Quality and Standards in the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Services - Case Study Example

A REPORT ON QUALITY AND STANDARDS IN THE WARWICKSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICES Submitted to (INSTRUCTOR’S NAME) (INSTITUTION NAME) (ADDRESS) December 5th, 2009 By (STUDENT NAME) (INSTITUTION NAME) ABSTRACT The following report begins with an introduction of the general topic of quality and standards. A general background is given and then an understanding of quality assurance is provided in relation to the field of fire and rescue services, particularly the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service of which this report focuses on. Thereafter, the validity and benefits of key Quality Assurance systems used by the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service is delved into. This is then followed up by an appraisal of the appropriateness of the QA system in use in relation to the existing output measures of the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service in accordance with the key strategic objectives of the organization. The application of evidential outputs from the QA systems is then reviewed to ensure consistent proof of quality enhancement within the organisation. The report summarily ends with a brief conclusion on the lessons learned from the quality and standards measures of the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Contents Introduction The Validity And Benefits Of Key Quality Assurance Systems Used By The Warwickshire Fire And Rescue Service The Appropriateness Of Any QA System Use To The Existing Output Measures Of The Warwickshire FRS In Relation To The Key Strategic Objectives Of The Organization The Application Of Evidential Outputs From The QA Systems To Ensure Consistent Proof Of Quality Enhancement Within The Organisation. Conclusion Bibliography INTRODUCTION In the modern world where excellence is an absolute necessity in the delivery of public services, quality and standards issues are of the utmost importance. There are various elements in the maintenance of quality and standards and quality assurance is one such major aspect. According to the American Society for Quality (2009), quality assurance refers to the systemic and planned activities that are executed within a quality system to ensure that the quality requirements for a service or a product are fulfilled. Basically, quality assurance involves the set of measures implemented prior to the delivery or manufacture of the service/ product to ensure their good quality to the customers. In all fire and rescue services in England, quality assurance serves to ensure that public safety is maintained with a lot of funds allocated towards its implementation and the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service is by no means an exception. For the past several decades, the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service have strived to undertake its duties within all emergency related legislation. Nonetheless, improvement was required to bring down the number of increasing fire- related casualties. The number of fatal fires had increased dramatically causing the government to seek solutions which were enumerated in the ‘Our Fire and Rescue Service’ White Paper that sought to modernize and reform the Fire Service as a whole. As a result, the Warwickshire Fire Authority came up with the Integrated Risk Management Plan that spelt out the areas within the service that needed to be improved in addition to the services offered by the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service in general (Warwickshire City Council, 2007). It is this Integrated Risk Management Plan that the following discussion will focus on, particularly with regards to the validity and benefits of key quality assurance systems used; the appropriateness of any QA system use to the existing output measures which relate to the key strategic objectives of the organization; and the application of evidential outputs from the QA systems to ensure consistent proof of quality enhancement within the organization so as to gauge whether the quality and standards levels of the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service are efficient or not. THE VALIDITY AND BENEFITS OF KEY QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEMS USED BY THE WARWICKSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE Every fire and rescue service has to implement the HSG 65 framework to ensure the highest quality and standards. As part of the HSE's Successful and Safety Management, the main elements of the HSG 65 framework are policy, planning and implementing, organizing, performance measuring, review performance as well as auditing. It is against these six elements that the validity and benefits of the key quality assurance systems used by the Warwickshire fire and rescue service shall be ascertained in the following discussion. Policy: The policy underpinning the implementation of the IRMP is that of the Community Protection Directorate (CDP). The CPD brings together all the services of the Warwickshire City Council with the emphasis on four main areas: reducing risk; protection; prevention; and intervention (Warwickshire City Council, 2007, p. 10). The policy of the CDP is committed towards the improvement of services; putting customers first and leading the communities. More specifically though, the IRMP is currently founded on the Year 1 Action Plan policy as indicated in what is known as the 2007/ 2008 Service Plan (p. 23). Some of the projects included in this Service Plan include enforcing an action plan to deal with the proposals of the 2006 OASD (Operational Assessment of Service Delivery) audit; carrying out an independent review of the County Fire Officer’s plans, creating a cost effective emergency in the whole of Warwickshire; enforcing the People Management Strategy; ensuring the commencement of the Local Area Agreement delivery plan is unhinged; and employing the Fire Services Emergency Cover toolkit to shore up the strategies of risk reduction in Warwickshire City Council (Warwickshire City Council, 2007, p. 23). This Year 1 Action Plan policy is evidently very ambitious and far- reaching, seeing as it encompasses the entire Warwickshire City Council and delves into each and every service, not just the fire and rescue services. As such, various policies have been developed which have been very beneficial such as the smoke detector policy that ensures that all dwellings have Warwickshire smoke detectors or the sprinkler installation policy where sprinklers can now be installed in all kinds of properties, particularly high risk buildings. These policies initiated through the IRMP have gone a long way in enhancing the safety of people from all types of building causing greater fire safety in all communities regardless of social or economic status (Warwickshire Fire Authority Integrated Risk Management Plan, 2009). Organizing: According to Act Associates (2005), organizing a plan such as this one requires participation across all levels to ensure maximum output. So far, the organization of the IRMP has adhered to this tenet as the organization is carried out by the CPD which in turn is supported by other departments Projects and Fire Control, Service Support, Policy and Performance and Community Protection Support among others. They join forces to back the main areas of the plan. All of the support services publish a Service Plan every year showing the main targets, areas of concern and achievements (Warwickshire City Council, 2007, p. 20). Planning and Implementing: With a clear policy in place, the planning and implementation of the IRMP has a proper foundation upon which to execute its mandate. The CDP is primarily responsible with the planning, with their main goal being the prevention of fires as opposed to the mere response and reactionary measures characteristic of most fire ands rescue services (Warwickshire City Council, 2007, p. 7). According to the plan of the CPD under the Warwickshire Strategic Partnership Plan, the main aim is to prevent deliberate small vehicle and property fires and arson (p. 9). The implementation of this plan is executed gaining the trust of the communities; empowering, rewarding and managing the people properly; enhancing the skills of the staff; preserving human life and property; and managing risk in the most efficient manner (Warwickshire City Council, 2007, p. 9). Measuring performance: The Warwickshire City Council (2007, p.22) explains that the IRMP measures performance and success through the use of the Directorate’s Performance Management Framework. Inclusive is likewise performance reports made to the Performance Review Group on a quarterly basis as well as Community Protection Overview and Scrutiny reports. All the reports are conducted in line with the WCC Performance Management. The use of these many reports is highly beneficial as several angles are given as opposed to one- sided accounts that may not necessarily reflect the true situation on the ground. Bringing the several reports together ensures that as many weaknesses in the system are identified as possible so as to gain more appropriate solutions to them. This method only serves to further validate the effectiveness of the quality assurance systems used by the Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service and points towards the great benefits accrued from them. Review Performance The review of the performance of the IRMP is done through Year End Directorate Report Card (Warwickshire City Council, 2008). The performance of Warwickshire City Council in the last four years, for instance, was reviewed as having shown steady improvement with building and vehicle fires in areas such as North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Stratford declining significantly. An area such as Warwick, however, has no evident trend. All in all, the whole County has seen the decline of primary fires (Warwickshire City Council, 2007, p. 35). The review attributes these reductions to the increased awareness creation among school children on proper fire behaviour and the engagement of the communities at the grassroots level (p. 37). Auditing. According to the Warwickshire City Council (2007, p 23), the part of the role of the IRMP is to enforce the proposals that came out of the 2006 Operational Assessment of Service Delivery (OASD) audit. This audit was conducted to ascertain the administrative and technical standards of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service. The audit attempted to establish whether or not the service was giving the community it serves consistent service. This it did by enforcing the tenets of the Enforcement Concordat and the Enforcement Management Model. The areas analyzed were technical standards, building regulations, policies and other areas to ensure that the highest of standards were upheld. The auditing process is similar among all fire and rescue services in England and according to Gloucestershire Fire and Safety Service (2009) involves the following measures: fire drills; the development of a fire safety maintenance checklist; the enforcement of protective and preventative measures; evaluating the fire training records of the staff; checking the current emergency plans in use; and so on (Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, 2009). All these measures and more are carried out in a comprehensive auditing process to ensure that the standards of the service are of a high degree to ensure that the public is being protected by a service that is fully capable of ensuring fire safety at all levels possible. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF ANY QA SYSTEM USE TO THE EXISTING OUTPUT MEASURES OF THE WARWICKSHIRE FRS IN RELATION TO THE KEY STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANIZATION Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service’s vision is to make Warwickshire the safest place to live and work (Warwickshire Fire Authority Integrated Risk Management Plan, 2008). The key strategic objectives of the IRMP are to reduce risk from arson, major emergencies and fires in the home among others (Warwickshire City Council, 2007, p. 16). These are the main objectives that serve as a guideline for the IRMP and the success of this plan is measured with the attainment of these objectives. Warwickshire City Council (2007, p. 12) enumerates a number of output measures that Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service has experienced: 31% drop in the number of injured people accidental dwelling fires; 27% drop in total number of fires; 26,000 installations of smoke alarms; 1.5% drop in the total number of accidental dwelling fires; 30% drop in the total number of deliberate fires; among other out put measures. All these output measures are positive and point towards the fact that the quality assurance system adopted has been hugely successful, helping to not only reduce the overall number of fires and related injuries in Warwickshire but also show the increased level of awareness about proper fire behaviour. All these indicate that the system is highly appropriate for the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service. THE APPLICATION OF EVIDENTIAL OUTPUTS FROM THE QA SYSTEMS TO ENSURE CONSISTENT PROOF OF QUALITY ENHANCEMENT WITHIN THE ORGANISATION To ensure consistency in the results realized thus far, the factors that have led to these favourable outputs need to be applied. For instance, it was discovered that education of children and people at the grassroots level was one of the major contributing factors of the reduced fire incidents and injuries. These measures therefore need to be increased so as to sustain the positive momentum. In addition, Warwickshire City Council (2007, p. 8) suggests such measures like encouraging team work where each department in the county is to work together to ensure unity of purpose which in turn causes greater success. Other measures that can be highly useful include greater national funding of the fire and rescue services; supporting the Local Area Agreement and efficient management of the service. All these measures will serve in enhancing quality within the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service. CONCLUSION From the above discussion, it is clear that quality assurance is highly crucial for the success of any fire and rescue service. In the case of the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue service, the improvement on quality assurance through the implementation of the IRMP has proved this. The positive output measures such as the very encouraging overall reduction in the total number of fires in the whole of Warwickshire City Council validate the use of quality assurance systems. Nevertheless, in areas such as Warwick, there was evidence that an increase in fires could be seen, showing that the quality assurance system has yet to benefit every area in the county. Further research therefore needs to be carried out, especially in such low performing areas, to ascertain the cause of the poor performance so as to develop situations that shall enhance the overall fire safety of Warwickshire City Council both now and in the future. REFERENCES Act Associates. 2005. A Framework for Health and Safety Management. Retrieved 5th December, 2009 from http://www.actassociates.co.uk/pictures/files/Filev2118.pdf American Society for Quality. 2009. Basic Concepts. Retrieved 5th December, 2009 from http://www.asq.org/learn-about-quality/quality-assurance-quality-control/overview/overview.html Gloucestershire Fire and Safety Service. 2009. GFRS Quality Assurance (Fire Safety) Policy Statement. Retrieved 5th December, 2009 from http://www.glosfire.gov.uk/sections/about_us/about_rcc.html Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. 2009. Quality assurance. Retrieved 6th December, 2009 From http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/irs-qualityassurance Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. 2009. Service Orders. Retrieved 6th December, 2009 from http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/theservice/serviceorders.htm?id=10464 Scottish Fire and Rescue Services. 2007. Learning and Development Strategy. Retrieved 5th December, 2009 from http://www.scottish-fireservicescollege.org/SFSCFront/pdf/ScottishLearningDevelopmentStrategy.pdf Warwickshire City Council. 2007. Integrated Risk Management Plan 2007 – 2010. Community Protection Directorate. Retrieved 5th December, 2009 from http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/49308EF390F8D1B380257237003F0526/$file/WCC+CPD+IRMP+2007-10+(final).pdf Warwickshire City Council. 2008. Year End Directorate Report Card 2008/09. Community Protection Overview & Scrutiny Committee –14th July 2009. Retrieved 5th December, 2009 from http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/E64A49F4E3034DF380256E40002EC616/$file/CP+DRC+09.06.09.pdf Warwickshire Fire Authority Integrated Risk Management Plan. 2008. Summary. Retrieved 6th December, 2009 from http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:GWYDJyhem4UJ:cpa.audit-commission.gov.uk/GetPDF.aspx%3Ftaxid%3D108865%26pdfPage%3DFireScoreCardHC.aspx%253FtaxID%253D108865%2526aibID%253D10002373%2526aibName%253DWarwickshire%2520Fire%2520and%2520Rescue%2520Authority%2526pdf%253D1+Warwickshire+Fire+Authority+Integrated+Risk+Management+Plan&hl=en&gl=ke&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiB3-6D-d4wbMvIzL_KFCT6mA5Vgi45Q06px6M43xFaX3fDX-3n0nOb0pe2XfXqmn1_-K85CXWuRwhS_egW1oWCxdaTpR05IwOAtNVyVwx_j7VwZwC-_ppAvmZkFz9lmZSUVSnC&sig=AHIEtbTIb9lmvRdyrMKufcYSdVN5istcyA Read More