The UK Law and the Fire Service - Assignment Example

COMMUNITY FIRE SAFETY LAW 1. UK Law and the Fire Service In the UK, the relevant fire safety legislation includes the Fire Rescue Services Act 2004, The General Product Safety Regulations 1994, The Housing Regulations in 1990, Fire Precautions Act 1971 (S.10), the Housing Acts 1980 and 1985, the Consumer Protection Act 1987, and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Some of these Acts and Regulations apply only to landlords and or commercial landlords who let property as part of a business. Current legislation does, however, provide various powers to local authorities, trading standards officers, environmental health officers, the fire service, and/ or other agencies, to inspect properties reported or suspected to be unsafe. All landlords should examine their property and the appliances and furnishings therein to ensure they meet the required standards (Booth 2003. p.42) Under the Fire Rescue Services Act 2004, the government has a duty to produce and maintain a national framework document which sets out the government’s plan for what is required from fire and rescue authorities. The government’s vision for the UK Fire and Rescue Service is that is should be proactive in preventing fires and other risks in the commercial and domestic sectors. Fire and rescue authorities are also engaged in support of the government’s wide agenda of social inclusion, neighbourhood renewal and crime reduction. Moreover, they are required to produce and publish local standards of service based on an integrated risk management plan or IRMP that describe how the Fire and Rescue Service will create a safer community (British Retail Consortium 2006, p.58). The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires building owners and responsible persons to carry out a fire risk assessments and implement appropriate fire precaution measures. The UK laws emphasis on preventing fires & reducing risks is being adopted internationally, in fact, Abu Dhabi’s fire and safety approach is changing and modernizing based on international fire and rescue services regulations. In addition fire legislation in this country will be embedded within the public sector, safety, and infrastructure 2. The role of globalization in affecting the legislative and substantive work of those in the fire and rescue service. Globalisation as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole (Hardill, Graham, & Kofman, 2001, p.15). One of the most interesting impact of globalization in the fire and rescue service in Abu Dhabi for instance, is the fact they prefer to use different standards from different countries including the internationally accepted NFPA standards. More importantly, it is quite surprising to know that engineers in this region preferred to use the British or U.K Standards, and some UK legislative guidelines like the Regulatory Reform (Fires Safety) Order 2005 and the Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004. Moreover, there may be some dissimilarity in terms and ranks, the setting of Fire & Rescue Services are almost the same. Globalization influences the legislative and substantive work of those in the fire and rescue service in terms of adoption of standards and guidelines. Moreover, since globalization also means migration, the work of the Fire and Rescue Services will almost double and diversity will be experienced. 3. Ethical considerations in the Fire and Rescue Service “Ethics have a direct impact on the management of the fire service” (Smoke 2005, p.89). The subject of ethics has become a recurrent them in discussion of leadership in all aspects of public service. Many experience fire officers recognize the need for correct ethical behaviour, but no consistent approach to resolving ethical dilemmas has emerged. The fire service, as a public organization, must address the issue of ethical conduct. The fire officer should recognize the impact of ethical behaviour and set the tone to ensure its presence in all aspects of the agency’s operation. The public trust in the fire service to provide the best protection possible presents an ethical standard requiring maximum performance by all members of the fire department in all aspects of the job, both in daily operations and emergency response. For this reason, the implied ethical acceptance of the public trust is always articulated in the mission statement or primary goals of the department by outlining the principles for ethical behaviour and a statement about upholding the public trust (Grant & Hoover 1993, p.396). Ethics are measured based on a person’s words and behaviour as they carry out their personal and organization responsibilities and commitments. Ethical responsibilities for fire service leaders include the commitment they make to their external customers through mission, the degree of professionalism and honesty that is evident in the leader’s conduct, and the commitment that leaders make to maintaining themselves as positive, productive, and healthy contributors to the organization. Practitioners should considerate of other people’s feelings and property, practice a high degree of discretion in the things they say and do, and accept the differences that diverse people bring to a group and respect the importance of diversity in organization effectiveness (Barr & Eversole 2003, p.210). 4. Comparison of UK Law & Standards to UAE Law & Standards The general fire & safety in the England and Wales is provided by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Part 2 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 provided fire & safety guidelines in Scotland. The Communities and Local Government is responsible The general fire safety in all non-domestic premises including common part of blocks of flats, and house in multiple occupation is handled by the Communities and Local Government. A risk-base approach is being implemented by the Legislations to ensure Fire Safety in the Community, Fire Safety in Industrial Premises, and Fire Safety in Business Premises. They require business owner, or the occupants of the premises, or an appointed person competent enough to handle such matter, to conduct a fire risk assessment and implement suitable fire precautions and protection measures. Moreover, an owner or occupier must give importance in reducing risk and preventing fires the occurrence of fires. They must guarantee that the safety of everybody using the premises and anybody near the vicinity which includes the general public, the local community, housing, shops, and other establishments. Similar to the United Kingdom, the Abu Dhabi Fire & Safety is provided by the United Arab Emirate Government. However, unlike the United Kingdom that is commonly being guided by BSI, the UAE government is following a combination four different standards in enforcing fire safety regulations – British, U.S., Australian, and Hong Kong standards. In addition, developers in the UAE prefer to follow guidelines contained in NFPA or National Fire Protection Agency and engineers prefer British or U.K. Standards, Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004. Unlike UK’s HSE, the Department of Civil Protection (defence) has the major responsibility with Fire & Safety and produces regulations for implementation. Although autonomous to some extent and have the power to create its own laws, Abu Dhabi follows the U.A.E government concerning legislation on fire safety. The Ministry of Police & Civil defence has the overall responsibility for the Fire & Rescue Services. Similar to the United Kingdom, the Police & the Fire Service in Abu Dhabi are intimately working together as part of the Emergency services. However, only the police are in charge for the Quick Intervention Team or Q.I.T. QIT is deployed in an emergency situation where there is a high risk of personal injury or any circumstances where a disaster is forthcoming. For instance, QIT and Emergency services was required when five people were killed in a huge explosion ripped through a warehouse storing illegal fireworks and 70 other buildings damaged by fire in Dubaos Al Quoz industrial area in March 2007. 5. Comparison of how Community and Fires Safety Policy is communicate in UK and UAE The major enforcer of the legislation and regulations is the Fire & Rescue Service because they have the duty under the legislation to ensure that the requirements of the legislation are met and complied. Their duty under the legislation concerning Fire & Rescue Safety is being performed through periodic inspection, visits, and audits. Along with their duty to ensure premises meet the requirements of the regulations, the Fire and Rescue Services also performs community service. They are also actively helping and advising the community of fire safety standards and issues. As a great service to the community, smoke alarms are distributed and fitted free of charge. Educational materials promoting fire safety is also available in DVDs and other form of media. The Health and Safety Executives or HSE is the principal enforcers for Fire & Rescue Authorities. However, HSE is not responsible for premises under the Fire Certificate (Special Premises) Regulations 1976 but they are still responsible under the Health & Safety at Work Act to ensure safety in the workplace including work-related procedures that can put the life workers at risk. The four key responsibilities of the Fire & Rescue Service under the Fire & Rescue Services Act includes Community & Fire Safety, fighting fires, attending to road traffic accidents, and responding to other emergencies that includes flooding, natural & manmade disasters. To comply with the requirements of the Fire Safety Order under The Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations, companies or businesses must have an Emergency & Disaster Plan. This is because an Emergency & Disaster Plan can reduce the impact of disaster on the community and others that may be affected by a disaster caused by a company’s neglect. In principle, businesses and other establishments have the moral, ethical, and legal obligation to protect the safety of the people. More importantly, Emergency & Disaster Plans protects jobs and the economics of the company. An Emergency & Disaster Plan should include regular review of risks, safe working systems, and management & employee cooperation on safety standards. The most likely emergency conditions to occur in a workplace includes fire or explosion, releases of substances such as gas, liquids, toxic & corrosive chemicals, or combinations of these emergency conditions, emergencies caused by natural or man-made factors from in or out of the workplace. An emergency condition is something that creates or poses to create a fire of whatever size or damage to plant & equipment or caused injury to people. This may a release of toxic chemicals or gas that may severely, immediately or later affect the health of people. A condition that may require the mobilization of the Fire & Rescue Team, Police, or First aiders. On the other hand, those that require hospital treatment of many casualties is considered major emergency. These may include those incidents involving the release of material likely to render unusable, a considerable size of the works. Release of material that would affect the surrounding of the works, or combination of these conditions. In Abu Dhabi, implementation of fire safety is the responsibility of the Civil Defence and Environmental Agency. The Civil Defence is the one working closely with the Fire and Rescue Service while the Environmental Agency ensures safety requirements in buildings such as fire suppression devices , fire doors, alarms, and so on. In the UK, this is the sole responsibility of the Fire and Rescue Service as they also do community service to ensure that fire alarms and other safety devices are properly installed in buildings and homes. However, the UK and Abu Dhabi is similar in ensuring compliance in issuing fire safety certificates to newly build structures. The difference is that issuance of certificates in the UK are under the Communities and Local Government while the Civil Defence Department is directly responsible in Abu Dhabi. In the United Kingdom, fire safety inspections are for all buildings- new or old particularly if major changes are made during renovations. In contrast, Abu Dhabi only requires new building to undergo safety inspections and older buildings do not have to comply with the latest regulations for reason of cost and complexity. Fire protection and safety standards of building is not that good in Abu Dhabi. Moreover, unlike the United Kingdom, public or private buildings in Abu Dhabi are not required to have a fire alarm test or conduct a regular evacuation drills. Instead, Tannoy system or public address system is recommended for new buildings so announcements about emergencies because fire alarms are ignored by many people. Similarly, government and military hospitals do not request inspections and cannot perform audits because they do not have legal requirements. Generally, Abu Dhabi Fire Authorities only visit establishments and housing blocks every two years and there is no regulation requiring occupant to report fire alarm faults. Also, there is no legal requirement to test alarm. Owing to cultural considerations, it is common practice to burn ‘oud’ at homes but installation of smoke detectors is consider not viable. Despite of the several major difference in fire safety approach of both countries, UAE in general is upgrading its regulations and legislations to match their expected economic growth. Considered in this upgrading is safety, public, and infrastructure sector. Fire legislation will be embedded within these sectors and a separate policy agenda for Abu Dhabi was announced last year that includes Health & Safety and Police & Emergency Services. 6. Ethical Impact of New Civil Defence Stations better equipped to deal with emergencies As mentioned earlier in the previous sections, ethics have a direct impact on the management of the fire service. Many professional fire fighters and rescuers recognize the need for correct behaviour and the public trust in the fire service to provide the best protections possible. The constructions or installation of new civil defence stations is likely to enhance public trust because of the perception that the civil defence has expanded and better equipped to provide public protection. 7. Ethical impact of a fire in an apartment block in Abu Dhabi According to news, dozens of people including women and children, have been injured in a fire at a16-storey apartment block in Abu Dhabi last September 16, 2008. Emergency services airlifted children to safety from the burning building. Several people were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. Civil defence officials have allegedly managed to save several people ensnared on the eight floors while others were airlifted to safety by police helicopters. Dozens of fire fighters continued to fight fire for hours. The ethical impact of saving lives particularly children is much greater positive than saving other adults. In addition, helicopter rescue is seen as a heroic effort by the civil defence. However, fire prevention is still better and more appreciated than having injuries and fatalities during a fire. The negative side of this incident is the reality that the building is not safe considering the fact that there is no strict regulation on fire safety inspection and evacuation drills. People trust the civil defence or any emergency services to protect them and although there may be some positive ethical effects on saving a few resident of the apartment block, the ethical dilemma that the building is being allowed to operate unchecked for compliance for fire safety is clear. 8. Comparison Table Lancashire Fire & Rescue Authority Abu Dhabi Fire Service Population 1,451,500 1,463,491 Industry Pharmaceuticals, Office Machinery, Electronics and Communications, Chemical, Motor Vehicles Oil and Gas, Agriculture, Fishery How many fire stations 39 Not available but 4 new stations are built recently How many fire 69 fires incident from 2000-2005 Unknown How many deaths 77 Unknown How reducing home industry fire Focus heavily on fire prevention/ 40,000 Home Fire Safety Checks in 2008 More stations being built, legislations on fire safety expanded 9. References Al Theeb A. 2009, New Civil Defence Stations to Improve Response Time, available online at http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/03/03/10290916.html Barr R. C., & Eversole J. 2003. The fire chief's handbook, PennWell Books,US Booth T. 2003. The buy to let guide: how to invest for profit in residential property and manage the letting yourself. How To Books Ltd, US Bowman D. 2008, Dozens injured in Abu Dhabi Fire, available online at http://www.arabianbusiness.com/531290-dozens-injured-in-abu-dhabi-fire British Retail Consortium, 2006, British Retail Consortium 2007: [BRC yearbook], The Stationery Office, UK Grant N. K. & Hoover D. H. 1993, Fire Service Administration. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, US Hardill I., Graham D., & Kofman E, 2001. Human geography of the UK: an introduction. Routledge, UK Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, 2009, About Us, Available online at http://www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/lfrs/home/default.php Sambridge A. 2008, Rootop residents rescued from Abu Dhabi fire, available online at http://www.arabianbusiness.com/531642-huge-blaze-hits-abu-dhabi-apartment-block Smoke C. H. 2005, Company Officer, Cengage Learning, 2005, US Read More