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Memorandum from the Department of Communities and Local Government on Firefighter Deaths (DAR 08)
1. The Department is deeply concerned by the death of any firefighter and takes extremely seriously incidents in which firefighters have died. Where investigations by the police and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are still in progress it is too soon undertake a comprehensive analysis of the factors which contributed. We nevertheless take our responsibilities to continue to learn lessons and mitigate risk seriously - currently the Chief Fire Advisor's office is developing options for improving the way in which we learn lessons from major incidents and we are also taking action to develop the evidence base in a number of specific areas such as undertaking research on implementation of the current framework for training and the adequacy and impact of Integrated Risk Management Planning.
2. The Committee wrote to the Department on 12 December asking a range of questions relating to firefighter deaths. We provide responses to the specific questions raised, below.
Has the Department analysed the reasons for the increased numbers of deaths of firefighters?
3. All Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) in England are expected to inform the Department without delay and at the latest within 24 hours of any firefighter death on duty (Fire Service Circular 22-2006). This will include travelling to and from an incident, during activities at an incident, during training or any other activities which are carried out whilst on duty. Ministers are informed immediately, with a report of circumstances surrounding the fatality.
4. The Department also collects and publishes annual statistics on firefighter deaths and injuries on duty in England only[1]. Figures on firefighter fatalities (categorised as either operational, training or routine activities) appear in the Operational Statistics Bulletin - 2007/8 figures for England were published on 4 December.
5. Some information is held on firefighter deaths occurring off-duty, but this will be incomplete as Fire and Rescue Services are not required to notify CLG of all such cases and the Department does not as a matter of course ask them to do so.
6. The recent FBU report "In the Line of Duty" recognised that for the UK as a whole, there is a downward trend in on-duty firefighter deaths, but raised some concerns that there had been an apparent increase in firefighter fatalities over the last 5 years.
7. Statistically, the numbers of deaths at operational incidents in England (and indeed in the UK) are too low for a trend to be apparent and/or for valid conclusions to be drawn from any statistical analysis. This does not however prevent Government from monitoring these and other indicators which might provide an insight into overall levels of safety very carefully to see if we can learn lessons. Key amongst these indicators is the number of non-fatal injuries to firefighters. Currently these show a steady downward trend. However we will continue to monitor the situation to determine whether a real trend is forming.
8. Regardless of statistical validity, it does seem that firefighter fatalities may follow a pattern where several fatalities occur in consecutive years and then no fatalities occur for some time. It may be that this pattern could be the result of learning lessons from individual incidents and a subsequent improvement in safety, followed by new developments, perhaps in building structure or risks from natural hazards, which then require new lessons to be learnt. CLG are committed to ensuring that lessons are learnt as early and diligently as possible, and therefore we will be seeking to learn lessons from firefighter deaths across Europe so that risks might be identified and mitigated quickly.
Figure
1: Firefighter Fatalities at Operational Incidents in
9. In addition, all deaths of firefighters at incidents are subject to rigorous and independent investigation by the Police and the Health and Safety Executive. The Department works with all the key stakeholders to ensure any lessons learned are shared with the Fire and Rescue Service as a whole and the representative bodies at the earliest opportunity, subject to the investigative process. It also ensures that the actions for which it has responsibility are completed as soon as possible while maintaining contact with the Fire and Rescue Service regarding its areas of responsibility. CLG and the Chief Fire and Rescue Advisors Team are exploring options for the investigation of major events such as the firefighter deaths in Warwickshire, Hertfordshire or the Buncefield oil depot fire. This work has been initiated in response to concerns expressed by a number of stakeholders who wish to ensure that significant incidents as subject to full independent investigation and reporting.
Is there any indication that it reflects inexperience or inadequate operational training? What evidence has been collected on levels of training generally? Are there vacancies for trainers?
10. The Department provides the policy framework within which FRAs decide the training needed to deliver their Integrated Risk Management Plans. It is the responsibility of individual FRAs as the employer to ensure that their staff receive the operational training necessary to perform their roles safely and effectively, and to ensure the safety of firefighters and the public.
11. As set out in the National Framework, the
Department requires FRAs to use the Integrated Personal Development System
(IPDS) to recruit, assess and develop their staff to fulfil their current and
future roles. IPDS is a competency-based training and development framework for
12. We will shortly be commissioning research to provide clear evidence across all duty systems about the implementation of the IPDS framework for the provision of operational training and development. We are discussing a specification for the work with key stakeholders and expect an initial report by the end of the year.
13. Some limited evidence is already available from a survey conducted in 2007 across the UK Fire and Rescue Service on the implementation of IPDS for Retained Duty System (RDS) staff. The 53 Fire and Rescue Services that responded employed over 19,000 RDS staff. A report on the findings has been released (Fire Service Circular 47/2007). The report concluded that there are challenges in implementing IPDS for staff on the Retained Duty System but the evidence from the survey indicates that the majority of Fire and Rescue Services are tackling those challenges. The results show that IPDS can be used effectively for RDS staff, particularly when the issues are addressed in an integrated way as part of joined-up organisational changes that facilitate the effective development of staff. 14. The Department has in the past collected and published information annually on the number of hours spent on training by operational FRS staff. This collection was stopped in 2005/6, following a review of statistics collected by CLG and a move to reduce the burdens it put on FRSs. These figures suggested that the amount of training for operational staff was steadily increasing up to this point and we have no reason to believe that there has been a significant change since. However, the research project on operational training mentioned above will be considering future data gathering requirements including in this area.
15. We do not hold information on whether individual FRAs have trainer vacancies.
A number of such deaths (such as at the well-reported Warwickshire warehouse fire) seem to have occurred at large commercial premises. How many Fire Authorities insist on forces inspecting large high risk premises in their area so as to compile a plan with all hazards etc marked for use in case of a fire? (We understand that such inspections are known as "familiarity inspections".)
16. Under Section 7(2)d of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, FRAs are required to 'make arrangements for obtaining information needed' for firefighting. The statutory National Framework requires FRAs to produce Integrated Risk Management Plans, which set out how FRAs plan to allocate resources and manage risks to life, the economy, heritage and the environment, including those arising in large commercial premises. To support the preparation of IRMPs the Department has provided each FRA with a software suite known as the Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC) toolkit. This toolkit allows each FRA to undertake a risk-based assessment of their area, using a common approach that has been thoroughly tested and independently validated, to plan response, and model the consequences of resource deployments. We currently have research in progress to evaluate the adequacy and impact of IRMP at national level, which is due to complete this Spring.
17. The National Framework also requires FRAs to establish a management strategy and risk based inspection programme of all non-domestic premises to enforce the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
18. The Department provides guidance on risk based inspection programmes. This is currently being updated to reflect the Fire Safety Order 2005. In addition we have commissioned the development of guidance for Fire and Rescue Services on collecting and using operational information which should be completed in Summer 2009.
19. FRAs are best placed to determine how to fulfill these requirements effectively at the local level, The Audit Commission is responsible for assessing their performance based on an assessment of the risks in each FRA. Many FRAs choose to undertake site specific surveys of high risk premises, using the CFOA risk assessment guidance (CFOA circular 2008/1016).
20. Future developments within the Firelink and FiReControl projects will provide improved functionality for the provision of site specific information to operational crews. However it will continue to remain the FRA's responsibility to obtain and provide the information for the system which will ultimately make the information available to every operational crew irrespective of from which FRA the crew responds.
January 2009 [1] Note: the data in the recent FBU report 'In the Line of Duty' which
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