54 | ESTCOLLABORATION
The often under-estimated role of fire and rescue services in wider public service reform Recently, a public comment by a high ranking police officer got me thinking about how poor we in the UK fire and rescue service have been in demonstrating the value that we create within society. The police officer commented that the cuts were turning his force into a ‘fire brigade’ police service! I think I know what he meant, but for a proud member of a national service that has totally transformed what it provides to the British public I was disappointed by the inference. We in Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) don’t have the traditional ‘Vision’ or ‘Mission’ statement expected by businesses, instead we have a clear purpose - it is to ‘protect and improve the quality of life of the people in Greater Manchester’. Every role in our organisation aligns to this purpose, a purpose that makes no mention of fire! Words: Peter O’Reilly, Designate Chief Fire Officer, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. Despite a 29 percent (£25m) reduction in the revenue support grant we receive from central government we’ve been successfully working to this purpose for the last four years, and it has really focused and aligned all of our business. Our firefighters, Community Risk Intervention Teams (CRITs), Community Safety Advisors (CSAs) and volunteers will be in 60,000 homes across the city region in the next 12 months; primarily to reduce the risk of fire but increasingly to reduce other foreseeable risks such as falls and crime. They will also offer health and well-being advice around drugs, alcohol, obesity, mental health and even provide information on energy switching.
Community Risk Intervention Teams focus on improving the health and well-being of the community.
This is not a volume-based activity; it is driven by a sophisticated model that identifies where the most vulnerable in our community live. It is no coincidence that the people who live in these homes are also receiving services from other public sector partners such as social care, youth services, housing and the police. The relationships we have built with our partners in the public sector have seen us move to a position where we are investing to bring an integrated approach to helping local people.
In Moss Side the community fire station boxing club has over 400 regular members of all ages and physical/mental ability, while a dedicated team also delivers a practical alternative curriculum programme, which has been developed for those young people that are disengaged from mainstream education and at risk of exclusion from a local high school. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency uses two other stations as driving test centres, and the intention is to role this model out across more of our stations. Our communities have used the community rooms in fire stations, free of charge, over 2000 times since April 2014. Recently our volunteering and youth engagement programmes have expanded to the point where over 400 local people regularly volunteer to carry out community development activities on our behalf, which include: responding to help residents clean up after a fire (Post Incident Team (PIT)) and working with young people each week on our cadet units. Since it began in 2008 our volunteers have contributed almost 200,000 hours of service to the public. Over the past year we have enabled 1000 young people to obtain in excess of 1700 practical and academic qualifications.
Supporting communities So has any of this had an impact for our community? Well, we think so. The numbers of fires continue on a downward trend; fewer people are being rescued from fires and more people who suffer a fire have had a previous experience with our staff that has helped them survive potentially life-ending events. We’ve expanded our youth engagement programmes, created apprenticeship frameworks, and employed young people directly into the service from our youth
Working together For example, we have converted a fire station in Tameside to accommodate the entire neighbourhood team from the local authority. This team now shares the same space as our community safety team and police. In Salford we have transformed the fire station at Irlam into a fully integrated police, ambulance and fire community station. At present we are installing a climbing wall onto the traditional drill tower to increase the types of health and well-being activities the local community can access.
www.emergencyservicestimes.com
Since it began in 2008 our volunteers have contributed almost 200,000 hours of service to the public.
Peter O’Reilly, Designate Chief Fire Officer, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.
engagement programmes on newly developed apprenticeships. We are one of the Government’s Trailblazers, creating a new apprenticeship standard for Business Safety Adviser Apprentices, and we are leading the introduction of Traineeships within the UK fire and rescue service.
Supporting business As the fire safety regulator in Greater Manchester we make up one of over 60 regulatory departments that enforce legislation on our businesses. Businesses, particularly small and medium sized enterprises, complain that they are over-burdened by regulatory inspections and often they receive conflicting or contradictory direction. It is not actually difficult to understand this if all of the regulatory departments operate on separate risk assessments, separate action plans and are located in separate facilities. In Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service we have pushed our Fire Safety Enforcement officers into the regulatory teams of the local authorities. Why? We believe that integrating all regulatory teams will have short, medium and long-term benefits for the business communities and the taxpayer.
April 2015
ESTCOLLABORATION | 55 The last of the three teams became active on 5 January this year, and we will be recruiting an additional 70 team members to form seven more teams across Greater Manchester.
Reducing costs
The adoption of Ultra High Pressure Cold Cutting equipment as standard on all frontline fire appliances will provide firefighters with an additional tool to control and extinguish fires safely.
In the short term the teams will begin to understand the working practices of their peers. In the medium term joint risk assessments, action plans and training will enable staff to deliver education and awareness to businesses on behalf of each other. In the longer term we may see the development of a truly integrated management, and delivery, of the regulatory services across the whole of Greater Manchester. In Tameside, where we first integrated with the local authority regulators, businesses are already seeing an improved support service from local regulators. And in Manchester, co-locating with Manchester City Council has saved local businesses, in the Northern Quarter, hundreds of thousands of pounds. To support this approach we have authored a national competency framework, which has allowed us to recruit Business Fire Safety Advisors, particularly from under represented communities, to engage with their local business communities to help them understand and comply with their statutory responsibilities under fire safety legislation.
“The relationships we have built with our partners in the public sector have seen us move to a position where we are investing to bring an integrated approach to helping local people.”
These teams also respond, on behalf of the police and ambulance services, to non-emergency calls, which impact on the ability of these services to respond to serious incidents, such as minor falls or calls that are non-crime related, which tie up police resources for long periods. The three teams have been fully available for just over six weeks (at the time of writing) and have responded to almost 700 incidents including cardiac arrests, falls and concerns for welfare. This has lessened the impact of these types of calls on ambulance and police services, freeing up their professionals to deal with other emergencies. The Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) that accompanied our bid to the FTF illustrated a potential payback period of less than two years to cover the initial investment. To coin a phrase, the fruit from the work of these teams falls in the gardens of others, such as health, social care and police. The impact that the teams have had has already surpassed the expectations of the CBA.
Community Risk Intervention Teams respond, on behalf of the police and ambulance services, to non-emergency calls.
Multi-agency prevention hub The Fire Transformation Fund has also supported the establishment of a multi-agency prevention hub in Salford. Fire and local authority youth services will co-locate and be jointly managed with police and
Over 400 local people regularly volunteer to carry out community development activities on behalf of the service.
community organisations to engage local young people and their families, with the aim of providing a positive pathway for development. This will rely heavily on our experience of providing alternative curriculum, traineeship and apprenticeship opportunities. The philosophy that will drive forward the work of this team is that they will strive to provide ‘what matters to people and communities’ rather than concentrate on ‘what is the matter with them’. Already other local authority partners are keen to see this model developed elsewhere and we are exploring how this can be achieved. GMFRS have not lost sight of our traditional responsibilities, and are making great strides, through innovation, to improve the safety of our firefighters and the public. The adoption of Ultra High Pressure Cold Cutting (UHPCC) equipment as standard on all frontline fire appliances will provide firefighters with an additional tool to control and extinguish fires safely. Combining UHPCC with thermal imaging, positive pressure ventilation and providing firefighters with new, layered personal protective equipment is a strategic, tactical and operational commitment to protecting and improving the quality of life of our staff and communities.
www.manchesterfire.gov.uk
Reducing risk We are now taking the same approach to integrating with community risk reduction services. Our Community Safety Advisors are being placed within Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, where these have been established, and we are working with partners including GP surgeries to ensure that we are in the homes of those most at risk. But, how do we help drive public sector reform by using our experience to prevent more than fires? We have come up with a couple of ideas, which, thankfully, the Fire Transformation Fund (FTF) has supported. We have employed 30 people, drawn from fire, police and ambulance service volunteers, as well as from those military personnel that have recently left the service, to form three new Community Risk Intervention Teams. These teams focus on improving the health and well-being of those who they meet as well as concentrating on many areas of prevention including: crime, fire, falls and carbon monoxide poisoning.
www.emergencyservicestimes.com
A national competency framework has allowed GMFRS to recruit Business Fire Safety Advisors, particularly from under represented communities, to engage with their local business communities to help them understand and comply with their statutory responsibilities under fire safety legislation.
April 2015