KPI's are monitored either by
using an XmR chart, comparing current performance against that
achieved in the previous quarter, any forecast/target for the
quarter/YTD, or against a pre- determined standard, for example,
the response KPI is measured against an average time.
An XmR chart is a type of
process controlchart used to monitor and provide insightsto a
process over time. They are made up of the following
components:
1)
The data we want to measure
plottedin time series
2)
A Centre Line - this is based
on the average value of our data sample
3)
Upper and Lower Control
Limits(UCL & LCL) — these are our ‘Natural
ProcessLimits’ and tell us how much natural variation there
is in the data
XmR chart example:
5.5%
5.0%
4.5%
4.0%
2.5%
2.0%
Why use
them?
XmR
control charts offer two major advantages over other reporting
methods:
·
We can quickly identify
exceptions that fall outside of the normal random variation that
occurs within any process or measure
·
We don't waste time trying to
fix or explain a problem that isn't there
The
control limits are calculated in such a way that we can expect 99%
of data points to fall between them. In other words, we know that
any time they are exceeded something exceptional has occurred and
therefore requires further investigation.
By clearly highlighting these
exceptions, XmR charts allow us to focus on the signals that
indicate something significant has changed (positively or
negatively, planned or unplanned). Conversely, they also mean we
avoidspending time investigating changes in the data that are
likely to be caused by the natural variation in the
process/measure.
There are three common
signalswe look for in an XmR chartthat indicate a need for further
investigation/intervention:
Rule 1)
Special Causeor Outlier— A point outside the Control
Limits
Rule 2)
Long Run — At least 8 consecutive points running on one side
of the Central Line
Rule
3)
Short Run — At least 3 out of 4 consecutive points closer to
a Control Limit than to the Central Line
An exceptionreport is
generatedif one or more of these rulesare triggered.
The number of emergency calls that North West Fire Control
receive is measured. This includes 999 calls from members of
the public, calls from other emergency services and calls from fire
alarm monitoring organisations reporting a fire alarm at a
premises.
This is not a KPI but provides an overview of the number of
calls that are received each month.
The
number of reported emergency calls for Quarter 4 has decreased,
with all three months being closer to the Lower Control
Limit. Upon investigating any possible reasons for this fall
in emergency call numbers, NWFC has established that for Quarter 4
there is some missing data from this period, which our data
extraction software is unable to retrieve. This has been
reported to our software contractors, who have now fixed the issue
and are looking at further resilience measures. This has not
affected transferring NWFC data to FRS IRS software.
There is missing data from
17th – 29th January 2023 and from other
dates in January and February for several hours at a time during
specific days. Not all the emergency calls and administrative
calls data are missing during these periods, but these have
identified as to when there were connection failures and therefore
not all data has been retrievable.
The number of administrative calls that North West Fire
Control receive is measured. This includes calls from each
fire and rescue service updating on the availability of resources,
reporting injuries, advising about community activities they are
participating in. Administrative calls also include calls
from other agencies that are not emergencies, e.g. call from
Environment Agency reporting on flood levels, or Highways Agency
advising about motorway closures.
This is not a KPI but provides an overview of the number of
calls that are received each month.
Similar to emergency calls,
there is missing data that is not retrievable for administrative
calls for Quarter 4.
Any call where Control Room
Operators ask additional questions provided by the fire and rescue
services in order to determine if a response is required.
Examples of these incident types are automatic fire alarms, animal
rescues, bonfires and NWAS gaining entry.
NWFC continues to support Fire
& Rescue Services with its call challenge questions, which
determines whether there are resources mobilised to incidents such
as automatic fire alarms. In supporting these initiatives,
42% of calls challenged are not required to be mobilised to, and
therefore all resources to be available for other
emergencies.
NWFC has recently supported
both Lancashire and Cumbria fire and rescue service in updating
their call challenge questions for automatic fire
alarms.
The average answer time for all Emergency
calls for quarter 4 2022/ 2023 was 5.1 seconds this is an
improvement of 0.9 seconds when compared to the same period in
2021/ 2022.
89.68% of all incoming Emergency calls were
answered within 10 seconds for quarter 4
2022/2023.
|
Summary
|
Metric
|
|
Avg. Ringing Duration for
Answered Calls
|
5.1
|
|
Avg. Call Duration for
Answered Calls
|
-
|
|
Total Call
Count
|
-
|
|
% Calls Answered Within 1
Secs
|
15.34%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 2 Secs
|
42.50%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 3 Secs
|
58.57%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 4 Secs
|
67.11%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 5 Secs
|
72.71%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 6 Secs
|
78.54%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 7 Secs
|
83.08%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 8 Secs
|
86.06%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 9 Secs
|
88.15%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 10 Secs
|
89.68%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 20 Secs
|
96.96%
|
|
%
Calls Answered Within 30 Secs
|
98.76%
|
The average call duration for
answered calls and total call count have not been completed due to
missing data that has been explained on page 8 with regards to the
number of reported emergency calls presented.
The mobilisation of the first resource to incidents is
taken from the time when the Control Room Operator at North West
Fire Control answers a call on our telephony system until the first
fire service resource is sent.
The following incidents have been agreed to be exempt from
the results.
Chemical suicide
NWAS gaining entry
Assist other agency, e.g., missing persons
Suspect packages / white powder / bombs
Arson threats
Threatening to jump (from height or into water)
Attendance to be made to a non-critical incident within 2
hours.
The removal of these
incident types is due to them not requiring an immediate attendance
or requires consultation with an officer such as a National
Inter-agency Liaison Officer (NILO), who determines the required
attendance.
In addition, a sample
of calls have also been analysed and where it has been necessary
due to fire and rescue service action plans to contact an officer
or contact another agency or organisation prior to mobilising,
these calls have also been exempted. A list of these
additional exemptions with the reasons for removing them are
available.
During quarter 4, the average
time to mobilise the first response to fire related incidents was
81 seconds. This compares to 78 for the same quarter in
2021/2022.
During quarter 4, the average
time to mobilise the first response to special service incidents
was 113 seconds. This is an 8 second improvement compared to
the same quarter in 2021/2022.
During quarter 4, the average
time to mobilise the first response to fire alarm calls was 93
seconds this is a 1 second increase compared to quarter 4 in
2021/2022.
During quarter 4, the average
time to mobilise the first response to all incidents was 91
seconds. This is an improvement of 2 seconds compared to
quarter 4 in 2021/2022.
