Appendix A , item 39. PDF 1 MB - Greater Manchester Fire and ...

There are three main types of Operational Debrief undertaken within GMFRS:
i. Level One (Hot) Debrief
Carried out at the earliest opportunity following conclusion of an
operational activity. Conducted either at the scene, or immediately upon
return to the normal place of work.
ii. Level Two (Tactical) Debrief
Undertaken for any operational incident or training event which has the
potential to raise significant learning opportunities.
iii. Level Three (Strategic) Debriefs
Strategic Debriefs provide a supportive and confidential environment in
which the performance of the senior incident commander can be discussed
openly. All Strategic Debriefs are coordinated and facilitated by OA and
focus specifically on ‘command decision making’.
GMFRS first formalised arrangements for debriefing operational activities in 2005.
The organisational approach has proven to be effective for a number of years in
providing a robust and credible method for the capture and collation of
incident/exercise outcomes.
In recognition of the elapsed time since the introduction of the existing practices and
in response to an accumulation of related issues on the OA Emerging Themes
Register, a review of the existing was undertaken during Quarter four of 2012/13.
The review found that the current level of ‘buy in’ from operational staff is viewed as
a significant area for improvement, as is the ‘closing the loop’ element of the current
procedures which presents some risk to the organisation through lack of awareness.
This also has the potential to stifle both organisational learning and service
improvement.
As an outcome from the review, the following recommendations for improvement
were agreed by LT at its meeting of 8 March 2013:
(i)
(ii)
Provide a more pragmatic approach to the completion and monitoring
of tactical debriefs, through the removal of the targeted (Quantitative)
approach and replace this with a more reasonable (Qualitative)
approach which focuses on developing a culture of learning.
Existing OA procedures should be strengthened to include active
monitoring and analysis of both resolved and unresolved issues, for the
purpose of informing the Emerging Themes Register.
To maximise the benefit of this resource intensive activity, the current
strategic debrief process should be refined to ensure the learning
outcomes are more effectively shared with a wider audience. This
should include more effective communication of the collective
outcomes by OA, in the form of a quarterly presentation to all
operational personnel.
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