determining the exact qualification required by a community fire safety practitioner. The first step in the process of recruitment is defining the role and responsibilities of the new community fire safety practitioners beforehand. These include regular school visits and delivery of fire safety education programmes to children at the primary school. Facilitate children’s visit to the Fire Station and Safety Centres, participate in school events and other community programmes, and providing materials and resources (West Midlands Fire Service 2010b, p.1). Since the fire and rescue service in Birmingham area has an official website where job openings and vacancies are being posted, the details or qualifications of applicants may be posted to the same web page. However, it may be also necessary to advertise the requirements in the newspaper since not a lot of people have access to the Internet or not very familiar with the website. At this point, the project can use the FRS media relations team to include the requirements in their regular press release concerning community safety initiatives. As much as possible, the project will try to recruit the additional personnel without additional cost to the FRS. Interested applicants will be given an application form to complete. This form will provide the FRS with the applicant’s personal details, skills, and experience in relation to PQA (Personal Qualities and Attributes) that are commonly required in a fire fighter. In the next stage, the applicant will be asked to complete a declaration form where the applicant can declare any criminal conviction. The FRS may opt to verify the declaration through CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) to ensure that information entered is correct. The applicant should also accomplish an occupational health questionnaire so the FRS can review and assess health issues that may affect the applicant’s performance as a community fire safety officer. Since the fire service is complying with requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act, the organisation welcomes all applicants including those with disability, women, black or white for as long as they have the skills and experience required (West Midlands Fire Service 2010b, p.1). A written ability test may be given to the applicant to find out or asses his or her understanding of the information written and test his or numerical and problem solving ability. To determine the applicant’s suitability in the position, the applicant will be interviewed by the two members of the staff and will be asked questions concerning skills and attributes. If the applicant succeeds in meeting the requirements of the interview, he or she will then be asked to submit details of previous and current employer and will be invited to attend a medial and fitness assessment. This medical assessment includes blood pressure, urinalysis, eye test, breathing, and hearing test (West Midlands Fire Service 2010b, p.1). On successful completion of the requirements, the selected applicant will be given a contract of employment including the start date of the training. This training includes technical knowledge, first aid, and community fire safety work. Upon completion of the course, the selected applicant will be trained to appropriate level of competence and safety so that he or she can participate effectively as part of the fire and rescue service. The new recruits will be under probation for several months and their performance will be assessed regularly. Upon successful completion of the probation period, they will be given a confirmation of their appointment and can now proceed to the next stage of skills development training, which is about 2 to 3 years (West Midlands Fire Service 2010b, p.1). 3. THE COST OF RECRUITMENT and NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT The cost of recruitment as far as the project of concern may not be high, as applicants will go through the standard recruiting process of the organisation. Since there are no direct expenses incurred in advertising, the cost of recruitment will come generally from the cost of application forms, HR personnel, medical examination, and training, which is approximately £12,000 for both community fire safety practitioners. As mentioned earlier, the successful applicants will be given a contract of employment and training. On successful completion of all initial requirements, the selected applicants will be posted as community fire safety officer and while on duty and developing the skills gained from the initial training, the new recruit will be assess continuously. Final assessment will be made after 9 months and if the new recruit is successful, he or she will be given a confirmation of appointment. The new recruit can now begin studying for NVQ Level 3 Operations in the Community (West Midlands Fire Service 2010b, p.1). The fire and rescue believe that skills development should not stop thus the new employee will be part of future programmes. 4. OTHER RESOURCES REQUIRED Aside from the community fire safety practitioners, other resources required by the project include transportation, communication equipment, demonstration materials, electronic equipments, and printed campaign materials. Transportation for the community fire safety practitioners will be mandatory since they will have to travel from school to school within Birmingham. They have to constantly coordinate their efforts with local officials and school’s management and participate in other community initiatives. Similarly, communication equipment such as radio or portable phones is obligatory because the practitioners need to constantly report and coordinate with the FRS and communicate with other agencies. Demo materials such as burners, fire hose, extinguishers, ladders, and so on can be shared while electronic equipments such as portable computer, projectors, and sound equipment may be purchase exclusively for the project. Sharing of electronic equipment is not feasible because the programme to raise fire safety awareness amongst children in primary school is a full time endeavour. Similarly, printed campaign materials should be unique to the project and therefore paying for printing services is unavoidable. In general, the cost of these of equipment and materials will vary depending on the quantity required. For instance, if printed campaign materials such as flyers, fosters, and booklet is to be distributed on a per school basis, then the quantity of the items will vary on the number of students. In contrast, equipments such as portable computer and projectors are fixed, as it can be use from school to school. The cost of these resources equipment is estimated to be around £180, 000 for the whole year as tabulated below. Procurement these materials and equipment will be subject to the guidance contained in the National Procurement Strategy for Fire and Rescue Service and the organisations value for money strategy. For this reason, the cost of the resources that will be use by the project should be balance between economy, efficiency, and effectiveness (WMFRA 2009, p.6-8; Communities and Local Government 2009, p.15-21). In other words, the project should deliver its services effectively while rationalising the use of the organisation’s property and seeking more from existing contracts. More importantly, the project should adopt proven good practices in procurement. For instance, the cost of printing may be reduced if the project requirements will be included in other FRS printing orders. Similarly, portable computers and projectors may be purchased from an existing FRS supplier at discounted price. The equipments mentioned above are not necessarily new because the project recognizes the reality that sharing resources is a good practice. However, in the absence of available unit, the project intends to purchase using the organisations procurement strategy. Printed campaign and other demo materials should be exclusive to the project and therefore no option but to design and pay for the printing job. In the table of expenses below, the cost of equipment and some materials are approximate value. This means that when an item is shared, the cost of that item can be zero. Similarly, if the item is not available and there is no choice but to buy, the cost of that item will be lower than posted, as the procurement strategy of the organisation will be applied. Cost of Resources Required for the Project Personnel, Equipment and Materials Quantity Required Price (£) per unit Total Cost Community Fire Safety Practitioners 2 26/hour x 8 £416/day Service Vehicle 1 £15,000 £15,000 Communication 1 £300 £300 Computer 1 £400 £400 Projector 1 £300 £300 Flyers 5 £10/gsm £50 5. JOB DESCRIPTION As mentioned earlier in the first step of recruitment, it is important to know the job description of the future community fire safety practitioner that will be assigned in the primary school children awareness programme. In general, the job description should include conducting fire safety awareness on very young children on a regular basis. This means covering all primary schools in the area and performing additional tasks that may be required from time to time. They may be required to attend other community programmes and distribute campaign materials on school events. The sensitivity of dealing with children requires the practitioners to possess unquestionable integrity and good health thus the FRS may opt to verify his background with the Criminal Records Bureau and subject the applicant to a series of medical test. These may include test for the presence of communicable disease or some other sickness that can put the children in danger. 6. EVALUATING THE PROJECT WITH S.M.A.R.T SMART is a project management tool that can be very useful in monitoring and evaluating the success of the project. SMART stands for specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound (Patterson 2002, p.33). The first requirement of SMART is to make the project objective specific that means it should be written with clear outcomes and activities to be taken to reach that outcome. For instance, if the project objective is to raise awareness in fire safety amongst children at primary school age, the outcome may be understandable as reduction in child fire setting incidence. The second is to make the project progress measurable so the outcome can be easily identified as either success or failure such as decreasing (success) or increasing (failure) fire-related child injury or fatalities. The project objective must be attainable such as raising awareness in four schools around Birmingham instead of aiming for a ten. The project objective must be realistic and should be within the capability of the project team. For instance, if the project aims to raise awareness in four schools, the team should be given at least a month to cover all areas rather than squeezed all the activities in a week. Finally, the project should have scheduled completion date for every activity to enable effective monitoring and evaluation of progress. Application of SMART project management can reduce the chances of needless delays caused by uncertainties and disorder. In addition, the progress and effectiveness of the project will be clear, as every activity is measurable and time-bound. 7. PROJECT POLICIES From the planning stage up to the completion of the project, activities of this project will conform to FRS and local community’s requirements and policies. These include keeping the project recruitment and procurement in accordance with the FRS IRMP, National Equality and Diversity guidelines, accepted procurement strategies, and local community requirements. Compliance with these guidelines and policies can help the project attain maximum efficiency and increase the FRS performance as a whole. 8. PRINCIPLES OF OPERATIONAL ASSURANCE The principle of operational assurance generally enables an organisation to monitor its own performance. Operational assurance can provide this project with a way to check its performance against the aims and objectives of the FRS. For instance, if the goal of the organisation is to provide a service that is efficient, effective, and economical, the project should strive to attain such goals. Similarly, if the aim is to provide fire safety education to children across Birmingham, the project should come up with reduced child-related fire occurrence or injuries caused by fire. Knowing how effective the organisation performs enable the organisation to re-examine itself and improve its performance as required. 9. CONCLUSION Planning and implementing a project that is aiming to raise fire safety awareness amongst children at primary school age entails a lot of work. These include consideration of a several factors that may affect the outcome of the project such as the quality of personnel that will be recruited to perform a specific work in the community. Also, comply with best practices such as following procurement strategies and policies to gain best value for money. Recruitment for the project requires completion of several requirements such as determination of the exact qualification required, the role community fire safety practitioners would play in the project, advertising for the position, interview, processing of applications, and providing skills development training. The successful applicant will also have to go through background check to ensure that the people who will perform the fire safety awareness work for children are of good character. They will also have to undergo medical examinations to ensure that both recruit is fit to work and not carrying any communicable disease that can put the life of children in danger. The resources required for the project such as equipments and campaign materials will need to go through several processes such as determination of best procurement option, sharing scheme, and budget constraint. 10. REFERENCE LIST Communities and Local Government, 2009, National Procurement Strategy for the Fire and Rescue Service in England 2009-12, Communities and Local Government Publications, UK Patterson H., 2002, Take Charge of Your Employment Agreement: A Win-Win Communication Tool for Medical Practice Executives, Medical Group Management Assn, US West Midlands Fire Service, 2010a, Making West Midlands Safer, Education, available online at http://www.wmfs.net/Stay+Safe/Education/ West Midlands Fire Service, 2010b, Making West Midlands Safer, Recruitment, available online at http://www.wmfs.net/ Jobs_Online/ Firefighter_Recruitment/Recruitment+Stages/ WMFRA, 2009, Value for Money Strategy, West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority, UK Read More