Fire and Rescue Services - Issues of Ethical Consideration - Coursework Example

Introduction This paper entails a report written to the senior management of the company for the fire authority which wants to be part of the fire and rescue services. It has addressed issues concerning fire and risk management, the legislature that are involved and also the effect of globalization on legislation as well as some other substantial work in the area of fire and rescue services. It has also discussed the issues of ethical consideration and how they are dealt with as well as the roles of the practitioners in the changing world of the environment. It also features some of the environmental responsibilities of the company as far as environmental sustainability is concerned. Fire and rescue services Due to the changes in terms of technologies there must been a rise in the issue of fire outbreak in the last one decade. This means that many of the companies that arte involved in the issue of fire rescue and management are expected to come up with models that are capable of predicting the occurrence of fire accidents as well as proper plans for the management of fire outbreak in an effective and efficient manner. It should be noted that not all management plans may apply in the case of the United Kingdom as far as the process of dealing with the problem is concerned (Arco, 2009). Two models have been used to predict the occurrence of the fire incidents in the communities. The development of the two models was as a result of increase in the fire and rescue company service provision increase in numbers while the technological environment is changing. There must been a report filed which explains that there is a need for new investment in terms of new fire stations, equipments as well as technology. The employees are also to be trained on the application of the new technologies. The investment in the buildings and the machinery is also done for to the employees in the form of training. Most of the fire service providers functions through some frameworks laid down by the government meaning they have to meet the laid down targets in terms of efficiency and effectiveness as well as the set indicators. Some of the risks that are in the increase hence the need for the new system are; local community risks, strategic risks like transport industrial and hospitals. Some of the lifestyles like the rate at which settlements are getting overcrowded as well as the emergence of poorly constructed buildings and with very poor materials like wood have caused the rise in the risk for fire outbreak (Arco, 2009). Fire and rescue services are very important services as far as the safety of the people is concerned. This is because prevention is much better and cheaper than dealing with the effects of the fire outbreak. The plan contains about four main sections for it to be established namely; the first one defines in length who the stakeholders are and what the department is meant to do, the second section shows the changes occurring in the environment of operation as well as the approaches to be taken, he third section shows an outline of the main objectives, their importance, how each of the objectives will be addressed as well as the ways in which the community will be enlightened on the importance of the objectives and finally, shows a detailed explanation of the aspects of the performance as far as the service is concerned and the expectation the community may have. Fire outbreak can be caused by a number of reasons. Fire may be due to some mechanical faults causes by the equipments used or even by the electricity fault, fire could also be due to some procedural faulty in the industrial production, a traffic accident can also cause fire outbreak, carelessness in operation of the equipments can also be a causal of fire in a community (Great Britain Parliament, 2005). Domestic fires are very different form the commercial and traffic fire outbreak. This means that the causal factors are also very different as well. The following are the main activities the fire and rescue service providers are involved in; fighting fire, ensuring safety in the process of using fire, rescue of the people from the accidents caused by the road traffic as well as emergency activities which are not due to fire like the water rescue. Vision refers to the ability of planning or seeing the future. The fundamental setting of a vision is shown in the setting of the company’s vision by the fire and rescue safety plan set up by the London fire brigade. Risk management plan refers to a strategic plan that defines how the emergencies that may arise due to fire outbreak may be managed and prevented. It is structured in such a way that it ensures a genuine safety improvement for the public is ensured. The implementation as well as application of the risk management system in the community is one of the changes intended to improve the fire and rescue service provision. Change in whatever environment is very important because it is one of the most inevitable factors. Technology is changing, meaning the department of fire and rescue provider of services is one of the areas that need creativity in developing the changes as well as implementing these changes to the employees due to the sensitivity (Great Britain Parliament, 2005). However, it is the responsibility of the service provider to meet the needs and expectations of the public who have demanded for the services. The views of the employees need to be changed so that they can be able to embrace the change. Strategic planning refers to the process of strategically and systematically planning or rather prospecting where the business will be in a specified period of time. It involves a number of steps which are important in identifying the current as well as the future situation of the business. It clearly defines the business or the organizations objectives as well as the external and the internal situation so that the management of the business can formulate a strategy, implement it, evaluate all the process, as well as make the needed adjustment as far as the success of the business is involved. It is also the strategy that the business management uses to allocate resources both the finances as well as the human resources The Authority will embrace the new fire and rescue services Act 2004 with the following objectives: To come up with an analysis of risk management planning by UK fire rescue services The exploration of how risks are identified and strategic objective are utilized to reduce risks To evaluate how progress is measured and creation of stronger, sustainable and healthier communities To come up with the recommendation of how risk management planning can be implemented by the authority for fire and rescue services in way the environmental risk factors will be reduced To ensure a very healthy, safe, representative and competent workforce can be achieved. The fire and rescue services Act 2004, was enacted by the parliament in the United Kingdom and it was first implemented in the year 2004 the first day of October. It was a replacement of the fire services act 1947 in the Wales and England. It basically clarifies the powers and duties of the fire authority which are as follows (Great Britain Parliament, 2005): Fight fires Promotion of the fire safety Protection of the properties and people’s lives Rescuing people from the road traffics Dealing with emerging emergencies like terrorists and floods Doing things that will respond to different needs that faces different communities as well as the risks. Ethics Ethical theories are the main ideas through which the all human guiding principles to life are based. They are the theories that guide the human beings to be able to know the right way of doing things and the right way of behaving towards themselves and the people or the environment surrounding them and it is very important in the process of offering services for fire and rescue authority. The theories attempts being systematic and very coherent in that they are the way in which some very important questions in life are answered like what one ought to be doing or to do and how one ought to live his or her life. It is the ethical theories that brings about the ethical principles that gives people guideline on how to live. There are different set of ethical practices depending on the countries that are involved. The different is due to the diversity in cultural practices, literacy level and religious beliefs. They all represent the altruistic nature of the people involved and not their attitude and egoistic towards the human beings or the humankind. There is a difference between ethics and value and the two subjects should not be confused. Value refers to the standards that the human beings use to put a judgment on others. They are also the morals that people uses to promote things they feel are good and discourage the ones they feel are not very good. These are learnt by people at a young age through observation and religious practices above other ways. The ethical values are originally gotten from the ethical principles which are also actions that are dependent on the ethical theories. It is the principles that contain the moral rules that are observed by the human beings. Examples are the moral rules that are governing the way in which the employees should be treated in the companies as well as the ways in which the management would or should not conduct their services. Environmental sustainability It is the responsibility of every organization to ensure that its operations do not pose any danger to the environment. Employment in the Fire and services authority as well as individual responsibility goes hand in hand. Individual responsibility refers to a state in which a person takes full accountability of his or her actions. If an individual is an employee in a particular company, then it means he or she will be responsible at a personal level to his or her actions as far as the efforts of the company to achieve environmental sustainability are concerned. Some of the actions as an employee in the authority like the use of non-environmental pollution methods of doing things show some sense of individual responsibility. Such an action is very instrumental in the process of achieving environmental sustainability (Eddie, 2007). This means that there is a great need for any nation to educate the citizens on the issue pertaining their responsibility as far as the issue of sustainable development is concerned. This is whereby all the employees are educated on the needs for environmental, social as well as economic sustainability. In addition to that, they should be educated at their own personal capacity. Some aspects like relations that are only based on the aspect of tolerance and respect interfere with sustainability. This is because of the fact that if there is not equality that is practiced, then the country cannot experience sustainable development. Employees therefore are expected at an individual level to exercise some form of great responsibility towards caring for the environment and the ecology. It is their responsibility to ensure that wherever they are they take care of the surrounding as well as create some healthy relationship with others. All of these are geared towards the achievement of great sustainable development. Even though it is the right of the employees to live in a clean environment, it is also their responsibility to ensure that environment is clean and inhabitable. The fire Authority is doing much in the areas of waste management which refers to the process of practicing better ways of disposing the waste. There are many types of waste product. This means that their way of their disposal depends on the type of waste that is being dealt with. Therefore, one of the issues that revolve around waste management is the type of waste. In addition, the means in which the waste is being generated is another very important aspect of waste management. This is because in the oil company, waste is emitted through a solid, liquid or gaseous state. As a result, the ways of managing them differs. Another very important issue is the cost of management. Some of the waste due to their toxic nature requires a lot of money and technological advancement to be able to manage them. This means that the process may be very expensive even more than the cost of the product production. Due to that, many people may opt to dispose the waste in their untreated state. However, this is not the case in the fire authority. The company has a strategy of waste purification before disposal. Another very important issue as far as the management of waste is concerned in the factor of laws and regulations that pertains to the waste disposal. There are some agreements like the Basel convention, which dictates the ways in which the waste must be managed. All of the above issues are some of the hindrances of waste management (Dennis & John, 2002). The company ensures that it complies with the regulations that are laid down by these organizations. Environmental actions The fire authority is involved in a number of actions to prevent pollution. Pollution refers to the process of introducing particulate matter, chemicals and biological matters in the environment, which causes some discomfort or harm to the living things or human beings. Pollution is therefore a very dangerous act to the environment as well as the living thing. Earlier, pollution has been dealt with in the form of cleaning up after the act of pollution has been done. However, with the adverse effects that pollution has already caused, better means of dealing with pollution has been invented. This is whereby; pollution is being dealt with at the source in the Authority. In other words, there has been invention of ways of preventing pollution. This is whereby depending on the type of pollution that is to be caused, different ways of pollution strategic management have been invented. These ways of preventing pollution have in turn led to a process of environmental protection. Since pollution is mainly cause by the human activities, then one of the principles towards achieving prevention of pollution is by educating the human beings. The employees have been fully trained on the processes that are in sue in the oil processing as well as the technologies in use. The reason being it is to get them equipped with skills and knowledge on how to deal with pollution (Arthur, 2003). The role of education is in equipping them with creative and innovate ideas of dealing with pollution. The following are the principles and practices that are involved in process of pollution control in the Authority. The principle of recycling is very important. This is whereby some of the product like the containers is being recycled for future use. Use of the products that are likely to cause minimal pollution or less waste during their use and disposal. This is whereby the chemicals and the processes that are being used in the fire extinguishing gives less harmful by-products. The process of production can also be altered to minimize toxic chemicals use. This means avoiding some steps. Energy consumption is being reduced through taking necessary steps especially in the processes which demands much heat. Better housekeeping ways to be implemented to minimize the leaks as well as releases that are fugitive during the process of fire extinguishing. Conclusion A change like the invention of new ways of research and health treatment has been very instrumental in development of environmental sustainability. This is because sustainable environment can not be achieved with unhealthy population and so it has impacted it positively. There are also some policies as well as legislations which have been devised and are greatly encouraging change towards the achievement of environmental sustainability of which the company is in full support. Some of the policies, agreements and legislations like the Kyoto protocol, Montreal convention, Basel convention and many others address the issues of climate, environment and pollution. All of which are factors that are very key as far as the issue of sustainability is concerned. Their implementation, enforcement and compliance in the company are what bring about the change. When pollution is done away, the emission of green house gases and the environment is finally taken care of, and then physical evidence of the changes can be experienced in terms of environmental sustainability. With reference to that I would like to recommend a serious and frequent environmental inspection, risk assessment and environmental audit. This will ensure such kind of dangers are traced early enough or rather are anticipated so as so avoid such kind of damage. Also there should be a regular maintained and inspection of all the equipments and machineries being used in the company (Arthur, 2003). This will ensure that all of the equipments are in order and good for use hence ensuring that there will be no spillage at whatever circumstance. There should also be regular training for the employees in the company to ensure they are well equipped in terms of knowledge on the new emerging ways of pollution control and prevention. This is because as the company invents new technology there is also a need for the employees to be trained on the new ways of pollution control. Reference Arco, F. 2009. Master the fire-fighter exam. London: Pearson Education Limited. Arthur, E. 2003. Organizing for fire and rescue services. Oxford: Oxford university press. Dennis, C & John, A. 2002. Managing fire and rescue services. New York: John Wiley & sons. Eddie, B. 2007. Fire Appliances of Eastern England. London: Pearson Education Limited. Great Britain Parliament, 2005. Fire and rescue service: Fourth report of session 2005-06. London: Thomson. Read More