How the Law Operates Internationally as It Applies to the Fire Service - Assignment Example

COMMUNITY SAFETY LAW 1. Assess law in UK and how the law operates internationally as it applies to the fire service. The fire and safety in UK, in England and Wales in particular is first and foremost under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The RRFSO replaces or amends pieces of fire-related legislations, the most significant being the repeal of the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and the revocation of Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997. The RRFSO places a duty on the responsible person and outlines all the measures that must be taken to ensure the safety of the people. At the same time it allows the enforcing authority to make sure that it is enacted and sets penalties if it is not. It requires building owners or responsible persons to carry out fire risk assessment, develop and produce a policy, and develop procedures particularly concerning evacuation, and provide staff with information and training and carry out fire drills. More importantly, it requires building owners or the responsible person to provide and maintain a clear means of escape, signs, notices, emergency lighting, fire detection and alarm, and fire fighting equipment1. There is a major change in the way most fire and rescue agencies operate. There were changes within organizations particularly those heavily reliant on traditional ways of doing things and resistant to rapid change. In today’s ever changing environment and global mentality, the strategies, tactics, equipment, and philosophy adopted by fire and rescue agencies must be equal or greater than the challenges posed by the new paradigm of hazards. In the Middle East, for instance, the British Standards and some UK legislations like the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004 are being adopted and used in Abu Dhabi by most engineers and developers as if it is locally legislated or produced. However, although adaptations of these standards and regulations are well accepted as viable guidelines for safety, implementation varies considerably. In UK, these legislations and standard are fully implemented and followed by almost all building owners and dwellers, and well monitored by the Fire and Rescue Service. In contrast, international application is incomplete as fire prevention appears being ignored and more emphasis is given to modernization of equipment and expansion. 2. Analyse the role of globalisation in affecting the legislative and substantive work of those in the fire and rescue service The systems and tools that governments have available to address hazards risks in their communities are relatively universal throughout the world. Although each country’s emergency management organizations and systems have developed independently from a variety of sources, vast institutional sharing between countries has created an overall standardization of types of emergency management organizations, most notable in the area of first response. Additionally, globalization has facilitated the standardization of practices, protocols, and equipment used by emergency management organizations2. For instance, in the case of UAE, much of the standards and regulations they have are from foreign source. Since globalization has made these standards acceptable internationally, they are being use or adopted locally. The United Kingdom however, although the main standard being use for fire service is purely British, they also adopt some internationally accepted standard like the NFPA or the guidelines from different fire safety association. 3. Identify how ethical consideration are dealt within the fire and rescue service and summarise the role of the practitioner in a changing world environment. Ethical dilemma might occur for emergency responders and conflict of duty can exist between their duty to the community and to their family. In a disaster situation, emergency responders are required by their professional ethics and responsibilities to care for the needs of the community even when their own safety may be endangered resulting in conflict and a sense of moral ambiguity3. Those who serve in the law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services often face situations in people’s homes and are privy to intimate details about the customers they serve. With that reality comes a great deal of responsibilities. Therefore, the public has higher expectations of those who wear uniform4. The fire and rescue service profession are regulated and their member train and practice in ways which recognise and respect each others role5. The public expect the fire and rescue services to protect them and consequently, the member of the fire and rescue units, out of ethical considerations, perform their duties in the best of their ability. The role of the practitioners in a changing world environment is becoming more complex as they need to abide by the changing rules and regulations while serving the growing expectations of the public. The fire and rescue service is aware of the need for fairness, both in planning for and responding to disasters. They strive to protect human rights, including the rights of vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and the disabled. The fire and rescue deals with these ethical issues and aware that a population has the right to get assistance in a reasonable amount time6. 4. Compare UAE law in relation to UK law and compare standards and regulations used by different kingdoms and department. As discussed earlier, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 provides the fire and safety guidelines for England and Wales. Similar to Abu Dhabi where the fire & safety is being undertaken directly by the UAE government, the Communities and Local Government in the United Kingdom is responsible in ensuring the implementation of fire safety legislations and regulations. Like the United Kingdom, the Abu Dhabi government is keen to provide fire & safety to the community. However, their approach and standards adopted to realize that objective is very much different. The United Kingdom is using its own standard BSI, coupled by some internationally accepted guidelines and specifications. Since UAE has not local standards established, they adopted various standards coming from countries like such as Britain, United States, Australia, and Hong Kong. Moreover, when it comes to guidelines in Fire and Safety, the UAE developers are adopting the National Fire Protection Agency guidelines from the U.S. Engineers in UAE are also very much in British Standards and UK legislations like the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004. 5. Compare how community and fire safety policy is communicated in both Abu Dhabi and UK. Although some of UKs regulations and specification are being adopted in the UAE, the United Kingdom has a clear policy requiring owners of establishments or responsible persons to perform a fire risk assessment in their facilities. As the responsible person, he must ensure the safety from fire of their employee and any person who may legally come onto their premises, or any person not on the premises who may be affected. Aside from carrying out a fire assessment, he should develop and produce a policy, evacuation procedures, and conduct regular fire drills. In UAE or in Abu Dhabi in particular, does not required these building owners to do so. In the United Kingdom, the duty to enforce the legislation and regulations are in the hands of the Fire and Rescue Service. They must ensue that laws are being complied and followed by establishments. Under the law, the Fire and Rescue Service must perform regular inspection, site visits, and fire safety auditing. More importantly, the Fire and Rescue Service must conduct community service and advise the community concerning fire safety issues. One of the most notable works of the Fire and Rescue Service in the community is the distribution and installation of free fire alarms and educational materials promoting fire safety in the homes and workplace. This kind of community service on the other hand is never been done in Abu Dhabi but recently there have been published reports that the government of UAE is enhancing its fire safety campaign by expanding the local fire and rescue service and promoting fire safety in different establishments. Although not responsible for premises under the Fire Certificate (Special Premises) Regulations 1976, the principal enforcers for Fire and Rescue agencies in the United Kingdom is the Health and Safety Executives. The HSE, under the Health and Safety at Work Act is responsible in ensure the safety of the workers particularly those job-related procedures that can affect the health and safety of employees. Similarly, under the Fire & Rescue Services Act, the Fire & Rescue Service of the United Kingdom has the responsibility of fight fires, respond to road and traffic accidents, and attend to various emergencies that may arise from flooding, earthquake, and other natural or manmade disasters. The Fire Safety Order requires owners of business or companies to produce and Emergency and Disaster Plan to reduce the effect of disasters. Every organization regardless of size should have an emergency and disaster control plan. Included in the plan should be a procedure for the succession of personnel in the event one or more members of top management are unavailable when the disaster strikes. In the overall disaster plan, consideration is given to the shutdown of equipment such as machinery, utilities, processes, so forth, so that such equipment does not increase the hazard of the situation. Generally, this include generators, electrical power equipment, boilers, high pressure air or oil systems chemical equipment, or rapidly rotating machinery that could cause damage if left unattended7. Business has some moral and legal obligation to comply because this is obviously concerning the safety of the people. Dissimilar to the United Kingdom where the Fire and Rescue Service has the sole responsibility, fire safety implementation in the Abu Dhabi is the under the hands of the Civil Defence but some of it is also the responsibility of the Environmental Agency particularly those requirement to ensure safety such as building fire suppression devices, alarms, fire rated doors, etc. However, the Fire and Rescue Service is generally working hand in hand with the Civil Defence Department. One similarity with the UK and UAE fire safety requirements to ensure compliance is the issuance of fire safety certificates to newly build buildings or homes. The only known difference is that the Civil Defence Department of Abu Dhabi is directly responsible to such tasks while the UK’s Communities and Local Government is the one issuing these certificates. Moreover, the United Kingdom does not only consider new buildings to have such certificate because old or newly renovated buildings particularly those with major alterations are also included under the law. Fire safety inspections are also conducted in all buildings regardless of size and age. In UAE, there is no law to compulsory require older structures to request inspection or be inspected by authorities regularly. In addition, there is no law that require fire alarm installation in public or private buildings or building management to conduct regular fire drills. Consequently, even hospitals and other critical installations are not inspected and audited. According to report, fire authorities in Abu Dhabi only do site inspection of housing blocks every two years and there is no requirement to test or report an alarm fault. In addition, having a smoke detector in Abu Dhabi is allegedly considered not viable. Overall, although there are some variations regarding fire safety methods and implementations, the UK and Abu Dhabi have one very important thing in common- both countries are very concern with fire safety. In fact, the UAE government is currently expanding and improving their fire safety laws and establishing more emergency stations to improve emergency services response time. They are also buying and deploying modern fire fighting and rescue equipment to ensure effective fire fighting and rescue, and save more lives in the future. 6. Consider the ethical impact of new civil defence stations better equipped to deal with emergencies. The reported additional civil defence stations8 are a much needed improvement in Abu Dhabi’s fight against fire. It is also advantageous to the community as response time will be reduce thus life and property will be saved sooner in the earliest possible time. Ethical issues regarding this new civil defence stations work both ways. The positive ethical impact of these new stations is obviously the added public trust. The public will view the new civil defence stations as a symbol of real government commitment to their health and safety. Therefore, the new civil defence stations will increase public trust and this is good for the fire and rescue service. The negative ethical impact of these new civil defence stations is the fact that it is there for an emergency rather than being there to ensure that in case fire prevention fails, emergency response time will be reduce. As discussed earlier, the UK government is very keen on prevention rather than emergency response. The community services, the legislations requiring employers and responsible persons to conduct fire risk assessment and install fire alarms are part of that prevention strategy. In Abu Dhabi, we know for a fact that fire safety building inspection and fire alarms are not compulsory and therefore there is not much fire prevention strategy deployed. This raises an ethical issue on whether the government is really concern about safety or rescue. 7. Consider the ethical impact from the following case study: A fire in an apartment block in Abu Dhabi- The Gulf News reported that at least 12 people, women and children have been injured on a fire at a sixteen storey building apartment block in Abu Dhabi in 20089. Some of the residents were taken to the hospital while others were lifted by a helicopter to safety. There was also a report that a fire occurred in the same building months ago10. In other words, fires are recurrently occurring in this building and therefore there must be a problem in fire safety. The positive ethical impact of savings lives is unquestionable because saving others is considered a heroic deed. Similarly, getting scared people out of a burning building is very much appreciated by those involved. However, the question is whether saving a person’ life while loosing others and damages incurred in terms of property, jobs, & time more is ethical than preventing all these to happen. 8. Comparison of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority and Abu Dhabi Fire Service Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority Abu Dhabi Fire Service Population 1451,500 1,463,491 Industry Motor Vehicles, Machinery and Electronics, Chemical, and Communications Agriculture, Oil, Gas How many fire stations? 39 Not available How many fires? 69 Not available How many deaths? 77 Not available How reducing home industry fire Mainly focus on community service and fire prevention Not much is being done. Safety Certificates are only issued in new buildings, no regular safety inspections, and fire alarm installation is not compulsory 9. Reference List ANDERMAN G. M. & ROGERS M. Translation Today: Trends and Perspectives. UK, Multilingual Matters, 2003 AL THEEB A., New Civil Defence Stations to Improve Response Time, available online at http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/03/03/10290916.html, 2009 BOWMAN D., Dozens injured in Abu Dhabi Fire, available online at http://www.arabianbusiness.com/531290-dozens-injured-in-abu-dhabi-fire, 2008 BUKCMAN J.M. Chief Fire Officer's Desk Reference. US, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2005 COPPOLA D. P. Introduction to international disaster management. US, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006 FENNELLY L.J. 2003. Handbook of loss prevention and crime prevention. US, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2003 FURNESS A. & MUCKETT M. Introduction to Fire Safety Management. UK, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007 LANCASHIRE Fire and Rescue Service, About Us, Available online at http://www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/lfrs/home/default.php, 2009 MORRISON E. E. & MONAGLE J. F. Health care ethics: critical issues for the 21st century. US, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2008 SAMBRIDGE A., Rootop residents rescued from Abu Dhabi fire, available online at http://www.arabianbusiness.com/531642-huge-blaze-hits-abu-dhabi-apartment-block, 2008 Read More