Avon Fire and Rescue Service second revisit 2018/19
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Letter information
From:
Wendy Williams
Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary
Her Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services
To:
Mick Crennell
Chief Fire Officer
Avon Fire and Rescue Service
Sent on:
21 October 2019
Background
We inspected Avon Fire and Rescue Service during the week of 16 July 2018. At the time of our original inspection we identified a cause of concern in relation to fire safety. We shared the following cause of concern with you and made the following recommendation:
Cause of concern
Avon Fire and Rescue Service isn’t doing enough to keep the public safe through the regulation of fire safety. Its risk-based inspection programme is entirely reactive, as its inspection department doesn’t have enough staff.
Recommendation
By March 2019, the service should make sure it has allocated enough resources to a risk-based inspection programme. This allocation must be informed by local risk and enable the service to fulfil its statutory obligations relating to technical fire safety.
2. We identified a separate cause of concern in relation to the service not looking after the wellbeing and mental health of staff. It wasn’t clearly communicating to staff the new values and how to demonstrate these in the workplace. Progress against this will be monitored as part of our ongoing inspection programme.
3. You submitted an action plan setting out how you would address the areas of concern and the recommendations.
4. We carried out our first revisit between 16 and 18 October 2018 to review progress against the fire safety action plan. The team on the first revisit were pleased to see that the service had taken steps to address the cause of concern and that some additional temporary capacity had been provided to the fire safety team. However, the staffing situation had not improved since our initial inspection in July 2018. We identified that the overall staffing position had reduced from the initial inspection. This had limited the ability of the service to make the required improvements.
5. The service proposed to use its new IRMP to identify and rebalance resources across the service. This was planned to be in place from April 2019. The success of the action plan was reliant on the outcomes of the IRMP and the service’s ability to allocate the right resources to its fire safety function.
6. We conducted our second revisit between 12 and 15 August 2019 to review progress against your action plan. During the revisit we interviewed staff who were responsible for implementing the service’s action plans. This included you as the Chief Fire Officer. We also spoke to Councillor Davies, the chair of Avon Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA). We concluded the revisit by giving feedback on our findings to Councillor Davies and you.
7. Our findings are as below:
Governance
8. We found appropriate governance arrangements in place to monitor progress of your action plan.
9. The FRA reviewed your action plan at its full authority meeting in March 2019. In July 2019 the audit, governance and ethics committee reviewed the associated corporate risk and the proposed mitigating action covering failure to achieve statutory responsibilities in relation to fire safety, and licensing and building regulations. The performance, review and scrutiny committee scheduled for 4 September 2019 will consider a progress report and updated action plan.
10. In addition, progress against the action plan and the associated corporate risk is being monitored by the service’s senior leadership team at monthly meetings and by chief officers at the senior leadership board. The corporate risk is presently graded as high.
Action plan
11. The service has an action plan covering the cause of concern. The action plan has senior responsible owners, deadlines and specific action owners. The plan includes updates on actions and explanations when deadlines have been missed.
12. In April 2019 the service published its service plan 2019–2022 which incorporated the requirements of the integrated risk management plan. This was approved by the FRA following public consultation. The plan commits the service to adequately resourcing fire safety activities and targeting the highest risk premises: “sufficient resources will be provided to meet our legal obligations under both the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and the regulatory Reform ‘Fire Safety’ Order 2005. Fire Safety inspections will be carried out in premises that present the most risk to its occupants and visitors.”
13. The Service Delivery Strategy 2019–2022 provides more detailed information about how protection activities will be provided to address the cause of concern. It undertakes to review the existing risk-based inspection programme, and where required, develop enhanced systems to ensure the service is focused on the highest-risk premises. It also includes a commitment to increase staffing levels within the fire safety team.
Progress against action plan
Staffing
14. The service has committed to recruit additional fire safety staff in three phases to reach a total of 24 staff by the end of 2019. These additional staff are not included in the service’s budget and are being funded in the short term through current and projected underspends. The service has the ability to use reserves if needed. The service will seek to address the sustainability of the additional staff as part of a wider review of resources.
15. There has been slippage in achieving the target number of staff in the first two phases. Phase 1 of the action plan required the recruitment of two non-operational staff by December 2018. These staff were to be qualified in fire safety, so they could assist with building regulation consultations, freeing up other staff to carry out audits. The recruitment process only resulted in 0.5 of a qualified member of staff being appointed.
16. In July 2019 the service appointed an additional seven fire safety officers in accordance with phase 2 of the action plan. The target number was eight with an initial target date of May 2018. These were non-operational staff. The new staff completed their induction and fire safety foundation training courses before starting work in their teams. They are in a development programme to be fully competent and qualified within 18 months.
17. The establishment of the fire safety team is currently 20.5 posts, though the actual number of staff is 17.5. The present fire safety team consists of 10 competent staff and 7.5 staff in development. In July 2018 the team consisted of six and three staff respectively. The service is due to recruit the remaining staff to reach 24 by the end of December 2019. The process to recruit or identify these staff internally has yet to commence.
18. The service has sought to appoint increased numbers of staff as set out in the action plan. This has proved challenging especially in relation to attracting qualified staff. The service should consider taking a more innovative approach to attract and use existing staff to provide fire safety activity.
19. The service acknowledges that although the capacity of the team has increased, its capability to conduct fire safety activity is limited. This will increase with experience which is being gained through shadowing qualified staff. We made comment in our service report about certain fire safety activities not being carried out in a timely manner. This is still the case as the additional staff have only recently been recruited and are still in their development phase.
20. Fire and rescue services must be consulted for building regulation approval. Services must return building regulation consultations within 15 working days. Data available for January to March 2019 shows the service was completing these in the required timeframe on 27 percent of occasions. This is similar to our findings from July 2018. Latest data provided by the service indicates that in April and May 2019 consultations were completed in the timeframe on 29 percent of occasions. The service has recently introduced a process to prioritise more complex cases, and fire safety officers who have recently gained the necessary experience are helping to reduce the backlog of non-complex cases. This will improve the timeliness of returns.
21. Building control staff from local authorities have commented that many consultations are returned past the deadline. They have stressed that the quality of return is good. In addition, they have commented that the service’s fire safety officers are not always available for site visits.
22. The service intends to train all wholetime operational crews to conduct fire safety visits. These will not amount to inspections or audits but will provide them with the skills to identify hazards and provide some advice. Despite being in the training plan for the last two years, the limited capacity within the fire safety team to provide the necessary training has meant this has not taken place. The service should consider other ways of providing this training.
Risk-based inspection programme
23. The service committed to review its risk-based inspection programme to ensure fire safety activity is targeted at those premises which present the greatest risk. At the time of our inspection in July 2018, the service had assessed those premises that have a sleeping risk, for example, hotels, as being the highest risk. We found that inspection activity operated on a reactive rather than proactive basis. Those premises that the service had identified as high risk were not audited within the timescale the service had set.
24. The service recognises that changes are required to the way it assesses risk. The service has procured new software that will assist in developing a better understanding of risk. Some initial work has been conducted on a risk analysis tool. The service estimates this will take up to 18 months to complete and will be tasked to a new improvement and transformation team that is in the process of being formed.
25. The situation has yet to improve in relation to auditing premises from the risk-based inspection programme. Due to a lack of competent staff and other work, only a small number of audits are being conducted. From data provided by the service, the average number of audits per month between February and July 2019 was 18. This number includes audits conducted following fires at premises, referrals from operational crews having attended incidents and complaints from members of the public. Although not part of the risk-based inspection programme, these audits are important and have resulted in prohibition notices and prosecutions. Audits in response to the risk-based inspection programme will increase following the appointment of new staff and as they become more experienced.
Conclusion
26. The service has an action plan with senior responsible owners, deadlines and specific action owners. We found appropriate governance structures both within the service and through the FRA which provide scrutiny of progress.
27. There has been slippage with the appointment of additional non-operational staff. Between February and July 2019 an additional 7.5 staff have been appointed from a target of 10. This is positive, and we are encouraged this increase in staffing has now taken place.
28. However, important fire safety activities such as responding to building regulation consultations and conducting audits of premises identified as high risk through the risk-based inspection programme are still not being conducted in accordance with the required timescales. This will improve as the new staff gain experience and competency freeing up more highly qualified staff.
29. The service’s action plan details an increase in the number of staff in the fire safety team to 24 by the end of 2019. We are not clear how this is to be achieved and work has yet to commence on the process to appoint them. This aspect therefore continues to represent a risk.
30. The service should take a more innovative approach to how it attracts new staff and uses existing staff to provide fire safety activities. This should include looking at how it could provide training so that operational crews better support fire safety activities.
31. The service has committed to changing the risk-based inspection programme by using data to better identify local risk and target fire safety activity. This is projected to take up to 18 months to complete. The service should consider whether there is any action it could take in the interim to address this need and help focus fire safety audits at premises which present the greatest risk.
32. We will continue to monitor progress through updates from the service and data returns. When we next inspect the service in 2020 we will further assess progress against this recommendation.