Report - Fire Brigades Union

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SECTION J — HEALTH & SAFETY shown its contempt for worker safety by imposing a 35% reduction in the Health and Safety Executive’s budget. The Fire Brigades Union considers the 25% reduction to the formula grant announced as the spending review for the fire and rescue service as unsafe. The FBU believes that it will put at risk the ability of the FRS to deal with emergencies. Furthermore, the FBU believes that the impact of the spending review for the fire and rescue service will be worsened by inadequate risk management planning processes being operated within fire authorities. J2 Regional health and safety coordinators Regional health and safety coordinators are organised into six task and finish national subcommittees. Meetings of the regional health coordinators were convened on four occasions in 2010 to sign off subcommittee work and to coordinate safety representative work with the FBU regions. The main area of work for the regional health and safety coordinators has been the chief fire and rescue advisor (CFRA) operational guidance programme. J3 FRS health and safety group The fire and rescue service health and safety group met on four occasions in 2010. The topics covered included: ● Hepatitis B; ● HSE inspections; ● firefighter fatalities; ● firefit/firefighter fitness standards; ● carbonaceous BA training; ● review of FRS circulars; ● operational guidance workshop; ● occupational health and safety; ● flu pandemic; ● firefighter safety; ● generic risk assessments; ● HSE high level statement; ● Draegar PS7000BA; ● health and safety data; ● incident command and the use of dynamic risk assessment; ● Hampshire fatalities; ● HSE consolidated inspection report; ● reporting of near misses and dangerous occurrences; ● reporting of significant safety events; ● dissolution of the FRS Practitioners’ Forum and the FRS health and safety group. The regional health and safety coordinators have focussed on the revision of the 32 generic risk assessments for emergency response activities. The priority has been to identify the significant hazards of emergency response activities and to recommend control measures that must be built into operational guidance. Fatal accident investigations had identified the improper use of dynamic risk assessment (DRA) as a significant cause of these accidents. Improper use of DRA failed to control four significant hazards. These are: ● the operational imperative; ● the uncontrolled situation; ● inappropriate and/or insufficient resources to provide safe systems of work for the FRS task; and ● limited experience. J4 HSE proactive inspections The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) commissioned a series of inspections of fire and rescue services. Its justification was as follows: ● ● HSE has decided to carry out this programme of planned inspections because; The FRS employs around 55,000 staff in 57 fire and rescue services throughout Great Britain, most in operational duties; Regional health and safety coordinators have recommended the development of national and local worst-case planning scenarios as a control measure for these significant hazards. Personal protection equipment (PPE) subcommittee This committee met three times in 2010 to discuss and formulate a best practice document for the use of respirators within the fire and rescue services across the country. This work was necessary following emergency resolution no. 4 at annual conference 2010. Following an article in the Firefighter magazine about PPE, Du Pont, the manufacturers, invited the FBU to attend their factory to witness tests on PPE on the “Thermo” manikin. This was due to go ahead in February 2011 but some fire and rescue services pulled out. Hopefully this will now go ahead in April 2011. A full report will be sent to the national officer. ● ● ● ● Little or no proactive inspection of the FRS has been carried out for a number of years; Over the past few years there have been a number of multiple fatalities during operational incidents, and the incidence of fatal accidents appears to be higher than over the preceding period (note that the numbers are too small for any statistical significance to be drawn from the figures); There is a concern within HSE and also the service that a number of issues are contributing to a lower level of competence of operational staff, especially front-line supervision; More widely, there is continuing high level interest in the way that the FRS balances operational and health and safety responsibilities. 156 FBU Annual Report 2011
SECTION J — HEALTH & SAFETY In October 2010 the HSE released its consolidated report based on the eight inspections carried out so far. The report concluded that: 1.11 There are 2 specific areas where the findings across all the inspections are consistent. They confirm the fundamental importance of 2 complementary aspects of effective safety management, namely: ● ● Competence assessment for firefighters at all levels including management; A proportionate approach to risk assessment. 1.15 Some other matters that need to be further considered and addressed by the FRS as a whole also emerged. These are: ● ● ● ● The extent to which firefighters should or should not take risks to save property; Whether retained duty staff can fulfill all of the operational duties of a firefighter given the time they have available for training; Clarity about how FRS can meet public expectations on water rescue; How best to develop and implement consistent national guidance and improve interoperability on those matters that affect every FRS. The HSE intends to carry out four additional inspections of fire and rescue services. It has indicated that it will use guidance published by CFRA as a benchmark and it expects to find significant improvement in the areas identified in the consolidated report. J5 Brigade safety representatives’ training course This course was held in March at Wortley Hall. Head office input included John McGhee, national officer, and Trevor Cave, FBU education. The TUC tutors supporting the course were John Botterill and Katherine Fry, Leeds City College, Trade Union Education Department. Presentations came from Sue Parkyn, head of police, prisons, fire and sector support for the HSE, and Dave Sibert, fire safety and IRMP advisor for the FBU. Tutor-led discussions focused on: ● the role of safety representatives within IRMP; ● fire service for 21st century presentation; ● operational guidance programme; and ● dynamic risk assessment. Very positive feedback was received from students. J6 Serious accident investigation The serious accident investigation manual has been agreed and published. The serious accident investigation kit will be rolled out once the distribution list has been finalised. It is intended to develop a TUC-accredited course on serious accident investigation and roll this out over the next two years. J7 CFRA operational guidance programme In 2008 the chief fire and rescue advisor (CFRA) commissioned 12 projects under the general control and scrutiny of the Operational Guidance Programme Board. Each project has a director appointed by CFRA and board to oversee the project. The FBU has a position on each of the boards. The FBU fully support the development of central guidance. The projects are: ● Respiratory protection equipment (revision of TB 1/97); ● Management of risk at operational incidents (H and S, DRA); ● Hazardous materials including CBRN and decontamination; ● Tunnel/underground; ● Railway incidents; ● Major floods; ● National coordination and advisory framework; ● Information to operational staff on premises risk; ● Aircraft incidents; ● Marine incidents; ● Safe working in, on, or near water; ● Immediate emergency care; ● Fighting fires in timber-framed buildings; and ● Communications and mobilising. Four operational guidance manuals are due for publication early in 2011. These are: ● Hazardous materials including CBRN and decontamination; ● Tunnel/underground; ● Railway incidents; and ● Aircraft incidents. The FBU supports the publication of operational guidance with some reservations over the development and intended use of generic standard operating procedures (GSOPs). A clear area of weakness in fire and rescue service planning has been overreliance on what is termed dynamic risk assessment (DRA) rather than thorough pre-planning for emergency response. It is now widely accepted (HSE, CFRA, FBU and CFOA) that DRA does not provide safe systems of work. The FBU has found that the process for emergency planning and software such as fire service emergency cover (FSEC) is flawed because a vital element has been neglected. This element became known as worst-case planning scenarios (WCPSs) during development of risk-based emergency cover. FBU Annual Report 2011 157
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The Fire Brigades Union Executive C
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MICK SHAW President MATT WRACK Gene
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Section D Pensions 91 Section E AIF
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Report - Fire Brigades Union

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