Agenda and minutes

In the absence of Councillor Eunice Campbell, it was resolved for Councillor Brian Grocock to Chair the meeting.

Councillor Nicki Brooks (substituted by Councillor Brian Grocock)

Councillor Eunice Campbell (substituted by Councillor Malcolm Wood)

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting dated 24 March 2017.

The minutes from the meeting held on 24 March 2017 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair presiding at the meeting.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Dan Quinn, Area Manager at NFRS provided Members with an update on the performance of the Service Delivery Directorate.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  new breathing apparatus is to be introduced over the next quarter.  There will be a transition period to move from the old sets to the new;

(b)  a fire in a gym led to resources from Chesterfield being used.  Resources from out of County were used due to them having the nearest available asset.  Resources used are always the nearest available, irrespective of the Service and County boundaries;

(c)  when the crew are unavailable at a Retained Duty System (RDS) station the equipment is also unavailable.  NFRS are looking at different crewing models to try and address this issue;

Following questions from Members, further information was provided:

(d)  a review of aerial ladder platforms has been undertaken at London Road and Mansfield Stations.  With regard to high-rise buildings, Prevention and Protection teams are working closely with partners to identify any significant issues, as well as discussing the adoption of a fire tactical plan.

Also under consideration is the issue of access for aerial ladder platforms in certain areas of the County.  Wayne Bowcock has recently chaired the Serious Risk Event Review, which asked for more statistical work on this issue.  As a first step, crews will need to identify whether or not the aerial platform is suitable for different calls;

(e)  NFRS have access to modelling software that allows the identification of buildings over a certain height.  This was used, in conjunction with Nottingham City Council (NCC) to identify every building in Nottingham over 18 metres in height.  As a result, NCC has written to every building owner or occupier to recommend to them that they carry out a review of their fire risk assessment and take any necessary actions.  NFRS can follow up this action with physical visits to sites;

(f)  the Chair of the National Fire Chief’s Council has met with permanent secretaries.  There is a meeting in the week beginning 3 July with all Chief Executives and senior officers from the respective District Councils, both the universities and the College;

(g)  schools have got quite specific fire safety management plans and they practice evacuation at regular intervals.  Schools can generally evacuate quickly, with the possible exception of boarding schools who have the problem of ‘sleeping risk’ (boarding pupils);

(h)  Wayne Bowcock will write to Academy schools to ensure they are included in any discussions surrounding fire safety;

(i)  a ‘special service call’ refers to any call that doesn’t fit within the scope of a regular fire call.  These special calls could be rescuing animals, road traffic incidents or other types of incident not involving fires directly;

(j)  the incident recording system available to NFRS breaks down whether accidental dwelling fires are in public or private sector buildings.

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Wayne Bowcock, Deputy Chief Fire Officer at NFRS updated Members on the governance arrangements for the support of Retained Duty System (RDS) staff.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  there is a significant effort towards keeping retained staff.  Currently at NFRS, there are 257 RDS staff employed; the majority of this number have employment elsewhere and give cover in their spare time. Historically there have been problems with daytime cover; one of the Group Managers at NFRS chairs a task group looking into this nationally;

(b)  the pay structure and remuneration systems for retained staff haven’t been adequately modernised, which can lead to problems with keeping staff, this is being considered nationally;

(c)  over the last two decades the training requirements for retained staff have increased, and the technical nature of the job has become more complex;

(d)  a permanently established body, headed up by an NFRS Group Manager who works nationally has been started to look at issues affecting recruitment and retention;

Following questions from Members, further information was provided:

(e)  a new approach to recruitment is being taken at Misterton Fire Station to try and target individuals that could come and help NFRS.  It can be difficult in areas like Misterton to attract retained staff as the old industries that provided shift work, which previously enabled individuals to offer their services to NFRS, are no longer as prevalent;

(f)  training students from Nottingham as retained firefighters is risky, as they will probably leave the city after they have finished their studies.  However, the benefit is a fresh and youthful impetus into the workforce, along with the possibility of those individuals staying within the Fire Service, albeit in different parts of the country to Nottinghamshire;

(g)  the ‘on-call review’ has been running for over two years.  It has increased the number of retained staff being brought into the Service; however, there have been more leavers.  Managers who lead the retained sections come together on a quarterly basis.

Overall the approach has been successful, but has plateaued recently, which is why the sustainable model approach has been put forward.

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report and endorse the Service’s approach to governance and support for Retained Duty System staff.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Richard Cropley, Station Manager at NFRS updated Members on the progress of the safe and well project.

The following information was highlighted:

(a)  ‘safe and well’ started out as a piece of work recognising that fire and rescue across the UK were seeing over a million people in their homes over the course of a year;

(b)  there is information sharing with NHS partners.  There are service level agreements and a Memorandum of Understanding in place to make sure that information is shared securely;

(c)  NFRS is believed to be the only fire service in the country performing their safe and well check electronically.  There are somewhere in the region of 5000 home safety checks over the course of the year;

(d)  three large stakeholder events have been held and were attended by over 80 partners.  This has been effective in guiding NFRS on what they can provide to people in their homes;

(e)  the blood donor service have wanted to use fire stations; NFRS have talked to health partners about making this a wider health clinic.  This is potentially an opportunity to speak to people who know vulnerable people in the community;

(f)  other areas that fire officer could collaborate with health partners with are:

·  Falls prevention

·  Psychoactive substances

·  Beating bowel cancer

·  Stopping smoking

·  Mental health

·  Warmer homes;

(g)  the safe and well project is the second biggest the service is undertaking currently, at an estimated cost of £68,000.  There has been a successful bid for £10,000 for technology; the opportunity exists to submit further bids to a transformation fund to develop Safe and Well, NFRS will work with Public Health England to access appropriate funding.

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report and continue to endorse the development of ‘fire as a health asset’ and specifically the safe and well project.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Nick Spicer, Crew Manager at NFRS updated Members of the Community Safety Committee on the prevention work which is taking place within the rural communities of Nottinghamshire.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  80% of Nottinghamshire is classed as being rural, with over 600 farms.  If a member of the rural community is affected by rural crime they can feel isolated and vulnerable;

(b)  the Police and Crime Plan 2013-18 has identified that the north of the county is affected by rural crime.  In 2016 there was an increase of 12.1% of rural crime reporting;

(c)  an arson reduction checklist is trialling in Edwinstowe in July; talking to farmers will be a key part of this;

(d)  Operation Decelerate looks at reducing road traffic collisions on rural roads.  NFRS may get involved with education of drivers in conjunction with the Police.  Nottinghamshire County Road Safety Partnership are also involved with this;

(e)  the Rural Community Safety Guide is similar to a guide produced by Lancashire Fire and Rescue, and will provide best practice advice, and safety measures for rural residents on a range of topics;

(f)  Police in Nottinghamshire have expressed a real interest in the introduction of a rural intervention vehicle.

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report and the ongoing work and development of collaboration between Fire, Police and partners, targeting the safety of rural communities.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Wayne Bowcock, Deputy Chief Fire Officer at NFRS updated Members on two of the current projects being managed by the Fire Protection Team.  These are:

·  The use of operational crews to carry out hazard spotting activities in non-domestic premises, and;

·  The use of a predictive incident risk scoring database to influence the service’s risk based audit programme for non-domestic premises.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  the responsibility for buildings’ compliance with fire legislation shifted in 2005 from the fire service to the building owner/occupier they need to be fully responsible for safety standards and need a suitable risk assessment in place.  If NFRS consider there to be deficiencies in these standards, they can investigate, give advice, and potentially prosecute;

(b)  the opportunity to understand layouts of buildings is useful for any future events that may happen at those buildings;

(c)  operational crews are proposed to be used to carry out low level audits, and would gather risk information to support tactical plans;

Following questions from Members, further information was provided:

(d)  the fire service cannot go into the private areas  of a suspected house of multiple occupancy (HMO).  However, the local authorities do have some enforcement powers with environmental health; NFRS do not have any enforcement powers beyond communal areas;

(e)  NFRS were involved with the Police in investigating people trafficking and modern slavery.  As a result, crews are being trained on how to deal with these issues and give advice to residents affected.

RESOLVED to support the increased use of operational crews in the reduction of risk in non-domestic premises.