Yahoo News Union leader raises safety fears as fewer firefighters sent to burning building
A firefighters' representative has voiced concerns about the controversial trial of reduced numbers for on-call crews after a team of three entered a burning building to save a life. Martin Starkey, Brigade Secretary for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in Staffordshire, has spoken out in the wake of a recent Police, Fire and Crime Panel meeting, where councillors were told that a crew of three on-call firefighters had gone against protocol to enter a burning building in Lichfield to rescue a person.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service began piloting the scheme, which reduces the minimum crew for a retained appliance from four to three firefighters, last year. Senior fire officers have said the scheme has enabled firefighters to get to more incidents more quickly.
Staffordshire's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) Ben Adams said at the panel meeting that he was "absolutely comfortable with the direction of travel". He added: "This is about getting to incidents sooner, more frequently, retaining on-call firefighters and increasing our chances of recruiting - and I'm pleased to say this year we have increased our headcount by 23."
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The fire service's governance board is now due to make a final decision on whether to make the policy permanent. But councillors and union members have continued to voice safety fears.
Mr Starkey said: "During the consultation process, the FBU has repeatedly raised concerns on behalf of our members. This has been done through formal consultations, where the FBU has explicitly disagreed with the service’s proposal to operate with a crew of three, citing safety concerns.
"This is contrary to the PFCC’s claim that no formal safety concerns were raised. Additionally, the FBU is aware that firefighters have raised concerns directly with managers and submitted reports through the safety event reporting system, one of which related to anxiety—a matter the PFCC claimed did not exist.
"The FBU raised the issue of the moral pressure firefighters face when they are unable to implement safe systems of work due to insufficient crew numbers. Such circumstances not only put firefighters at risk but also compromise public safety.
"The incident referenced by the PFCC is precisely the type of situation the FBU warned about. We informed the service that firefighters might feel compelled to act outside of policy in these situations, lacking the necessary safe systems of work.
"While the service is right to review such incidents, in this case, it was their policies that placed firefighters in the dilemma of deciding whether to mobilise with insufficient crew numbers. If they responded with only three firefighters, knowing the potential need to enter a burning building, they had to choose between waiting for additional resources or acting outside of policy, risking disciplinary action.
"The FBU's position is that any outcome from this review must not involve disciplinary action, as the service was warned that their policies could lead to such scenarios."
A report to the Police, Fire and Crime Panel meeting revealed that availability of on-call appliances had increased by 11% during the pilot. And on average a three-person crew arriving first at a scene was almost 10 minutes quicker than the next fully-crewed appliance.
Speaking at the panel meeting Mr Adams said that by mid-September on-call crews had attended 587 emergency incidents. He added: "The key thing for me is it's all been done in consultation with the crews themselves - it's feeling very positive at the minute and enhancing safety for communities."
But Mr Starkey said the primary purpose of the trial was to improve statistics. He added: "Any appliance crewed by three firefighters is now counted as available, enhancing our availability figures, even though such crews cannot attend all incidents.
"In our view, unless a crew can attend all incidents, it should not be counted towards availability. This also skews response time statistics; the clock stops once a three-rider appliance arrives, even if no immediate action can be taken until additional support arrives.
"Before the implementation of the three-rider trial, the service deployed crews of three for minor incidents such as bin, car, and grass fires. Since some of the 587 incidents were already being attended by three-rider crews, these should not be counted in the trial's statistics, as they inflate the figures.
"The only incidents relevant to the trial are those that would not have been attended by three riders previously. Including pre-existing deployments misrepresents the trial’s effectiveness.
"As the PFCC discusses the FBU and its views during the Police Fire and Crime Panel—where the FBU has no opportunity to respond—it is our position that the FBU should have a seat on the panel. This would enable the FBU to address any issues raised regarding its stance and provide councillors and the PFCC the opportunity to engage directly with the FBU, which represents the majority of the operational workforce within Staffordshire Fire."
A decision on the trial is due to be made next month.
At a Fire Performance meeting, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Glynn Luznyj said that while the service is still aiming to have at least four firefighters on board its on-call appliances, three-person crews are deployed when this is not possible.
He added: "This is all about improving the opportunity for our firefighters to make faster and earlier interventions, while the next nearest appliances are being mobilised as normal. To be absolutely clear, this is an additional investment in our on-call.
"It's costing the service money in terms of more turnouts than before, more time on the incident ground, but we believe this is the right investment because it's all about the impact it's having on public safety. The data is important but the stories are important too.
"We're hearing that our crews are able to intervene quickly in road traffic collisions, intervene quickly in building fires and stop them spreading into something more serious. Simply just by getting there and laying the groundwork for oncoming appliances is adding massive value to public safety and firefighter safety.
"We do recognise the concerns that have been spoken about. That's why we are continuing to carefully evaluate all the different views with the intention of making a decision next month through the service governance board as to whether it is mainstreamed as an adopted practice or not."
