Quality and Standards -North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service - Research Proposal Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Quality & Standards 2-North Yorkshire Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Abstract 3 Introduction 3 Methodology 4 Legitimacy and benefits of key QA systems used by a Fire & Rescue Service 4 The advantages of the ISO standardization 8 Legitimacy and benefits of QA systems you suggest for North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) post government change July 2010. 10 The Relevance of the recommended QA systems chosen to ensure consistent proof of quality enhancement within North Yorkshire FRS 12 Conclusion 13 Bibliography 14 Abstract There are some changes in the National Government Framework as the local government of UK requires all the fire and rescue services to consider responding even to the non-fire emergencies. North Yorkshire fire and rescue service is one of the affected organizations as one of the well established public service facility. For the assurance of the achievement of the set goals and objectives, the organization uses a quality assurance system which states the requirements and expectations of the operations of any organization. These policies are reflected in the Integrated Risk Management plan which reflects all the operations of the organization. This also considers the expectations of eth local authority and those of the communities. Regular auditing is also carried out to check on the progress of the operations and the final performance to determine whether they certify the international standards set by the quality assurance system. Introduction Fire and Rescue services have made a recognizable improvement in the safety and security of the communities. However, much attention is required for the assurance of full achievements of the set goals and objectives of the life savers. Due to the reports of last year’s flooding and other environmental calamities, the concern organizations are required to be a bit flexible and committed to respond to even the non-fire emergencies. The study below concerns North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Management 2010- 2011Quality & Standards. The National framework keeps on updating its requirements to effectively respond to the needs and requirements of the current society. In 2008 the government published a new fashion of the framework which is expected to be considered by all the fire and rescue services in UK. It has also set up quality and standards to check the quality of the services offered. Methodology To gather the information concerning North Yorkshire fire and rescue services is obtained from mostly the secondary data which are records either from the magazines or books. The publications on the Integrated Risk Management Plan and those of the National Framework 2008-2011 is also considered for the provision of the information concerning the organization and that of eth government in reference to the operations of a fire and rescue services. Primary data is also collected from methods such the observation of the operations of the organization or interview with the staff or management team to have their view. Legitimacy and benefits of key QA systems used by a Fire & Rescue Service Due to the changers in the government of United Kingdom in July 2010 and the political direction, it has been stated that they will abolish Comprehensive Area Assessment to cut local government inspections of the qualities and standards of the services offered in the fire and rescue services from October 2010. This is because of the changes in the living styles and pressure of globalization thus there is need to compare the quality of the services offered by certain organization and those of the others across the world. There are some international quality assurance standards which are recommended to be used by almost all the nations across the world. The management of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue services is working hard to ensure that they work within the boundaries of the requirements of the Fire and Rescue National Framework 2008-2011. They consider having an effective Integrated Risk Management Planning (IRMP) for the period between 2007-2010 which is concern about ways of improving the safety of the public, reduction of the number of the fire incidents and saving lifes from most of the emergencies like floods, feminine and road accidents (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2008). This plan is considered to be the most essential in any fire and rescue services since it gives guidance on how to respond to the emergencies and also it reflects the performance of an organization. I recommend that in the annual fire and rescue service performance plan should be published to show the progress of the performance of the organization in reference to the expectations of the plan. The plan also indicates where the authorities of target have set themselves and the standards of the value of the services that they offer. Considering the most recent needs and requirements of the current society and the government regulation in the fire and rescue services national framework, the organization keeps of updating its Integrated Risk Management Plan. The frame requires that all the fire and rescue services adhere to certain regulations for the assurance of provision of services which are of the required services. The key quality assurance systems considered by North Yorkshire fire and rescue services are the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) family quality measures which are recognized and accepted internationally. The ISO family includes: ISO: 9000 concern about the fundamentals or the ground rules, ISO 9001 which represents the requirements of the services offered and ISO 9004 which gives a guideline of for the improvement of the performance. Others like Health and Safety principles HSG65, ACAS principles, Regulatory Reform Orders and Project Management principles - PRINCE 2 are also used to gauge the value of the services offered. The national framework also allows the flexibility of the management in their operations to consider the applications of any method so long as they end up meeting the requirements of the regulations based on the specific needs of the local communities. This organization compares the quality of the services offered and the expectations of the local community which is being served and the international standards represented by the international measures. The Comprehensive Spending Review 07 (CSR) considers the expectations of the public service organizations like fire and rescue services. The organizations should be keen on the changes in the local needs and requirements of people and reflect them in their operations. It also reflects clear needs for the local and central government of the issues of community safety. Apart from the Public Service Agreements which are inter-crossing each of the individual department of the organization is expected to set up specific objectives which are related and aiming to achieve the general objectives of the organization. These are essential as they are considered by the auditors to certify the quality of the services offered at departmental level and then analyzing them to gauge the entire organization (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2008). The departmental strategic objectives of the communities and local government involve: protection, prevention and enhancement of a more safe communities. This is by the provision of the National Framework for provision of the government expectations towards the services of the organization. Consideration of the two fire indicators which form parts of the National Sets of regulations through the local government as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. The indicators and the departmental objectives are considered as the key measures for the government and other concern commissions to test the quality of the services offered by the Fire and Rescue services and these measurements are expected to be in Comprehensive Spending Review period (Cheit, 2004). Suitability of any QA system use to the existing output measures of a FRS It is the expectations of all the rescue authorities for all the fire and rescue services to have a good management strategy to guide them in all management operations and programme on inspection process. This is reflected on the Regulatory Reforms together with the formation of the Integrated Risk Management Planning. The importance of the Regulatory Reforms is to provide the organization with the legal duty of going through the risk assessment and implementation of the precautions which are essential to minimise and control the occurrences of the risks (Dennett, 2009). The ISO standardization of measure is the best or the most appropriate quality assurance system according to the strategic objectives stated in the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue services risk management plan. The standards are considered in various fields like academics, industries, public and private organizations. The operations of these organizations are audited in reference to the expectations of the international standards. Those found to be of the expected qualifications are certified thus they are accepted and applicable at any part of the world (Ciccarelli & Faulkner, 2004). The advantages of the ISO standardization The ISO standardization is commonly used than any other quality assurance system like Health and Safety principles HSG65 because their terms and conditions are found to be appropriate in the operations of the organizations. Auditing the operations of the organization using the ISO standards is essential to monitor the operations of all departments depending on the regulations of the standards. These standards should be considered during the process of planning for the operations of the organizations (Murphy & Yates, 2009). The system is also generic meaning that it can be applied to all organizations irrespective of the size, the services and products offered or its ownership. This is because of the high competition in the market of the products and services thus any organization compares their operations with those of the organizations which are considered to be performing the best as well as their suitability in any part of the world. The requirements of the fire and rescue services make it easier for the organizations to meet their objectives and also improve their operations especially in response to the current needs of the society. The ISO standards are also reflected in the National Framework for the fire and rescue services for the documents 2008-2011(American Standards Association, 2009). The National Framework represents the governments regulations on the services that the fire and rescue services are expected to offer to the public. This organization keeps on updating its requirements considering the currents needs of the society. Initially the fire and rescue services only responded to the fire related emergencies because they were the only ones which were common in the societies but due to the changes in the lifestyle the non-fire emergencies are also very common hence calling for attention. The quality assurance measures ensures that all the requirements for the provision of the community safety are meet by guiding the management to know what to consider while planning for their operations. This sis also referred during the process of auditing to gauge the performance of the operations by the quality of the services that they offer. Legitimacy and benefits of QA systems you suggest for North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) post government change July 2010. ISO standardization is seen as a dawn in the improvement of the operations of most of the organizations both public and privately owned. Unlike the local regulations which was relevant to only a small area and the improvement of the services offered was rather slow because of the limited competition. The ISO standards compare the operations and service of the organizations across boundaries thus the management are doing their best to ensure that they meet the international standards (Murphy & Yates, 2009). The quality measures also enable the government and the other members of the local authorities to monitor the operations of the fire and rescue services depending on the local needs. The auditing commission is formed to regularly assess the operations and performance of the organization. In the auditing process various organizational functions like policy, organizing, planning and implementation, measuring performance and reviewing performance. All the organizations have a plan of how they are supposed to undertake their operations. The integrated risk management plan of North Yorkshire fire and rescue services is to include the plan for their operations. This involves the assignment of duties and utilization of the available resources. The IRMP is used by the auditors to assess their performance and gauge their ability to implement the plans. The integrated risk assessment of the North Yorkshire fire and rescue services involves some strategic objectives. The first objective is reduction of the number of the emergencies occurrences and the impacts that they are likely to cause to the affected communities. For the achievement of this objective, the fire and rescue service considers the ways of expanding their scale and scope of the activities to rescue to the emergencies by assessing the potential hazards such as over-speeding on the traffic highways thus causing road accidents. The second objective is the assurance of safe, healthy and competent human resource. Well skilled workforce is required especially to respond ton the changes of the operation to the inclusion of even the non-fire emergencies. For the achievement of the objective the organization plans on efforts to improve the skills of the workers by regularly training them. The other objective is ensuring that they meet all the requirements of the National Framework 2008-2011as well as those of the international standardization organization with the intention of achieving the international qualities thus they are applicable to any part of the world. For the achievement of the objective the organization has an integrated risk management plan which includes the requirements of the international standards, the public and the local government. The other objective concerns changing the community to make it stronger, healthier and sustainable (Miskelly, 2009). These specific objectives are considered to enhance the achievement of the general objectives which are protection, prevention and maintenance of more secure communities. The quality measures are the most essential in ensuring that all the objectives are achieved. This is because they act guidance for the procedures to be followed based on the requirements. They also help to make a follow up of the operations by assessments to determine whether they are achieved and to the desired qualities or not. The Relevance of the recommended QA systems chosen to ensure consistent proof of quality enhancement within North Yorkshire FRS There has been the need for the Integrated Risk Management Planning to regularly change its contents so as to consider the current happenings in the society. The recent changes in the government regulations in July 2010 concerning the services to be offered by the fire and rescue services is one of the issues to be considered and causing the changes in the contents of the integrated risk management plan with the inclusion of the new requirements that all the fire and rescue services should respond to even the non-fire emergencies like road accidents or drowning in water. The ISO quality assurance systems are considered to bring flexibility in the operations of the organizations. This is because their requirement keeps changing depending on the current needs in the society. The recent IRMP of North Yorkshire fire and rescue service 2008-2011 considers the most current requirements of the standardization and states that for the services of any organization to be considered of the best and most qualified they should be ISO certified so as to give them a guarantee that they can be appreciated and applied at any part of the world (Miskelly, M., 2009). Globalization and financial crisis are causing the changes in the operations of the organizations so as to meet and survive in the most competing world. These operations are closely monitored to ensure that they are of eth internationally required values and standards. Conclusion North Yorkshire fire and rescue services are one of eth safety assurance organizations in UK. This organization is well established with an effective Integrated Risk Management Plan which guides the management in the achievement of the set goals and objectives. It includes the requirements of the quality assurance system used, government expectations and needs of the community. The ISO standards are considered to gauge the quality of the services which are offered in the organization compared to those internationally set. (2536 words) Bibliography Department for Communities and Local Government, 2008, Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008-11, Communities and Local Government, London. Dennett, M, 2009, Fire attack: an integrated strategy, Jeremy mills, London Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority, 2007, Integrated Risk Management Plan 2007-2010, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority, Swinton, Manchester. American Standards Association, 2009, Industrial standardization, American Standards Association, New York. Miskelly, M., 2009, Directory of Special Libraries and Information Centers, [2006]: pt. 1. A-H (Entries 1-12,186), University of Michigan, Michigan Digitized. Murphy,C. & Yates, J., 2009, The International Organization for Standardization (ISO): glonorth yorkshirel governance through voluntary consensus, Taylor & Francis, VATICAN. Ciccarelli, P. & Faulkner, C., 2004, Networking foundations, John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey. Cheit, R., 2004, Setting safety standards: regulation in the public and private, University of California Press, California. Read More