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More than just a rescue challenge
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In anticipation of this year’s UK Rescue Organisation challenge, hosted by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, FIRE talks to UKRO Chair Steve Apter who reflects on the organisation’s achievements so far and shares his strategy for its future direction
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UKFRO Chair Steve Apter
“UKRO has grown
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26 | July/August 2016 | www.fire–magazine.com
realised that the UKRO approach and experience can help them. This is why UKRO created the International Development Programme. It engages with governments and other organisations to work out what is required and establish a working relationship that sees costs covered and skills shared across the world. UKRO has grown organically and is a place where those who are passionate about the world of combined rescue and medical care can get together to share, learn and develop. However, if it does want to be more than just an organisation that puts on challenges to serve the needs of those specialists working in the field, a rethink is required. Part of that rethink has been a change in the way that the organisation is structured. Previously, UKRO was a company limited by guarantee. It served its purpose in that it allowed the organisation to receive money, buy services and limit the liabilities of those involved. After considerable discussion within the leadership of UKRO, it has now taken on charitable status and will wind up the limited company.
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he organisation behind the rescue challenge is changing. “The challenge is a vehicle by which we can do other things,” says Steve, who is now back at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service after his secondment to East Sussex. He heads up UKRO in a voluntary capacity and has been involved in UKRO and its predecessor for over 20 years. UKRO, the UK Rescue Organisation, has been around a long time. Steve talks about the 1980s when there was no statutory duty to rescue people from road traffic accidents and there was certainly no kit around to do this kind of work. The World Rescue Organisation (WRO) was formed in the late 1990s with the first rescue challenges run by teams of enthusiasts from around the world. The first official World Rescue Challenge was held in Scotland in 2000. UKRO was one of the four founder members of the WRO. Dave Webb, retired Chief Fire Officer of Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, was the first chair of UKRO, which was established in 1999. It started off with a focus on extrication then adding in trauma challenge and more recently line rescue, USAR and water rescue. The intention behind UKRO was to provide opportunities for emergency personnel to test their skills and learn new ones. Inevitably this involves equipment and manufacturers found a source of keen interest in using their equipment in real-life simulations that in turn assist their own product development. It is a win-win in many ways. It is clearly a good way to exercise teams in anticipation of real-life response situations for individual fire and rescue services. The opportunity to work with other organisations as if in the live incident environment is invaluable. Standards are an important aspect of UKRO’s work and these have been developed over many years. The Institution of Fire Engineers accredits assessors and volunteers and validates the continuing professional development activities provided by UKRO. Steve says: “Involvement in UKRO activities offers participants the opportunity to advance their own professional skills”. And it is not just UK fire and rescue services that are benefitting here, other countries have
organically and is a place where those who are passionate about the world of combined rescue and medical care can get together to share, learn and develop”
Charitable Status “Being a registered charity fits far better with the values of UKRO, which are to advance professional rescue,” says Steve. Moving to charitable status has provided the opportunity to recast what UKRO is all about. The Charity Commission requires all charities to set down a series of charitable objects and for UKRO they have come up with an interesting mix of professional awareness, training and best practice with an outward look at the education of the public. The board of trustees is being formed and will include representation from many fire and rescue services across the UK. Underneath the board is a management team chaired by Steve Apter and assisted by a small number of director posts covering education, international development, organisational development, marketing, communications, media, the rescue challenges, finance and legal. Currently, UKRO does not have full-time staff, but running an organisation on volunteers is hard work so part of Steve’s ambition for UKRO
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charity fits far better with the values of
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UKRO, which are to advance professional rescue”
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non-fire and rescue organisations. Workshops will also be open to non-challenge participants. Accompanying the UKRO Rescue Challenge, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is also hosting a one-day resilience conference on September 9. The conference will explore the theme of resilience and the impact on community engagement, multi-agency working and the wider impact on fire and rescue service resource and finances. Bookings are now being taken, contact Mark Woods by email: mark. woods@hantsfire.gov.uk. Steve is keen for everyone working in the field of rescue to consider getting involved in UKRO. That could be for personnel involved in regional challenges – not run by UKRO, but a great training ground for the national events. He is also looking for new contributors to the international work. “There are roles as project managers for teams to help train and equip our colleagues in other countries”, says Steve. “This is a great development opportunity for those looking to expand and extend their UK rescue skills in other countries.” For more information on UKRO and the Rescue Challenge in September, visit the UKRO website: www.ukro.org and follow them on Twitter @_ukro.
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“Being a registered
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now is to have a core of dedicated staff that can help to enhance and expand the current UKRO offer. The main source of income for UKRO is the fees charged to enter the annual challenge. There are a lot of in-kind contributions as well, with relationships with the various manufacturers of equipment providing free access to their tools. UKRO has also previously been successful in bidding for funds from the Fire Services Research and Training Trust. Like many organisations, UKRO is developing an app to enable those who purchase it to have access to unique information which is not available on the UKRO website and Facebook. The app will give in-depth details of the teams, assessors and the board. Those who download the app will be able to vote for their favourite team and favourite assessor. The development of the app will provide interesting future opportunities to engage with colleagues and members of the public. As the new structures bed in, Steve is keen to embrace all fire and rescue services and see them working with UKRO. One way in which UKRO will do this is to continually develop and look for new and interesting ways in which to enhance the skills and knowledge of those who attend emergency incidents and to assist in educating the public to encourage individual and community safety. It is great to hear about all the change within the organisation, but for now the focus is very much on the challenge that takes place in September. Hosted by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service on September 8-10, teams will compete in challenges focused on RTC extrication, rope, water rescue, USAR and trauma.
Accompanying the UKRO Rescue Challenge, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is also hosting a one-day resilience conference on September 9
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Challenges at the September event will focus on RTC extrication, rope, water rescue, USAR and trauma
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UKRO Rescue Challenge For the first time there will be an animal rescue challenge. Hampshire has a dedicated animal rescue team who are trained in animal psychology, how to handle different species and how to react to an animal in distress. Steve says there has been a lot of interest in this innovation. UKRO will, in another first, open up the challenge to other emergency responders from
UKRO will, in another first, open up the challenge to other emergency responders from non-fire and rescue organisations
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