On Leaving London: an interview with Ron Dobson

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an interview with Ron Dobson

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On leaving London:

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Commissioner Ron Dobson talked to FIRE magazine just before his retirement on December 31. He reflected on his career spanning nearly four decades with London Fire Brigade and over nine years in the hot seat as Commissioner

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aking a look back, the Commissioner talks about the highlights of his career. He recalls his first major fire at Alexandra Palace in July 1980 where he attended the 25-pump fire that destroyed much of the historic building. He talks fondly of the time he spent in the training centre and his busiest years as the Divisional Commander for Operations in the Eastern Command of London. “The Olympics were the best weeks of my career,” he says “the whole place was just alive; it was so good to be in London and especially to be the London Fire Commissioner.” His career is punctuated by the major events in London in the past 40 years. He recalls the bombings on 7/7: “It felt like an exercise and that’s one of the reasons why it stands out as a highlight.” He goes on to explain: “I had spent a lot of my time training with other agencies to get ready and to make sure we are able to respond to that sort of thing. We had done lots of exercises as well. So on the day, when it actually happened, it just felt like another exercise. It meant that all that training had been worthwhile.”

When asked about the lowlights, the Commissioner recalls with sadness the deaths of firefighters Billy Faust and Adam Meere at a fire in Bethnal Green in 2004. He reflects on industrial action in 2010/11 over shift pattern change and says this was a real low point. These changes “had to happen” and looking back on it, he still asks himself what he could have done better: “More communication, put the case better to convince people it was the right thing to do? “My career has been about continuous improvement and providing the best possible service to London. During the strikes we were saying to London: we’ve got no fire service. That was a really low point for me.” He quickly counters this and returns to the theme of continuous improvement by reflecting on the fact that attendance times to incidents for fire engines in London are now faster than when he became Commissioner. He is clearly proud that the number of fires in London and the number of deaths related to fire are both lower than when he became Commissioner. www.fire–magazine.com  |  February 2017  |  13


Focus on London Fire Brigade

“I’m really pleased that the long standing problem of the decline in the currency and quality of National Operational Guidance was resolved for the country by London Fire Brigade”

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I think people forget that it was the Brigade’s idea and London Fire Brigade paid £4.5m over three years to actually make it work. I think that’s been a real success.”

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Embracing Technology Looking at the changes in technology over the time that the Commissioner has been at LFB, 1979 feels like another world. Today it’s possible to learn about the work of principal officers from fire and rescue services around the world as they use Twitter to share both the mundane and the more exciting parts of their jobs with their followers. The Commissioner has a Twitter account @lfbchief, but is not a frequent user. “I was really worried about it to begin with. At one point I was accused of being a bit of a Luddite and I didn’t want to be accused of that, so I embraced it. It can be a force for good, but it can also be a negative thing.” And from this shaky start, the Commissioner now thinks that social media is a fantastic asset. He recognises Facebook and Twitter as “brilliant for getting our messages out”. So much so that he has encouraged his teams to go even further and embrace wider technology opportunities. He makes the point about technology in terms of firefighting and the design of fire engines today: “It’s a completely different world from when I started.” He describes the situation when he joined: “We had sledgehammers and saws, but also lots of empty space on fire engines; you needed a lot of brawn rather than brain.” And as he leaves he sees the introduction of drones for observation and research into using them to actually fight fires in high rise buildings. But he is concerned about the lack of innovation in the fire sector. “We’re not very good at identifying and designing our own technological advances or stimulating industry to work with us. I think that’s mainly because we still think as individual fire and rescue services and we’re not a very big market anyway.” He can see the potential for the R&D Hub to make inroads here (see On the Frontline pg 27), if only because the centralised national function means that demand is less fragmented and more attractive to industry. “It is a step in the right direction,” he says. Making the link between changes in technology and the impact on the role of the firefighter offers the opportunity to ask the Commissioner if that also means the type of people who can be firefighters can change too. “Improvements in technology inevitably plays a part in changing the profile of our workforce because when you improve the equipment that people have in a way which takes some of the pure manual strength out of tasks, it does open up the service to a wider group of men and women. This is of course only part of the story.”

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Restructuring London Moving on to consider the proposed changes in the Policing and Crime Bill which will lead to the abolition of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, the Commissioner considers this to be “a fundamental and very significant change in the way London Fire Brigade will work in the future. It will streamline our decision making and place significant additional responsibility on the London Fire Commissioner.” The reason for this is that the Commissioner in the new arrangements will be, like all Chief Constables, a Corporation Sole and so personally responsible for employing all the staff. “It places a real emphasis on the relationship between the Commissioner and the Mayor. And along with the Deputy Mayor for Fire, this relationship is going to be absolutely crucial to the successful running of the Brigade in the future. It’s a change I never thought I would see; it’s one of my regrets that I won’t be able to experience it.” Considering the introduction of the fire inspectorate he says: “I hope it’s not going to be the same as the old HMFSI because that would be a lost opportunity.” He wants to see a modern inspection regime that is truly independent and much more evidence based, with more use of industry standards for assurance. He would like to see the Fire Service adopt as many standards as possible that already exist in other sectors and says “we must not reinvent the wheel in areas that are generic to other emergency services and public authorities”. Taking an outward look at the role of the London Fire Commissioner in the wider fire sector, the Commissioner provides a surprising response when asked about where he has been most influential. “I’ve been lead adviser for fire for the LGA for six or seven years now.” He has worked through pensions dispute issues and Grey Book changes “which I’ve really enjoyed doing. I think working with the LGA is where I’ve been my most influential.” Clearly he has had considerable access to ministers, civil servants and worked with CFOA at a national level, but he does not just see his privileged position as a place from which to influence policy, but also somewhere to contribute to the work of the Fire Fighters Charity. And it is with the charity that he hopes to spend some of his retirement. On a national level, the Commissioner talks proudly about the contribution London Fire Brigade has made to the development of National Operational Guidance. “I’m really pleased that the long standing problem of the decline in the currency and quality of National Operational Guidance was resolved for the country by London Fire Brigade. While it is now often seen as a CFOA success, 14  |  February 2017  |  www.fire–magazine.com


Former Commissioner Rob Dobson with current Commissioner Dany Cotton

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Future Role He is joining Operational Assurance Limited (OAL), a small company offering independent operational assurance to fire and rescue services and in other risk critical services. “The reason I am interested in doing that is because the work of OAL is about helping fire and rescue services to improve public and firefighter safety. “One of the most important and in fact overriding themes I adopted when I became Commissioner was the determination that everyone who comes to work in the morning goes home safe and sound in the evening. Helping fire and rescue authorities achieve this is what OAL sets out to achieve and is why I am interested in helping them.” Returning to the theme of assessment from earlier, the Commissioner talked about the LGA Fire Peer Review process and says: “While it has strengths in certain areas, it is not as focused on operational service delivery as it should be.” Given the government’s recent comments about Peer Review and the introduction of the inspectorate, the peer review process is unlikely to develop in this area. “I like to think that OAL would be able to work with the new inspectorate and fire and rescue authorities to drive up operational standards.” It is good timing for his departure from London Fire Brigade, with a fortuitous confluence of events: the end of LFEPA, the end of 150 years of LFB and the impending return of the fire inspectorate. Concluding with a question about whether leaving London after 37 years might be rather liberating, the Commissioner is reticent but it clearly appeals to him. He may be disappointed in how far he was able to go with improving the diversity of the Brigade, but he passes that baton on to a very capable successor who firmly frames herself by her gender and her commitment to change is in no doubt. He leaves London Fire Brigade in a very good place indeed.

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Diversity Challenge The Commissioner recalled that when he joined LFB in 1979 there were no women firefighters and nearly 40 years on only about six per cent of firefighters are women – currently around 300 in London Fire Brigade. “I’m really proud of what the Brigade has done over the last 30 years in terms of diversity. But I’m also very disappointed with what we’ve done because we should have done more.” Unpacking that confusing statement, the Commissioner goes on to explain that while he is pleased that there are greater numbers of women, more staff from BME communities and larger numbers of LGBT personnel, he says it is just taken far too long and the numbers are far too low. So what is the answer to reach the tipping point for greater, deeper change? “I think we need to be less risk averse than we are in terms of our approaches towards attracting applicants from different groups.” He even goes so far as to say that there should be “a change to the legislation to allow us to be more proactive without falling foul of discrimination legislation.” He looks in particular towards the innovative work of the Metropolitan Police service in this area. The second strand of work that the Commissioner identifies to improve diversity in the Fire and Rescue Service is to look again at the role of the firefighter and how it is portrayed to the public. He echoes much of what was discussed at the FIRE Congress held in November 2016 about the ‘heroic brand’ of the firefighter and how that can be a barrier to change. He is keen to get across the message that the role of the firefighter is much more than operational activity and is now actually a wider community safety profession. It is no secret that the Commissioner enjoys playing golf, but he has no intention of taking up permanent residence on the golf course just yet. He has some interesting plans for his future and they are firmly in the world of fire.

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Focus on London Fire Brigade

Thirty seven years ago young Fireman Ron Dobson set out on a career that would take him all the way to the top of one of the world’s largest fire services

16  |  February 2017  |  www.fire–magazine.com


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