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MINUTES WRITTEN BY: Karolyn Petcher

Visit to South Wales Workshops

Attendees:

The meeting was hosted by Peter Price - Workshops Manager, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is an amalgamation of the previously named

PP advised that management of the Workshops was the responsibility of John Morrison, Brigade Engineer and himself.

180 Vehicles - including 8 reserves (71 Frontline appliances)

22 staff

South Wales FRS currently have approximately 50/50 ratio Wholetime/Retained. There are 50 stations in total (19 Whole-time, 5 Day-Crewed, 26 Retained).

Hourly rate: £ Recharge Rate £

The South Wales Fire and Rescue Service was formed in April 1996 as part of the amalgamation of the former Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and Gwent Fire Brigades. As a result they originally had 2 workshops, until it was decided that the site in Cardiff was the most suitable.

SW Workshops maintains Officer's vehicles on behalf of the lease companies formerly contracted by the individual brigades. This has caused problems due to the variety of vehicles (i.e. different vehicles require different work/tools). It is also necessary to recharge for some items which come under the lease agreement and therefore creates additional administration. As the contracts run out they are trying to make improvements to lease contracts and terminating where required.

Gwent fleet had been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations and did not take into account all of the CACFOA (now CFOA) recommendations. The problem with this is that because manufacturer's servicing is based on number of miles driven, because of this the time between servicing of these vehicles were extended due to the limited number of miles they physically cover.

There was substantial issues regarding the quality of these vehicles including damage to drums and gear boxes that required rectification.

Staff

A few staff are members of the Institute of Road and Transport Engineers (IRTE). This means they have acquired specific qualifications, experience and usually are of management level. The Service is considering improvements in training so that all staff are qualified to this level. It is believed that it may become a requirement of all Service Workshops in future to have all their Technicians licensed to the IRTE. Holding a registered license means that their work is recognised to meet a required standard.

HFRS are also considering the above qualification. It is possible to be licensed to the Institute without all staff taking the qualification.

Working hours for Workshops staff in South Wales are:

Mon-Thur 8.00-16.00

Fri 8.00-13.30

Staff is broken down into the following:

24 Hour Cover

2 Technicians provide 24 hour `call-out' cover outside of working hours + 1 supervisor.

There are 11 Technicians and 4 Supervisors available for `call-out' duties.

Outside Work

SW do not look for additional work but they do carry out some outside work. They maintain ladders and appliances for the local airport as well as maintaining the appliances for Bosch and a couple of other big companies who have their own appliances.

Fitting Out of Vehicles

Workshops staff lay out appliance equipment at the body builders so they can produce the trays and drawers. This means there is a lot less to do when they appliances arrive. These drawers/trays are on runners so that equipment is lifted more easily and prevent spinal damage. Many items are heavy and leaning into lockers would go against best practice.

These drawers consist of peg-boards which are changeable. These pegboards are easily adaptable for installation of replacement/altered equipment.

This has been carried out for the last 5 years.

Complete changeover of equipment (altering pegboards) would take approximately 16 hours @ £ per hour.

HFRS do not use pegboards and manufacture the trays themselves. This means modification takes longer. There are pros and cons for providing the shelves in this way to be considered as part of the review.

South Wales Workshops do not hold kit on their reserves, therefore when a new vehicle arrives they must remove the kit from the vehicle it will be replacing, as well as setting up the pegboards to accommodate this kit. `Fit-out' of a new appliance (see quote below) takes 16 hours. Currently this takes HFRS approximately 2-3 weeks. Since the visit to South Wales, an explanation for this reduction in time has been provided by the Workshops Manager in South Wales.

"Because every item of kit has to be delivered to workshops fitted to the Appliance which is scheduled for replacement in order to facilitate a complete change-over onto the new Appliance we have to minimize the down time as far as is possible as the Station will either be off-the-run or on reduced turn-out whilst the change-over is on-going. Therefore we have developed a system which works very well and renders the exercise achievable well within two day-shifts i.e. 16 hours. There are occasions when problems result in delays but this is addressed by use of overtime should the need arise; this however is rarely necessary.

The exercise is undertaken by a dedicated Technician who is well versed in stowage and kitting out, this helps reduce down-time considerably, he will be assisted on an ad-hock basis by an Apprentice or Handyman to carry equipment etc. There is no doubt that the peg-board system is a major contributor in minimizing down-time as no drilling is required and the fitment of the pegs which are drilled and threaded 'off-set' to allow the required adjustment is an easy one-man process."

Any reconfiguration/modification is undertaken in-house. All minor accident repair is also undertaken in-house, but any major work is completed by outside contractors.

Reserves don't have all the equipment stored on them so when an appliance requires a service, the Workshops staff go onto the station and move the equipment from the station vehicle to the reserve.

SW Workshops staff deliver vehicles themselves. The reason for this is that the mechanic "gets a feel for" any problems with the vehicle. They also take responsibility for returning the vehicle to the station, which allows them to test the driveability of the vehicle. It also avoids any hold-ups in collecting vehicles.

Collection and return of vehicles in Hampshire is carried out by Staff Office. The pros and cons of this means of collection has been considered by HFRS however, whilst a mechanic could carry out this job, this would take him away from other work which he is paid to do.

Servicing

SW have a standardized schedule for servicing based on the CFOA recommendations.

During service the Workshops report on scheduled and non-scheduled, this allows them to more accurately report on the cost of the service and allows them to accurately compare prices with outside companies.

We also do this. Our service includes all repairs identified prior to and during the service.

On station servicing is carried out by 1 Technician + 1 Apprentice or Handyman. 1 Technician can carry out the work but is unable to do some things safely without the assistance of another member of staff (lone working). By using the Apprentice or a Handyman, they are able to limit the number of technical staff away from the workplace.

HFRS currently sends 2 Technicians to complete 3 monthly servicing.

Stock

South Wales have IMPREST stock but do hold some stock of their own for particular regularly used items.

They receive a reduced price from the manufacturer for tyres. The Appliance tyres are returned to the manufacturer after only `one life'. By this it is meant that where tyres of this size are usually re-cut (re-treaded) several times as they have sufficient rubber to re-tread them. This means that you only have to pay for the re-tread rather than a whole new tyre. South Wales have decided not to do this and hence receive a reduced price for their tyres.

Performance Indicators

They use a number of performance indicators to measure their efficiency. One of these is the amount of downtime for each vehicle that is serviced. Downtime is calculated as the amount of time a Station doesn't have its own vehicle (i.e. from the time it is taken off the run), until the time it is available to go back.

This is because they are responsible for collecting the vehicle and bringing it to Workshops so need to include this time. HFRS Workshops do not collect the vehicles from the stations so it would be unreasonable to include this time.

User Survey

South Wales Workshops undertook a User Survey which illustrated the following main concerns:

1) Staff were unable to reach Workshops by telephone without difficulty.

2) Stations were not informed as to what was happening with their vehicle and the likely return date.

Since visiting South Wales, the concern regarding the length of time that a vehicle remains with Workshops and information communicated to them regarding this is also a concern for HFRS staff.

User Manual

Workshops produced a `Technical Instruction Manual' of which they are proud. This enables stations to have a clear guide as to procedures they should take to ensure their vehicles/equipment is working to an optimum level. It helps to minimise unnecessary defects.

HFRS Workshops also produce a manual similar to this, but contains fewer photographs. It covers areas that operational staff will be using/checking in order to assist in reducing unnecessary problems arising.

Platform

SW Workshops bring in the manufacturer to complete the yearly service of their platform vehicle. Workshops staff do as much of other maintenance as is possible during the ensuing 12 months.

HFRS Workshops also operate a similar policy. The Manufacturers are used at the time of the yearly service to undertake the hydraulic and systems tests that require specialist work.