Integrated Risk Management for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services - Case Study Example

RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR MERSEYSIDE FIRE AND RESCUE IN UK Name: Subject: Tutor: Date: RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR MERSEYSIDE FIRE AND RESCUE IN UK Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services are an organization providing firefighting and rescue services within the Merseyside County located in north-west of England. The Local Government Act 1985, after the abolition of the metropolitan county councils, established Merseyside Fire and Civil Defense Authority on 1st April 1986. It covers a large area of 653 square kilometers. It offers services to a population of 1.5 million. Because of high population, the authority has hired more than 1,200 employees, so as to ensure that they reach the entire region especially in emergency cases. Large areas that are targeted by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services are the counties in the Merseyside which are suffering from social deprivation in the United Kingdom. The organization is well established by the modern equipment, to ensure that the services are offered efficiently. Some of the modernized machines include the Fire bike, Fireboat, a fire engine and the incident management unit. The authority has utilized these pockets of affluence especially in the North Sefton and West Wirral. However, there are wards which are within the top 20 percent of the most affected places in Merseyside. From the statistics, it is clear that there are places which are vulnerable to fire than other places. Greater effort should be maintained in the risk for to improve the security of people. The 20% of the deprived places is accessible to fire as compared with the other 20 which are less deprived. From the national statistic, the older people are more likely to involve in a fire accident as compared to other groups. Furthermore, children in lower-social economic group are exposed to death due to fire incident. Their rate of death is 16 times as compared to children in the highest. Poorer areas are much affected by fire because they lack basic fire extinguishers while the affluent areas are equipped with firefighting equipment. It is a sad fact that most people are losing life because of fire. According to national statistics, Merseyside has a higher population of older people than other region in the UK. Places such as Sefton have a higher population of older people. An 18% increase in 85 years old as compared to Wirral which has 17% increase in the same age. The number pensioners in Merseyside are increasing at high rates as compared to the rate of the entire nation. The living status for the pensioners is slightly improving because about 30% are no longer living in the rental property. However, this group is vulnerable to fire because there are weak and they cannot respond to dangers caused by fire immediately. Furthermore, this group has a problem of mobility and sensory difficulties. The risk for this group of people is so high, they live alone for longer with the effect of limiting illness. Young people, especially men who are 16-20 years face road accidents. This group is also exposed to fire accident due to anti-social behavior. Nearly all the society faces the dangers caused by fire the in the community. Other sources of information reveal that racial or religious groups expose people to risk from hate crime. There are some races that use fire as weapons in the community. Furthermore, the hate crime attacks are after people from the gay, lesbian and transgender. From the above analysis, it is clear that the society is faced with various problems that need to be addressed. Fire, being the top risk facing people from Merseyside, requires excellent operational preparedness to ensure that the society is safe. Some of the effective strategies of dealing with the fire are carrying out civil education in the society. People should be thought the basic ways of preventing fires. In addition, authorities that have been put in place to help the community in case of fire need to employ competent staff who are capable to respond to the problem in the shortest time possible. The community needs to work hand in hand with the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services so that they can save the community from crime. Threat Response Group and Anti-Social Behavior Task Force are a terrible company which threatens the security of the society. Everybody regardless of the age, either young or old, has been exposed to danger in Merseyside. There are cases which have been reported to be affecting the community. Some of the problems facing the society are caused by perpetrators of crimes, anti- social behavior, arson and unlawful gang groups. These groups have thoroughly affected and change people’s behavior in relation to the safety of the society. Integrated Risk Management plan of 2012-15, on reducing all kinds of risk facing the society in Merseyside, is by preparing and encouraging Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services to work in partnership with the Police, The National Trust, Crime watch, local authorities, and various registered social landlords. This will ensure that all the problems and risk facing the society is reduced. All these authorities need to train them and equip them with the necessary facilities for dealing with the problem. They should be able to move resources quickly to areas with problems. Besides, there should arrange for the strategy with the local business on how to address issues which are related to arson. Another strategy for improving community safety Merseyside is by implementing strict rules and punishment to be offered to the arsonist. It is indispensable to form the punishment plan to be offered to criminals which tend to be causing trouble in the society. Furthermore, there should be Road Safety Strategy plan which compels everyone especially drivers to undergo certain training on the rules and regulations governing the transport sector. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service should motivate the staff to work effectively in making the communities of Merseyside safer. The staff should be committed to reducing fire risk across Merseyside. The protection authorities need to design an independent program which will ensure that the resources are directed to the most affected areas so as to save lives. It is vital to have a program to be used when handling a problem so that the right amount of effort is used. This is necessary because there will no cases of wasting resources. There are some cases when a small accident occurs; excess resources are misused. On the other hand, there are situations when resources are scarce, and this leads to large losses. Fire safety in commercial property All the commercial premises need to be inspected and audited so that the degree of their risk is access. This is important so that the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service managers assess whether such commercial properties are compliant with the law contributing to public safety. In order to achieve this, the authorities providing safety must utilize a positive and proactive approach, when educating stakeholders to be responsible. However, if the authority feels that the premise might be dangerous to the public, then they should use the powers to correct the problem. The most sensitive places are the social places like pubs, clubs and theaters. Such places need high security and the assurance that the place is safe for the public usage. The owners of such premises should ensure to install CCTV Cameras so that in case of problem, arsonist can be traced. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authorities should follow up to ensure that the requirements have been complied with by the concerned people. In addition, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority should thoroughly check the petroleum and fireworks station before issuing them with a license. All sites that are responsible in storing fireworks or petroleum products need to be licensed after meeting all the necessary requirements. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service should form the laws governing such business. Moreover, they should develop a body to monitor the business and ensure that no elements of negligence are exercises in the course of doing business. Partnership Development. There is a need to develop a partnership within the society so that the community will be though on the ways reducing crimes. If the partnership with the society and the community protection department is in place, then it could be easy to manage the accidents caused by fire in the community. Another strategy for improving community safety is through the employees. There should be an organizational development, whereby the employees have an opportunity to grow in terms of knowledge and their personal welfare. Furthermore, the management should encourage employees to focus on the primary asset of the company, and this is the people. It is of much value, to have the right people in the right position possessing right skills. This will improve on the services offered to the community. Leadership Development. Leaders can contribute much to the success of an organization. It is for this reason that managers both the existing and the new managers to be trained so that they can respond to changing requirements of the service. For the Fire and Rescue Service, it is compulsory for managers to be trained because they are responsible for making life and death decisions. Furthermore, their decision matters because it involved time and money. Their decisions affect both the resources of the company and saving the community (Frantzich, 1998). Leaders with such responsibilities need to be knowledgeable to ensure efficiency in their leadership. The scope of leadership does not end there; the leaders have responsibilities of ensuring that an organization achieved its mission. For an organization to achieve its goals it is necessary for the leader to motivate the employees in offering quality products and services., Such obligations require skills and knowledge, and this can be acquired through training the leaders. Crew Based Training Managers should arrange a program whereby the firefighters attend a complete training on fire engines. This training is essential so that they can use this equipment effectively when there is an immediate emergency. Over the years, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service demonstrate a strong commitment to the society. This has been possible because the staff has not only been trained in the firefighting skills, but also on customer care skills. Crew Based Training is conducted by the instructors from Training and Development Academy. These instructors use national and in international skills to offer training to the staff. Besides, the staff needs to undergo the e-learning training packages so that they can be equipped with the knowledge of the operation. This is vital especially in the changing world in terms of technology. The training facilities we use in the academy are so modernizing to ensure the efficiency the operation. However, it is necessary to consider the available resources which are always received from a central government grant, and a small levy on the local council tax. Another strategy which will ensure safety in the region is the arrangement of duties. Planning of the staff so that the services are available day and night is also essential. This is achieved by having a shift schedule for work. This will ensure that office is always open regardless of the day or time. In order to achieve the desired goal, it is necessary to review the existing duty system, and balance the staff working at daytime and those working at night. Furthermore, there should maintain only effective departments and these departments should be paid well (Gonzalez, Palahi, & Pukkala, 2005). Investing on the staff members is necessary since they are the one dealing with the problem affecting the community. In addition, the managers should consider the issue of risk facing the staff during operation. To motivate the employees concerning such cases, there should be risk allowance introduced. According to scientific managers such Fredrick Taylor, employees are more resourceful when they are rewarded for their excellent job. It is for this reason that the company should consider rewarding these employees through a risk allowance. The company should consider building more Community Fire and Rescue Stations in Merseyside so that they can respond to the fire incident in the shortest time possible. They should also consider occupying sites which reflect risk across Merseyside to ensure the safety of the community. After the implementation of all these, Merseyside will be the safest town to live. These implementations are costly and can only be achieved through the calling of funds from the government or private donors. In Merseyside community, there is a Private Finance initiative that is willing to donate modern facilities to all the firefighters within the stations (Embrechts, Resnick, & Samorodnitsky, 1999). In brief, to develop a strategy for improving community safety, it calls for considering all the dangerous and most affected places in terms of fire. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services should ensure to come up with the regulations for dealing with the following: Tackling crime Reassuring the public Building community cohesion and reducing anti-social behavior Measures for dealing with firebreak Tackling crime Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services with the help of the government should come up with the strict regulation enforceable in court of law. There is a need to amend the punishment for dealing with the arsonist. Strict rules for the arsonist will ensure that the unnecessary fire break is reduced. This is because the number of criminal who illegally sets fire to property will know the consequences of such unlawful actions. In reviewing the last few years in Merseyside, there have been cases of arsonist causing massive losses both in a private residence and also in the public places. Therefore, it is necessary to use police and other authorities to ensure that culprits are arrested and face the law. Reassuring the public The public needs to be assured of safety in towns or in places where many people are meeting. Public social halls are the most dangerous places where criminals target. In reducing such risks, it is necessary to install firefighting equipment. Furthermore, there should be a security guard who will be responsible with the maintaining of peace. To ensure that such rules have been implemented, it is vital that the issuing of trading licenses in compliance with the safety measures in place. Reducing anti-social behavior There are perpetrators of crimes and the anti- social behavior in the Merseyside which has caused insecurity in the area. The only effective strategy of reducing such behavior is for the government to order the police to arrest or kill such culprits. Such criminals that are exposing the community to risk should not be dealt with lightly. Criminals must not be entertained because there can be extremely risk and can even cause people to die. Measures for dealing with firebreak The only effective measures for dealing with firebreak are by having well trained firefighters and equipping them appropriate facilities. It is necessary to equip the staff skills and knowledge of dealing with different types of fires. There are fires caused by the electricity, bomb blast, and even the fires in the petrol stations. All these fires need to be dealt with the most appropriate measures. In conclusion, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services need to have well equipped staff and arrange for the training of the staff members to ensure the efficiency in delivering services. In addition, the company needs to have adequate staff members in place to ensure that there is no shortage of the employees to deal with the emergency cases. Finally, they need to build more stations both within and outside the city so that they can be accessible in case of the need arise. References Gonzalez, R, Palahi, M & Pukkala, T 2005, ‘Integrating fire risk considerations in forest management planning in Spain – a landscape level perspective’, Landscape Ecology, Vol. 20, Pg 957 – 970. (Retrieved from http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/306/art%253A10.1007%252Fs10980-005-5388-8.pdf?auth66=1353908615_43046f23dafec5f8ec5a605aef03ae56&ext=.pdf) Embrechts, P, Resnick, S & Samorodnitsky, G 1999, ‘Extreme value theory as a risk management tool’, North American Actuarial Journal, Vol 3, Issue 2, Pg 30-33 (Retrieved from http://www.casact.org/library/studynotes/Embrechts_ExtremeValue.pdf) Frantzich, H 1998, ‘Risk analysis and fire safety engineering’, Fire Safety Journal, Vol 2, Pg 23. (Retrieved from http://202.38.89.100/YH_extended/fire_safety/fsj31_313_329.pdf) Read More