Minutes:
The Chairman, CC Holgate introduced Group Manager Frank Robinson, Community Protection Manager (Preston District) who presented Members with an overview of the LFRS Operational Assurance Framework.
GM Robinson explained that Operational Assurance was the activity carried out that gave confidence that Lancashire Fire and Rescue (LFRS) personnel, equipment, policies and procedures were all working well and efficiently to deliver the best possible service to the communities of Lancashire in a safe and effective way.
The Service had undertaken Assurance activities for many years, however previous performance had not provided the depth and quality required to allow the Service to optimise learning and to share broadly. In 2015 a number of service delivery workshops were held for the 18 Service Delivery Manager’s (SDM) who had the responsibility of managing operational fire stations; and under the direction of the Assistant Chief Fire Officer a restructure exercise took place to examine the work of the SDM’s managerial responsibilities. This allowed the Service to reduce this number from 18 to 16 to enable 2 SDM posts to be re-directed to form the core of the Operational Assurance Team.
The work of the Operational Assurance Teams covered 3 pillars of Operational activity:
Operational Preparedness – This was the ‘before’ aspect of our assurance framework, delivered through station based assurance visits conducted by the Operational Assurance Team which focused on core work that was aligned to reducing risk and our capability to respond effectively and efficiently when the need arose.
Operational Response – This was the ‘during’ aspect of our assurance framework, delivered through assurance monitoring the response phase of an incident or exercise.
Operational Learning – This was the ‘after’ aspect of our assurance framework, delivered through our debrief systems and by learning from safety events in LFRS and other Fire and Rescue Services.
It was noted that areas of improvement and good practice were highlighted in the quarterly Safety, Health & Environment (SH&E) and Operational Assurance report.
It was agreed that AM Charters would arrange for the report to be circulated to Members outside of the meeting.
The Operational Assurance team continued to share learning externally through the National Operational Guidance website which included high profile rescues. In addition, the team continued to produce reports for the Prevention, Protection, & Road Safety Strategy Group meetings and a quarterly report was embedded in the SH&E report which included a high amount of findings and information.
On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman, County Councillor Holgate thanked GM Robinson for his interesting presentation and congratulated him on his approach and making significant progress.
In response to a question raised by the Chairman, County Councillor Holgate, GM Robinson reassured Members that with the 2 SDM’s in post there had been an improvement of assurance activities within a relatively small time frame and compared to other Fire Authorities, LFRS continued to carry out assurance activities of a very high quality and range.
In response to a query raised by Councillor M Khan regarding the engagement of young people, GM Robinson gave an overview to Members of the Prince’s Trust and the Fire Cadets programmes.
RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the content of the report.