Archived decisions

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Item

14 February 2007

Refreshed Integrated Risk Management Plan 2007/10

Report of the Chief Officer

Contact: Chief Officer - John Bonney Telephone: 023 80 626830

1

Summary

This report explains the development and contents of the Authority's Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP). This refreshes the previous year's plan in line with the three year rolling cycle agreed by the Authority in February 2006. The report details the progress made against the IRMP objectives set for 2006/9 and refreshes those objectives accordingly. The opportunity has also been taken to incorporate the revised Corporate Aims agreed by the Authority in September 2006,(HFRA paper 13.09.06 item 11).

2

Recommendation

That the Authority notes the progress made in 2006/7 and approves the draft 2007/10 IRMP refresh attached and authorises the Chief Officer, to commence implementation as of the 1 April 2007.

3

Introduction

3.1

As detailed in the National Framework 2006/8, the Government requires that every Fire Authority should produce an Integrated Risk Management Plan together with an annual action plan. The plan should identify and quantify the risks in the county, and also determine how the Authority will set about reducing those risks. Specifically the IRMP must address:

3.1.1

Reducing the number and severity of fires, and in collaboration with other agencies, road traffic accidents and other emergency incidents occurring in the area for which it is responsible;

3.1.2

Reducing the severity of injuries in fires, road traffic accidents and other emergency incidents;

3.1.3

Reducing the commercial, economic and social impact of fires and other emergency incidents;

3.1.4

Safeguarding the environment and heritage (both built and natural); and

3.1.5

Providing value for money.

3.2

The key component of the IRMP is an annual action plan, which clearly sets out the Authority's intentions for development. Given that the annual action plan inevitably details how the Authority will use its resources differently, there is a requirement to undertake consultation with the public, our staff and other key stakeholders.

3.3

Last year the Authority adopted a 3-year rolling action plan in order to provide clear direction in the implementation of the modernisation programme, to prioritise the considerable actions needed to be undertaken and provide a coherent and consistent change strategy.

The update to our IRMP continues the themes of previous years, separating the plan into four main areas of Protecting, Preventing, Responding and Managing Resources. The main thrust of the plan remains unchanged, however the Corporate Aims have been reviewed and approximately 20% of the plan has been updated to better reflect emerging issues and ensure a more targeted approach to risk reduction.

4

Progress in Implementing IRMP 2006/09

The Authority's IRMP commenced on 1 April 2006 and for members information, a number of key milestones have been achieved as detailed below.

4.2

Preventing

4.2.1

We have conducted a total of 14,022 Home Fire Safety visits. These have been undertaken since 1st April 2006 and we are on schedule to have completed our target of 20,000 visits by April 1st 2007. As we improve our ability to identify and quantify risk through the communities in the county we have begun to refocus our activity to ensure that resources are being directed to the most vulnerable groups.

4.2.2

Partnerships with the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) have been set up in the Basingstoke and Southampton areas, with similar arrangements in Portsmouth established with Social Services.

Instead of employing an older persons advocate as originally planned, a series of exploratory meetings have been held to assess the viability of using representatives from the voluntary sector. In addition we have developed a key partnership with Hampshire County Council Older Persons Well Being Team.

4.2.3

The reduction in deliberately started fires has continued to be a main focus for us. We have formed the Arson Reduction Team which pulls together the work of a dedicated

Police Officer, HFRS Arson Task Force Officer and a fire investigation dog , HFRS Fire Investigation Team, Intelligence Analyst, Fire and Arson Support Unit, Fire Setters Intervention Team. This team has been instrumental in achieving a 2.9% reduction in primary fires.

This tiered approach to the investigation of deliberate fires has improved the joint Fire Investigation capability of HFRS and Hampshire Police Crime Scene Investigators. As a direct result this has led to a vastly improved detection rate of arsonists. From July to October 2006 our specialist Fire Investigation Team completed over 75 joint investigations resulting in 27 arrests.

4.2.4

Our partnership with Sentinel Housing and Ultrasafe Fire Solutions has given us the chance to carry out a live burn to reveal the effectiveness of domestic sprinklers in the home. This proved to be an extremely successful demonstration of the efficiency of domestic sprinklers. In addition it enabled us to raise the awareness for all stakeholders and reaffirm our commitment to promote sprinkler installations where these can reduce risk and save life.

4.3

Protecting

4.3.1

Prior to the introduction of the new Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order on the 1^st October 2006 we undertook extensive preparatory work which included staff training, administrative changes and policy amendments to ensure that the transition between the current and new legislation did not affect our ability to offer advice and take appropriate enforcement activity where the risk was sufficiently serious. As part of our commitment to provide information and advice to business externally we have completed a comprehensive range of activities for the business community and is now part of the ongoing work of our business education team.

4.3.2

Over 100 seminars and briefings were organised to provide detailed aspects of the new Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order along with an explanation of our audit programme. The events took place throughout Hampshire with several hundred delegates attending from the different areas of the business community.

We have undertaken ground breaking work by engaging with sectors of the business community who may find the issues surrounding legal compliance a difficulty. In particular we have introduced in the Portsmouth area an innovative and targeted initiative within Black and Minority Ethnic groups in the business community.

Our Business Education team is now established and is in the process of making the transition from a training provider to an education and information unit. This process is due for completion in September 2007 to coincide with revised rules governing trading arrangements for Fire Authorities.

4.3.3

We have be an active contributor to the new CFOA national guidance on sprinklers and other water suppression systems and we now have a strategy for introducing sprinkler demonstration facilities and workshops which is being led by two fire safety officers from Southampton. This work is linked to the application of domestic sprinkler systems within high risk multiple occupied houses within the City of Southampton.

We continue to lobby strongly in consultation processes for sprinklers to be more comprehensively included in the pending revisions to the fire safety requirements of the Building Regulations.

4.3.4

We have also maintained our dedicated team of Fire Safety Engineers responsible for the production of premises risk management plans for the larger risks, and protection objectives are now established as part of the broader fire investigation process when incidents do occur. In addition, for the period commencing 1 April 2006, our newly formed Fire Alarm Reduction Team has reduced the number of false alarm signals received by 840 calls, this equates to a 16.2% reduction compared with the previous period.

4.4

Responding

4.4.1

The project to improve our operational response times and increase our capacity to deliver Community Fire Safety initiatives from our 3 Day Crewed stations is progressing well in line with our IRMP.

Building work has commenced at Andover to provide the additional facilities for a mixed workforce operating the continuously crewed duty system.

An integral element of the changes at Andover involves redeploying some of our firefighters from Eastleigh whilst still maintaining the number of fire appliances available from this fire station. The staff who are being redeployed have been identified and the arrangements for increasing the number of Retained Duty System (RDS) firefighters at Eastleigh have commenced.

To improve our RDS response times from Eastleigh during the day Monday to Friday, we are moving one of the three fire engines at this fire station to our Headquarters site between 0900 and 1700 hours, to be crewed by RDS personnel working within the Headquarters complex. This will commence after Andover moves to continuous crewing on the 1 April 2007.

Preparations for the alterations to Winchester fire station are also underway to allow the duty system to be changed to continuous crewing in October 2007.

Both of these duty system changes, will result in an increase to the continuous duty system establishment, which have been achieved by efficiency savings made from other projects within the IRMP.

4.4.2

The proposals for Waterlooville fire station were completed as planned and this station now operates on the Retained Duty System (RDS), which has allowed us to redeploy 8 fire-fighters to other locations. In addition, two wholetime firefighters continue to use Waterlooville fire station as a base for Community Fire Safety activities within the area.

4.4.3

The trial of a First Response Vehicle, (FRV), crewed by two firefighters commenced at Redbridge Hill fire station in April 2006. The trial has shown that this new concept fire appliance, smaller than the traditional fire engine, allows us to respond to secondary fires and other identified types of incidents more effectively with a proportionate level of resources.

4.4.4

In conjunction with South Central Ambulance Service we increased the number of Co-Responding schemes from 3 to 6. These are located at New Milton, Romsey, Bordon, Horndean, Liphook and Hartley Wintney. These schemes are providing essential emergency medical care, have saved lives and provided improved medical attention for members of our communities involved in medical emergencies.

4.5

Resourcing

4.5.1

The Service now has, for the first time, a comprehensive Workforce Strategy. The strategy covers a range of important areas, including leadership development, building better skills, recruitment and retention of our staff, establishing appropriate pay and rewards to correctly recognise the contribution of all staff and support our cultural change programme.

4.5.2

The development of our staff can only be achieved by a programme of effective training and review. We are therefore pleased that the introduction of the Integrated Personal Development System (IPDS) is now complete. This four year project has resulted in real benefits for all staff. Systems are now in place to ensure that the skills, ability, and potential of all our staff are recognised and developed.

For the first time, we have a review system linking individual staff objectives with the aims of the Service, this enables staff to see where and how they contribute to both the improvement of the Service and their own personal development.

4.5.3

Engaging with our staff and the wider community remains a priority for us. The quarterly staff magazine, Exchange, has now been running for one year and is a useful way of not only keeping our staff informed, but also our external partners. Additionally our "Extra"(news sheet), provides timely information to our staff on "hot topics"

A number of highly successful campaigns have been run during the year focussing on important safety messages, including a Summer Safety Awareness Week and our Celebrate Safely campaign starting on 5 November for Bonfire Night through to the end of January to cover the Chinese New year.

4.5.4

The work to embed the core values within the organisation continues and is now incorporated in the Service's diversity training. The Core Values "Count Me In" pack has been distributed and staff at application, appointment and on promotion are assessed in line with the values.

5

Consultation Results

The IRMP consultation commenced on 1 October for a period of 12 weeks. A total of 14 events were arranged allowing the explanation of our new proposals to be provided to over 200 attendees

5.1

Corporate Aims

The corporate aims were supported by each of the stakeholder groups. Some reservation was expressed on how the service thought they would be able to achieve a 40% reduction in the reduction of road deaths and injuries; which was seen as an ambitious target.

5.2

First Response Vehicle and Dual Crewing Ariel Ladder Platform

The First Response Vehicle was highlighted by the public and other focus groups as an effective way to make good use of modern technology and better use of our human resources. Our staff expressed reservations regarding the capability and safety of the vehicle in attending some incidents. In response to this a working group including staff from Redbridge has been established to ensure that the necessary risk assessments are completed, so that safe systems of work are provided. This will enables us to tackle smaller secondary fires with the most appropriate resources. Groups expressed concern whether the introduction of dual crewing the Aerial Ladder Platform would affect the ability to respond to incidents.

5.3

Changed Crewing at Redbridge and St Mary's

Staff were concerned with the reduction of one staff member per shift. Their concerns centred around the impact on community safety initiatives and how these proposals would be implemented. As a result of these concerns we have amended our proposals to include the provision of a post dedicated to community safety activities in Southampton. In further recognition of staff concerns, the proposed reduction of one person per shift will now take into account existing human resource moves such as retirements, transfer requests etc, this will be managed from 1 April 2007.

5.4

Relocation of Watertender and introduction of RDS

The relocation of a fire appliance from Redbridge to St Mary's was viewed with reservation. The rationale for maintaining operational resilience within the Southampton area was explained, and that this provided the opportunity to reduce standby moves, whilst at the same time providing an opportunity to recruit direct from the local community.

6

IRMP 2007/10 Refresh Proposals

Clearly the plan itself provides a complete explanation of all the proposals but the key points have been listed below:

6.1

Proposal 1 Corporate Aims

Following considerable achievement against the current corporate aims it was felt that the Corporate Aims need to better reflect the current environment. The new Aims were agreed by the Authority on 13^th September 2006.

6.2

Proposal 2 Revise Crewing levels at St Mary's and Redbridge Hill Fire Stations

We propose to revise the number of firefighter posts at Redbridge and St Mary's fire stations from 16 to 15 per shift. This will release existing resources enabling them to be used more efficiently across the Service to ensure consistency of operational provision. As this will mean that some staff will have to move to a new work location, this will now be managed during April to October 2007. In addition we have responded to staff concerns over the potential impact this may have on Community safety initiatives, and as a result will establish a new post dedicated to the Southampton group in support of community safety activity.

6.3

Proposal 3 Introduce a First Response Vehicle (FRV) at Redbridge Hill Fire Station and dual crewing with Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP).

We propose the introduction of a First Response Vehicle (FRV) crewed by two persons at Redbridge Fire Station. The trials have provided sufficient evidence in support of introducing this type of vehicle to deal with certain categories of incidents. The FRV will respond to a range of incidents which do not require the attendance of a conventional fire engine with up to six personnel. In response to concerns around safety by staff it is proposed to introduce this new approach to operational response in June 2007 to provide the additional time to complete the necessary risk assessments.

In conjunction with this we propose to dual crew the FRP with the ALP to make more effective use of our existing staff resources.

6.4

Proposal 4 & 5 Relocation of Watertender from Redbridge Hill to St Mary's and the Introduction of the Retained Duty System at St Mary's.

We propose to relocate the watertender from Redbridge fire station to St Mary's fire station and to crew this appliance with a newly established Retained Duty System (RDS) section. This is based upon the need to maintain an effective operational resilience within the Southampton area.

7

Contribution to Corporate Aims, Objectives and Key Tasks

The IRMP directly underpins our Corporate Aims. which contribute to Making Hampshire Safer and meet Government expectations as detailed in the National Framework 2006 - 08.

8

Resource Implications

8.1

The refresh of our existing IRMP includes significant resource implications, which are described in more detail in the Resourcing element of the draft Plan. There are impacts for human resources in terms of working patterns and for greater flexibility in service delivery. Improvements in our ability to collect data and analyse risk will give valuable support to the various initiatives. It is intended that all of the proposed new initiatives within this IRMP refresh, with the exception of the Equal Pay Review, will be met within existing resources. The financial implications of the Equal Pay Review are the subject of a growth bid as outlined in the Budget Report to the Authority 14 2 2007.

9

Equality Impact Assessment

9.1

The significance of the IRMP to the service we offer to the public means there is clearly a requirement to undertake an Equality Impact Assessment under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act. The Assessment was undertaken to ensure we

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Eliminate any unlawful discrimination

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Promote equality of opportunity

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Promote good race relations

10

Risk Analysis

10.1

Failure to produce a comprehensive IRMP can represent a significant risk for the Authority, both in terms of its ability to deliver a coherent service to the public and drive down risk in the community it serves. It would also amount to a failure in its statutory duty which may lead to Government intervention having a significant adverse impact on our reputation and standing in the community. Such a failure would also likely to affect future funding opportunities for the Authority. Therefore, overall failure to produce and deliver an IRMP would represent a significant threat to the Authority.

11

European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998

The proposals within this report are considered compatible with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Papers

The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report.

The Fire and Rescue National Framework 2006/08

Note: The list excludes:

(1) Published works

(2) Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act