Child Fire Safety Awareness - Report Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Project Title: Child fire safety awareness Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Project Title: Child fire safety awareness Introduction Child fire safety awareness strategy is a project aimed at enhancing fire and safety awareness amongst young children of primary school age of Cambridge. The project is aimed at facilitating the realization of the goals set by the national risk management team as well as meeting the vision of the fire and rescue service (Cote, 2003). The fire and rescue service is a practical in prevention of fire and other risks as opposed to responding to fires only. This project will thus sensitize the youth of the importance of preventing fire and maintain safety hence assisting in meeting the objectives of the Fire and rescue service. Since the service should support the national government’s initiative of social inclusion in most of its programs. The strategy is a purely social affair since it will include interacting with the children and tipping them on significance of fire safety. This will also have an effect in the impact held by educational institutions in regard to fire safety. The main objective of the project is to educate the school young children on fire safety. This will have an effect in developing and adapting to the ever changing environment in regard to fire safety as a result of technology and inventions. The project will involve recruiting new staff members to handle the project. The main task of the line manager would thus be to facilitate a successful recruitment process as this would greatly determine the overall outcome of the project. The project will be implemented in such a way that it is financially viable without affecting its objectives (Cote, 2003). Recruitment of the staff It will be necessary to consider suitable candidates to act as community safety practitioners. As a line manager adequate knowledge of the available sources of labour and the appropriate means of recruitment will come hardy in getting the appropriate candidates. Sources of labour that can be put into consideration include job centres and agencies, colleges and other learning institutions professional and executive appointments and advertisement. For this type of appointment, advertisement will be the most appropriate since the candidates will have a chance to present themselves personally to the fire and rescue and service and prove their competence. Candidates will also be provided will equal opportunities of responding to the advertisement. Advertising The positions will be advertised in the national and local press as well as any other media available to the public. These include the radio and television stations, business magazines and journals. They can also be advertised in the Internet. Since advertisement is expensive the most effective media will be used. Professional journals will be preferred in this case because these tend to attract the appropriate candidates for a given vacancy. The advertisement will carry an ideal picture of the person required by clearly describing the roles of the position and particular attributes required of the person. Short listing and interviews After the advertisement process, all the applications will be collected from the response handling authorities after the deadline for the applications. The short listing criterion which will already have been put in place will be used to shortlist the most appropriate candidates for the positions. Setting a short listing criterion in advance will ensure that selected candidates are informed in advance so that they can prepare for the interview. The candidates will then be invited for an oral interview where they will be required to show their original certificates. Showing the original certificates at the interview stage usually speeds up the recruitment process since it is at this stage that candidates are highly motivated to have all their documents ready. Making the job offer A job offer will be made as soon as the appropriate candidates are identified for the positions. The candidates are further asked to decide whether they will take up the positions or otherwise. The candidates are provided with a closing upon which they should have provided their response. Contract of employment In order to maximize the candidates’ skills and expertise in the project, a contract of employment will be made. The terms of employment including the number of hours the candidate is required to work, rate of pay or commensuration to be given, the degree of skill to be exhibited and matters concerning extra time or overtime are well described in the contract. Other items in the contract include the termination date of the contract which is normally estimated from the time plan of the project, other benefits, place of work and the expected movements (Mueller, 2005). The recruitment process will be fair and adhere to the rules and regulations set by the government to guide recruitment procedures. All eligible candidates will be given equal opportunities for employment. Candidates will not be discriminated in terms of age, gender, cultural, social or religious beliefs or race. The contract will also consider the minimum rates of pay set by the government for such positions and also the health and safety of the employees. The contract of employment will finally provide the disciplinary procedures available for the employer to the candidates as well as channels for voicing their complaints (Mueller, 2005). CRB clearance Since these positions will demand that the appointed candidates interact and thus make contacts with minors, they will have to be cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau. This is a project that targets the primary school children which is a vulnerable group which requires individuals with no criminal convictions related to child abuse or any other related and relevant issue. Although CRB clearance takes time and often delays the selection process, it is vital for such a project. This will be taken into account at the beginning of the recruitment process (Mueller, 2005). Source of funding The cost of the recruitment process will be calculated through the cost-Benefit since the recruitment process involves several non-financial factors such as suitability of a candidate (Baker & Gary, 2005). The source of funding for the recruitment process will be the provision in the fire and service authority budget (Dickie, 2006). The fire and rescue authority produces an annual budget which is designed in consideration of priorities in terms of finances. All the plans for a subsequent year are considered in the budget. The children fire safety awareness project in Cambridge will have an allocation of the finances through the Cambridgeshire fire and rescue service (Cote, 2003). This will definitely have a fair priority considering that it a vital project in terms of its objects and impact to the community. This is the most appropriate source of funding since the authority adheres to the government guidelines which normally consider the effect of the cost of projects on the taxpayers. This is the most appropriate way to justify the recruitment process (Baker & Gary, 2005). Other resources There will be other resources that will be used in the implementation of the project apart from the human resources. Other resources that will be required include office equipment and furniture, stationery and vehicle fuel for travelling. These will be acquired at the local level by the project management team. These will be acquired through the fire and rescue service national budget allocation for the project. Adhering to the budget will be the best method to prove that this is the best practice of acquiring the resources. The cost of these resources will depend on the method of procurement selected by the project management team (Edwards, 2004). The Authority’s budget strategy is based on the Integrated Risk management planning which is set by the government. The budget is also guided by the annual Comprehensive Spending Review and RSG Meeting and thus provides the most appropriate estimate for every project included therein. The Authority has a well founded three-year budget planning cycle to enable the planners forecast on the possible costs for projects and the general operations of fire and rescue services. The budget is normally drawn with advice and opinions from senior politicians from the political parties and in collaboration or consultation with other relevant personnel such as the Treasurer and the Chief Fire Officer. Sticking to the budget would thus be an enough prove that the procurement of the resources was carried out in the most appropriate (Edwards, 2004). Procurement process The procurement of the resources will be carried out in such a way that it supports the realization of the overall objectives of the fire and rescue service as well as the objectives of the project. The project management team will ensure that the procurement process is successfully accomplished since it is central to accomplishment of a project. The project team can either acquire the resources themselves through the fire and rescue service or seek the assistance of FiReBuy Ltd. FiReBuy Ltd is a company that has been contracted by the national fire and rescue authorities to negotiate contracts on behalf of FRAs. The company then leads in contract management until it is completed. It is the Contracting Authority as stated in the records though the firms have a final approval on any purchase. The project management team can also liaise with the Regional Centers of Excellence or any other local government partner in seeking for the most suitable means of purchasing the required resources (Cote, 2003). Procuring through the FiReBuy Ltd will be most appropriate method of purchasing since the firm undertakes testing and acceptance initiatives on behalf of the fire authorities and would thus be best placed to identify the most appropriate resources in terms of quality and cost. The project team through the fire and rescue service as well as the FRA has the responsibility of carrying out the appropriate analysis to identify the probable risks of including items from a particular into the project as opposed to other producers or suppliers. This is what is termed as generic risk assessment and is very important in making a successful procurement. Procurement done in this manner would be accepted as it has concrete prove that it was done in an appropriate manner (Cote, 2003). Evaluation of the project Evaluation will be a consistent process that will start long before the project is identified. Evaluation will proceed in the course of the project until it is brought into completion. Each step of the project will be evaluated individually to identify possible problems and seek for their remedy in a timely manner. This will assist in minimizing resource wastage and enhance the chances of making the project a success (Bondale, 2000). Importance of evaluating the project Good evaluation aids to: assess the appropriateness of resources assess the viability of the project identify any potential challenges check development and results enhance service collect data and information for future application assess the project’s usefulness for the primary school children, funding sources, the general public, and other individuals interested in carrying out similar projects Identify spotlight, community participation, outputs and outcomes (Bryce, 2005). Guidelines to project evaluation For the evaluation of the project to be successful, the following questions will be used as guidelines: What resources are available to assess the child fire safety awareness? What are the aims of the evaluation? What type of data will be gathered in the evaluation? How will the data collection process be carried out? Who will be assigned the role of collecting the information? Who will provide the information? How will the evaluation results be analyzed? Who will be responsible for making the final report? Types of evaluation to be carried out Process evaluation This will involve the evaluation of the progress of the project and the strategies to undertake to ensure that it moves to completion. The progress will be assessed against the timeline and the project plan. These will then be recorded. In case there are changes in the project time plan in the course of the progress, the changes should be recorded in the evaluation. This time of evaluation assists in checking whether the project adheres to the planned time flame. It can also assist in checking whether any changes done to the time plan are effective towards successful project completion. Finally this evaluation assists in identifying the factors that contribute to successful completion of a project (Bryce, 2005). Impact evaluation This type of evaluation will be carried out to find out whether the awareness program has immediate impact to the children and whether the children are aware of the initiative. It will involve gathering of information from the primary school children and assess the effectiveness of the project in meeting its objectives (Bondale, 2000). The impact evaluation will be easily carried out since the objectives of the project adhere to the SMART criteria. The main objective of the project is to educate the children of fire and safety. This objective is measurable, specific, attainable and relevant. It will also be time-bound by the project time plan. Outcome evaluation This is the final assessment which checks whether the project has realized its goal. This evaluation will assess whether the awareness project has some impact in the reduction of fires in Cambridge community. Although this evaluation is expensive it would be necessary to conduct it in order to find out whether the awareness project plays a role in the promotional of the organization’s mission (Bondale, 2000). Policies to be adopted Some of the policies to be adopted in the evaluation of the project will include using different methods of evaluation in the process. Some of the methods that will be adopted will be quantitative while others will be qualitative. Quantitative methods Questionnaires  This will be used to collect information from specific groups in the evaluation process. They will be very useful in both outcome and impact evaluation. In the impact evaluation, the questionnaires will be used to collect data from the children to assess their awareness of the project. The questionnaire will target the community members in the outcome evaluation (Bondale, 2000). QUALSERV  This parameter will be used to evaluate the quality of the awareness project in terms of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. This will be used to measure the disparity existing between the expectations of the project and its actual substance to the young children (Bondale, 2000). Qualitative methods Interviews  These will be conducted through face to face communication with the respondent. They will be very useful in both outcome and impact evaluations. Interviews are very effective in exploring individual opinions concerning the project. Observation  The evaluation team can adopt the observation method in assessing the impact of the awareness project to the community. In the evaluation, the team will assess whether the child fire safety awareness project meets the performance targets of specific areas. This performance will be based on operational services like performance management, quality assurance procedures and community fire safety. This is the normal process of Cambridgeshire fire and rescue services (Bondale, 2000). Conclusion The Child fire safety awareness project is an important strategy in the Cambridgeshire fire and rescue service because not only will it instil fire safety tips to the children alone but also to the general community. This will have an impact in the reduction of fire incidences in the community which is one of the visions of the fire and rescue services. All the stages of the project are vital to the successful completion and should be accorded the necessary attention. Evaluation will be used as measure to assess whether the project has realized its objective of educating fire safety tips to children. The type of evaluation method used will depend on the type of evaluation. The questionnaires designed for the children will be simple and the evaluation team will assist the children in filling them. The team can also ask the questions directly from the children while filling the questionnaire. In order to minimize the cost of the project, under the quantitative evaluation methods, the project team can limit itself to questionnaires since they are effective in providing appropriate data (Bondale, 2000). Bibliography Baker, H. K., & Gary E. P.,2005, Understanding Financial Management: A Practical Guide. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Bondale, K. 2000, Post Project Resource Evaluation: A forgotten Contributor to Project Success. Retrieved on 16th July 2010 from< http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/pdf/post-project-resource-evaluation-a-forgotten-contributor-to-project-success.pdf> Bryce, T., 2005, Project Management System Evaluation Checklist Retrieved on 16th July 2010 from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/project-management-system-evaluation-checklist.html Cote, E., 2003, Organizing for Fire and Rescue Services, Jones & Bartlett Learning, London. Dickie, R. B., 2006, Financial Statement Analysis and Business Valuation for the Practical Lawyer. 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: American Bar Association Edwards, T., 2004, Fire Service Personnel Management. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall Mochal, T., 2000, Two quick ways to estimate the cost of a new project. Retrieved on 16th July 2010 from http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1028346.html Mueller, C., 2005, Recruitment Ethics: Ethics In Hiring, Staffing and Recruitment. Retrieved on 16th July 2010 from . Read More