Lancashire Community Safety Strategy - Case Study Example

Lancashire Community Safety Strategy 1. Introduction Ensuring maximum fire safety in the community may involve some essential tasks such as strategic planning and building comprehensive programme for home fire safety. Alongside the support of specialist staff, the programme must effectively build community partnership where other agencies and bodies are working together harmoniously. A good relationship that can be establish between the fire and rescue service and the public is an important factor in getting widespread support for fire prevention and to the organisation itself. Community fire safety strategy requires partnership and coordination between various agencies since its success depends on the support of everyone. The following sections discusses the various aspects of community fire safety strategy that include risk assessment and management, the roles of the Fire and Rescue Service in implementing this strategy, the importance of community participation and partnership, and the various ways in which the FRS can prevent fire and protect the community. 2. Risk Management One very important aspect of a comprehensive community fire protection programme is the perception that it is always better to prevent fire than suppress it when it occurs (Foley p.55). This is also the reason why most fire and rescue service support the idea of fire safety education and built-in fire protection in buildings. Understandably, most people would accept the principle that prevention can save more lives that solely depending on the fire suppression capability of the fire and rescue service. For instance, as reported by the Communities and Local Government (2009, p.138), the Lancashire City Council developed several pioneering and useful ways to engage in the community and other public service agencies to enhance policy making. Similarly, the Fire and Rescue Service can also enhance its fire fighting strategy through effective community partnership. The Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service’s free Home Fire Safety Check is of those innovations that can undoubtedly save lives. For example, crew members visiting every home and giving advice, fitting smoke alarms, and teaching residents how to make a fire escape plan are effective ways of dealing with risk, preventing fires and casualties. More importantly, the community fire safety programme of the service is not limited to risks of fire but extends to emergencies such as flooding, chemical incidents, road safety, crime, and others (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, 2010, p.1). Risk management in the community have become a way of working for the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. According the House of Common (2006, p.69) report, the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service has been fully adopted to the government’s reform as evidenced by its Integrated Risk Management Plan and placement of additional resources and effort to its community fire safety strategy. In accepting the reality, probability, and consequence of risk, principles and practices related to risk management can be very useful in emergency organisations and the community as a whole. Consequently, a concern Fire and Rescue Service tried their best to protect the public, its assets, and themselves as well (United States Fire Administration 1996, p.7). Specifically in the United Kingdom, the main objective of the government is to transform the local fire and rescue service into a preventive organisation because of the reality that although the service is very effective in fire fighting and rescue, the number of fire related deaths and injuries is still rising. Clearly, suppression and rescue is not enough to reduce the devastating impact of fire in the community thus government tried to tackle the root cause and educate the people about fire safety at home (Dennett 2004, p.32). The 2006-2007 Lancashire’s Integrated Risk Management Plan or IRMP shows the agreeable intention of the service to deliver fire safety and broader risk education not only at home but specifically to children and young people at schools. Moreover, as part of the 5-year strategy, the service intends to regularly monitor and evaluate the programme’s performance to ensure that it remains current, meaningful, and appropriate (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service 2006, 3). The innovations and long-term programmes above are clear indications of the importance of prevention and effective risk management in community safety. The Fire and Service Act 2004 is the main legislation requiring a fire and rescue service to modify their responsibility and activity. It has made it clear that an integrated risk management plan reflecting the local needs and risk must be in placed (Communities and Local Government 2006, p.32). 3. The Role of Fire and Rescue in Community Fire Safety Strategy The Fire and Rescue Service roles and responsibilities as mentioned earlier are no longer limited to fire. In Lancashire FRS, community fire safety means more than just home or building fires as include different types of emergencies within the community. These include drought and hot weather effects planning and responses, flooding, high winds and storms, snow and cold weather, occurrence of chemical incidents, road safety, crime prevention, and even domestic abuse. In its yearly integrated risk management plan, the Lancashire FRS is continually promoting community fire safety. The purpose is to facilitate early and effective intervention through community education. The FRS, through the guidance of different legislations believe that awareness programmes and community education can significantly reduce fire, crime, and improve the safety of all individual living in the community. For instance, since fire starting is commonly attributed to children and young people, the Lancashire FRS launch a programme that is focus on young people particularly those that are at risk of exclusion. The service accepts the reality that with all emergency organisations, they have a very important play (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service 2006, p.15). Fire Safety at Home is also one of those innovations that were born out of this roles, responsibilities, and commitment to community fire safety. The programme generally intends to spread awareness of residents by informing them of the different fire risks that can be found at home. Knowledge of these risks, the Lancashire FRS believed can make people act in a way that can make their home safer. Since almost everybody in the community can as the service to visit their home and carry out a free home fire safety check, different risks can be identified and removed. For instance, the members of the visiting Lancashire FRS can easily identify risk in the kitchen or some unsafe electrical wiring anywhere in the home. They may also advice the home owner to install smoke alarms if they see it necessary. More importantly, as a partner in the community, they may advice the home owners on the danger of smoking while on bed, candles near curtains, alcohol, drugs, fireworks, and others. Similarly, they may also provide some idea about escape plans and proper ways of escape (Lancashire Fire and Rescue 2010, p.1). 4. Community and Agency Partnership Similar to other fire and rescue service working under the Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004, the Lancashire FRS works with various organisations to ensure that Lancashire is always safe. For instance, partnership with the Blackpool Council and the North West Fire and Rescue Management Board can bring more benefit to the people of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside since the service will be closer to the people. According to the organisations strategy that is also specified in their 2008 Integrated Risk Management Plan, the main purpose of the Lancashire FRS is work together with the community to make it safer. Consequently, the organisation tried their best to be flexible and approachable, and provide a service that fully meets the requirements of the community. These include reduction of emergency incidents, ensure the safety and health of the organisations personnel, protect the environment, and deliver a value for money service. The community then can expect that the Lancashire FRS will work effectively with all groups concerning risks, treat everyone in the community with respect, and strive persistently for excellence (Lancashire 2010, p.1). Collaboration or partnership can make a lot difference since forming one can help solve several risks and fire issues in the community. This is because imparting knowledge, educating, and development of skills can greatly reduce incidents or the effects of such events. For instance, a partnership with Red Cross can provide the fire and rescue with the opportunity to meet the senior citizens living independently in the community and teach them about fire safety. In other words, the fire and rescue service can reach out more effectively to those that actually need their advice and expertise (US Fire Administration 1998, p.41). Similarly, the Lancashire FRS can also work in partnership with ODPM for useful and important information. For instance, the FRS can examine the ODPM’s Indices of Multiple Deprivation and Mosaic classifications and use it to analyse the number of fire casualties in their area of responsibility (Communities and Local Government 2006, p.143). Since social inclusion and neighbourhood crime reduction are important government agenda in which the fire and rescue service can engage, they must have a number of institutions supporting their cause. These institutions may include group of businesses such as major community retailers that can help them promote fire safety in the home. According to the British Retail Consortium (2007, p.58), partnership with retailers is a good way of showing the fire and rescue service’s interest in the health and welfare of the community. More importantly, the fire and rescue service needs all the assistance it can get from partnerships. For instance, partnership with retailers enables development of a more suitable effective fire safety policies and practice for business establishments. The fire and rescue service can also benefit from those retailers that would take fire safety management seriously because there will be lesser fire incidents. Partnership working can bring a number of benefits not only with fire-related safety but health. For instance, the Sure Start and Fire and Rescue Service partnership in Northumberland is a good indication that the emergency organisation is outreaching to every sector of our society (House of Commons 2010, p.341). Community fire safety generally involves meeting as many people as possible and establishment of partnerships from all sections of the community. This is because raising awareness at the minimum requires outreach working, public education, and leaflet distribution, canvassing every home, fire safety checks, smoke alarm fitting, and more. Specifically, community fire safety officers should visit schools, conduct demonstration or exhibitions, and take part in community events. Partnership with media and media campaign is also an approach they can use to effectively catch the attention of the public. “Fire Kill” is a good example of major media campaign that could generate awareness of fire hazards and prevention techniques. More importantly, following their legislative responsibilities, they may also include inspections of workplaces and other buildings frequented by the members of the community and ensure that they are safe (Cullingworth p.273). In many areas, community fire safety is seen as partnership with those at risk and joint management of safety and protection of property. At the centre of all of these is the fire and rescue service which is mobilizing each group at risk (Handmer & Dovers 2007, p.63). The outcome of community fire safety and partnership clearly manifested in the fire deaths recorded in 2004 where it fell to lowest in 45 years. According to the House of Commons (2006, p.172), the fire and rescue service is behind the continuous reduction of fire deaths and injuries and this is because of partnership with other local agencies. 5. Prevention and Protecting the Community from Risks As mentioned in the previous sections, community fire safety in Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service does not necessarily mean fire but a number of other emergencies involving the community. For instance, road safety is one of the many concerns of the Lancashire FRS since it commonly involves the community at large. According to their road safety agenda, the organisation is legally or mandated by law to attend road traffic collisions. This means providing rescue assistance if necessary and advising commuters on various road safety practices. For instance, they may be involved in rescuing people in a road accident and direct traffic in the absence of the police. However, like fire and other emergencies, preventing road traffic collision is seen as a much better alternative. Using the principle of community partnership, the Lancashire fire and rescue service is coordinating with the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety which is actually a multi-agency approach to road traffic accidents. The aim is mainly to promote best practices on the road like reducing speed, use of seatbelts, prevent drunk and drug driving, discourage commuters on the use of mobile phones while on the road, and let the public be conscious of the speed cameras. Reduction of road traffic accident is part of community safety thus the FRS is expected to attend and participate in multi-agency responses. Generally, like other fire and rescue endeavours, the goal of the partnership is to save lives within Lancashire and attain the UK Government’s road casualty reduction target for 2010. In terms of prevention and protection, the Lancashire FRS on the record has a total of 40 lives saved, reduced serious injury for 580 people, and 760 for slight injury (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service 2010, p.1). In other words, partnership, road safety advice, road safety tips, and the overall prevention and protection strategy works. In terms of prevention and protection regarding flood, the role of the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is divided in three category- before, during, and after the flood. Generally, flooding is not entirely preventable but it can be controlled. For instance, the community can ask the fire and rescue service to help them place sandbags in areas vulnerable to flooding. The role of the fire and rescue service during a flood is to attend life threatening situation and rescue those that are trapped by floodwater. In coordination with other agencies, they may also perform search and rescue of missing persons or assist the military in case of major flooding. After the flooding event, the FRS may respond and pump water out of properties. There is actually not too much prevention that can be applied in these types of events thus the concentration of the fire and rescue service is with fire. In fire prevention and protection, much interest is given to fire starting (Children and Young People Programme) and cooking safety. As part of their routine in community fire safety programmes, the FRS is continually educating the community about accidental fires from cooking. At the minimum, the FRS is teaching the residents how to cook safely, safe use of cooker and other kitchen equipment, care when cooking with oil, and dealing with fire in the kitchen. During a home fire safety check and if necessary, the FRS is providing a 10 year smoke alarm for free along with information on how to establish an effective escape plan for the family and identify fire risks at home At the same time during the home fire safety check, the FRS is also giving advice on electrical safety. For instance, the FRS may during an inspection hazardous electrical appliances, plugs, and faulty cables that can put the family at risk. A single FRS visit to a certain home can actually bring a number of benefits in terms of fire prevention and protection. For instance, the whole family would know how to identify faulty appliances, plugs, sockets, cables, and during an electrical fire, members of the family will be able to effectively deal with it and avoid injury and further spread of fire (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service 2010, p.1). Independent living, having sight or hearing impairment, or problems with mobility are issues of fire prevention and protection thus the Lancashire FRS is also equally concern. For instance, as part of the community outreach and partnership programme, the FRS is inviting or encouraging these individuals to register so that the FRS can design specific support services for them. The information and advices posted in the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service official website contains these information including instructions on how people with hearing impairment or mobility problems can detect fire and smoke alarm warning. In general, the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service working in compliance with government’s agenda on a safer community are seriously performing their roles in fire prevention and protection. The Lancashire FRS is prepared in almost all emergency that can occur in the community include chemical and terrorist attack (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service 2010, p.1). 6. Conclusion The general aim of the government in shifting the role and responsibilities of every FRS in the country is have safer community. Specifically, the FRS is required to have an Integrated Risk Management Plan that is suitable to their respective community. Another is establishing an effective partnership with the members of the community and other concern agencies. Community relation is very important since it can give the FRS an opportunity to enhance their fire prevention and protection campaign. More importantly, it can also bring more support to the other objectives of the organisation. Similarly, risk management can provide a better view of the risks and needs of the community through a well-researched Integrated Management Plan. The Lancashire FRS is well verse on these approaches and in fact updating yearly and trying their best to improve the service continuously. The community fire safety strategy being implemented throughout Lancashire is undoubtedly effective as evidenced by the reduced number of fire and vehicular-related deaths and injuries. However, these accomplishments are certainly cannot be realised without an effective community partnership and mutual support. Through partnership, imparting knowledge and educating the public about fire safety is possible. Community fire safety is generally about meeting a large number of people and sectors in our society to be able to pursue the safety agenda of government and the role of the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. 7. 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