Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Written Evidence


Memorandum by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (FRS 65)

1.  INTRODUCTION

  1.  The Health & Safety At Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) and relevant subordinate regulations apply to the Fire and Rescue Services (F&RS) as they do to any other work activity, with the Fire Authorities holding the duties of employers. (There are a few specific exceptions in the details of subordinate legislation recognising particular technical issues faced by FRS.) A summary of the main features of HSWA is given in Appendix A

  2.  The context for HSE's work is set by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC). HSC has overall responsibility for policy on health and safety, and, uniquely among other government regulators, advises Ministers on relevant standards and regulations. The Chair and members of the Commission are appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. HSE advises and assists HSC and has a statutory responsibility to make adequate arrangements for the enforcement of the Act and other relevant statutory provisions in Great Britain. HSE implements its share of the HSC work plan, itself approved by Ministers, and exercises a number of functions that HSC delegates to it.

  3.  HSE inspects F&RS activities locally and maintains close working relations with ODPM and national F&RS stakeholder bodies. This interaction is guided by the HSC strategy "A Strategy for Workplace Health and Safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond" and the agenda of the Ministerial Taskforce on Health, Safety and Productivity in the Public Service. Further details of the latter, along with information about another main HSE work stream with the F&RS, are described below.

  4.  In addition to the application of health and safety legislation to protect fire service employees themselves, HSE has enforcement responsibility for all fire precautions (including general fire precautions) in certain sectors where this is appropriate because of the nature of the work, such as offshore installations, underground mines, nuclear sites, ships under construction and repair and some construction sites. More generally, though in most workplaces the local fire authority is responsible for general fire precautions, HSE also has responsibility in relation to process fire precautions. More information is provided on these matters and relevant relations with the fire service in Appendix B.

  5.  In regulating major hazards we work closely with local fire services, jointly devising and exercising emergency plans. These arrangements work well and provide a coordinated service for dutyholders.

  6.  In particular, HSE staff work in cooperation with local and regional fire and rescue services in the assessment of emergency response plans that have been submitted for COMAH sites ie sites subject to special regulation because of the large inventories of dangerous substances kept there. They also discuss the adequacy of generic emergency arrangements for non COMAH major hazard sites. HSE operational inspectors and technical staff who attend in the event of a real major hazards incident, work in close cooperation with the onsite incident commander to assist in ensuring the rescue and emergency response is conducted appropriately.

  7.  HSE's Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD) interacts extensively with the Fire &Rescue Services in connection with emergency arrangements at nuclear sites. This involves discussions and exercises at local, regional and national levels. NSD also participates with CFOA in attending DTI's Nuclear Emergency Planning Liaison Group. In the event of a nuclear incident staff from HSE's Nuclear Safety Directorate are available to give specific advice.

  8.  Under HSE's duties as a Category 2 responder under the Civil Contingency Act staff have been working with the Fire and services and other category 1 responders to develop local and regional resilience risk registers and associated action plans. In the event of a civil contingency event HSE staff will be available to assist fire and rescue services by providing information they have about the industrial processes involved; advice on such things as risks to workers, safe systems of work, safe systems for testing whether decontamination are successful and to assist with investigating causes/initiating events.

2.  CONTACTS BETWEEN HSE AND THE FIRE & RESCUE SERVICE

  9.  Because of the varied risks that firefighters have to approach and accept as part of their work, health and safety considerations naturally permeate most F&RS operational planning, training, and equipment design and purchase. HSE is therefore very often consulted by national stakeholders and provides them with technical and legal advice.

  10.  To promote the application of sensible health and safety and for effective consultation over issues that affect the whole service, HSE maintains close connections with ODPM and national F&RS stakeholder bodies. In particular, HSE is represented on the Practitioners Forum, the National Health & Safety Group that reports to the Practitioners forum and the CFOA Health & Safety Committee. HSE also advises some specialist committees on health and safety considerations that may arise in their work eg the Practitioners Forum New Dimensions Sounding Board and the ODPM IRMP Steering Group.

  11.  These links are important as they facilitate efficient national collaboration between HSE and the F&RS on standards, technical solutions and guidance, which are then available to the individual dutyholders throughout the country. The new bodies such as the Practitioners Forum and the National Health and Safety Group have been allocated significant health and safety tasks and, as mentioned above, health and safety issues will arise in many of the other tasks they undertake. It is important that they have their own adequate access to health and safety expertise and advice so that health and safety considerations can be taken on board in their discussions and decisions in such a way as to lead to appropriate and realistic health and safety requirements/coverage in their work.

3.  MAIN CURRENT HSE WORK STREAMS ON HEALTH & SAFETY IN THE FIRE & RESCUE SERVICE

  (i)   Ministerial Task Force Agenda & Sickness Absence Research Project

  12.  Following the publication of the Government/HSC "Revitalising" initiative in 2000 the HSC recognised that the public sector (which accounts for 20% of the workforce) needed to make a contribution, especially for days lost through work related ill health. The programme aimed to achieve a 30% reduction in the number of days lost to work related injury and ill health in the public sector by 2010.

  13.  In 2004, recognising that top level commitment was a key to success, the then Minister for Work (Des Browne) asked HSE to establish the Ministerial Task Force on Health, Safety and Productivity in the public sector (MTF) to provide the impetus to deliver reduced sickness absence. Further information on the MTF, on which ODPM is represented, is provided in Appendix C

  14.  HSE will be working with ODPM and, in the first instance, national F&RS stakeholder bodies—including the Audit Commission—to promote the MTF agenda in the fire and rescue service. As the first major work stream, HSE and ODPM have agreed to work together on a joint research project which will pick up issues raised in the Thematic Review "Fit for Duty? Seeking a healthier Fire Service," on sickness absence and ill-health retirements in the Fire Service, undertaken by HMFSI published in 2000.

  15.  As a starting point, the project will revisit the recommendations of "Fit for Duty" to see what has been implemented, to what effect and what further action may be appropriate, given the many changes since the review was published.

  16.  The project will provide the background and impetus for enhancing the uptake in the F&RS of the key elements that the Ministerial Task Force is looking to public sector employers to adopt in order to achieve its target of a 30% reduction in sickness absence. These are:

    (i)  introduction and use of management systems to provide for real time recording and audit and agreed trigger points for interventions;

    (ii)  integration of absence and performance management;

    (iii)  training of staff managers in systems and procedures of absence management and skills to manage members of staff who are off sick; and

    (iv)  providing sufficient support for managers and people on sickness absence from Human Resources and related support services, including formal access to occupational health services focused on early appropriately targeted effective interventions and early return to work.

  17.  ODPM collects and publishes statistics on sickness absence levels on an annual basis from all Fire & Rescue Services in England. (Scotland has always been separate, while responsibility for the F&RS in Wales has now been devolved to the Welsh Assembly). ODPM had set targets to reduce sickness absence from 9.2 shifts per person in 1998-99 to an average of 6.5 shifts per person for fire fighters and from 13.4 to 5.4 shifts per person for fire control staff by March 2005. An analysis of the statistics for the three most recent years for which data is available (2001-2004) shows that absence levels have remained static (no upward or downward trend) and that targets set by ODPM for 2005 are unlikely to be met. (It is accepted that this is set against a background of national industrial action and ongoing local disputes.)

  18.  HSE is working with stakeholders to develop the way forward with this project. For the first stage of this project, we are considering a qualitative approach to map what individual fire and rescue services have done to reduce sickness absence, the impact of their efforts and initiatives and the reasons behind their success or otherwise. We will also be assessing their sickness absence management systems, occupational health provision and management training for enabling and supporting the improvements necessary to achieve the MTF target. Depending on what is discovered in this first phase, pilot projects will be set up to test products and good practice strategies and approaches aimed at implementing the key elements of the MTF recommendations, as outlined above, and overcoming any barriers that may be identified.

  (b)   HSE—Fire & Rescue Service Inspection Protocol

  19.  HSE is keen to work with the F&RS and national stakeholders to ensure that the health and safety of both the public that the F&RS serve and that of F&RS employees themselves is preserved.

  20.  As an aid to clarifying and setting guidelines for the relationship between HSE and the F&RS, HSE has been negotiating the text of a "Protocol on the Inspection of Fire and Rescue Service Activities by the Health and Safety Executive" which will be signed by representatives of the fire service employers organisations in England, Scotland and Wales and relevant government bodies. The Fire Brigades Union has also been consulted about the text, which is now nearing completion.

  21.  The Protocol sets out guidance on HSE's inspection and enforcement activity within the F&RS and provides background on factors taken into account when considering compliance in the F&RS with the requirements of HSWA.

  22.  The Protocol recognises the duties placed on F&RA's to make provision for the core functions described the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 in Scotland) and the context set by the National Framework under which they formulate their Integrated Risk Management Plans. It discusses the application of HSWA in recognising that Fire fighters and other fire service employees respond in operational situations that might present significant risk to their health and safety. The aim is to enable the F&RS to carry out its job in an effective manner which minimises injury and ill-health.

  23.  The protocol explicitly recognises that the nature of F&RS work means that not all situations are predictable and that fire-fighters and other employees need to respond to the demands of rapidly changing situations and cannot always rely on adherence to set procedures. Fire fighters and other employees must be given appropriate training and made aware of hazards likely to be encountered in order to enable them to deal with situations they encounter as effectively and safely as possible.

  24.  HSE recognises that operational decisions may have to be taken quickly on the basis of incomplete information. If HSE needs to investigate an accident to a firefighter on the fireground, it will generally investigate the underlying causes. All investigations will be looked at on their own merits, having due regard to the circumstances of the case, and any enforcement decisions will be taken in accordance with HSE's Enforcement Policy Statement, taking account of the Code for Crown Prosecutors. In considering the public interest, HSE will consider what information should reasonably have been known at the time, rather than applying hindsight to the detail of every individual operational decision.

  25.  In the light of the principles set out as above in the draft protocol and HSE's desire to see "Sensible health and safety, sensibly applied", HSE is keen to deal with any perception or concern that health and safety requirements may unnecessarily hinder the Fire Service in the discharge of its public service. We are planning to organise events to be associated with the signing of the Protocol at which we will seek a common and realistic understanding with stakeholders of the practical implications of HSWA for F&RS activities so that we can ensure that duty holders apply appropriate and sensible precautions without unduly inhibiting their work in training or on the fire ground.

  26.  HSE's view on many of these issues was set out in "Training for Hazardous Operations—A Case Study of the Fire Service", first published in 1984 but now out of print. This discussed the important role of realistic training in preparing firefighters for actual operations and the significance of the public utility of the service provided by fire fighters as a consideration in applying the law. This document can provide a focus for the events we are planning and interest has been expressed in updating and republishing it.


 
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