Agenda item

The Head of Human Resources attended the meeting to present Members with an overview of the approach the Service took to managing absence which included current rates of absence and their causes together with the initiatives in place to support staff wellbeing.

 

In response to questions raised by County Councillor O’Toole, the Head of Human Resources confirmed that staff requiring advice and guidance on various matters could contact the Employee Assistance Scheme which was a 24 hour; 365 day telephone service that would signpost the individual as appropriate.  If there was a complex mental health concern the individual would be put through to counselling services and a counsellor would arrange a one-to-one session.  The Service also provided Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) for those who had potentially experienced a traumatic incident in the course of their duties.  This was a one-to-one trauma risk assessment to support the individual to receive additional help and support.

 

In response to questions raised by CC Hennessy, the Head of Human Resources confirmed that for support staff and staff who worked day duty there was flexible working; the Day Crewing shift system had just moved to a flexible system; the Day Crewing Plus system was a flexible self-rostering system with the 2-2-4 system the most rigid however, consultation regarding this with staff and the Fire Brigade Union was planned.  In addition, the Service had a policy where a request could be made to change existing working arrangements.  The Head of Human Resources agreed to ask the Occupational Health Unit to undertake a risk assessment to determine whether to offer staff an inoculation against the flu virus ie: for those who carried out home fire safety checks with vulnerable people.  This would then be reported back to a future meeting.

 

This was the 1st quarterly report for 2019/20 as detailed in the Risk Management Plan 2017-2022.

 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that the Measuring Progress report had been refreshed (as presented to Members at the last Strategy Group).  He confirmed that the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) had not changed but the information provided greater insight in relation to a number of KPIs ie: home fire safety checks and prevention work such as road safety.  Page 22 of the agenda pack identified priorities and how the respective KPI fit within the overall performance framework.  Where possible for each KPI an XmR chart was now employed and performance was set within upper and lower limits that were based on the previous 3 years activity.  Therefore if the performance was within tolerance it was deemed to be within standard. 

 

The report included new graphics with spark lines and colour coding on pages 24 and 25 to provide a quick summary of the direction of travel for each KPI and whether it was within accepted limits or was in a positive or negative exception. The report showed there were 2 negative Key Performance Indicator Exception Reports.  Unlike previous reports that started with indicators in exception, the KPIs would be considered sequentially.  Exception reports were provided to detail the reasons for the exception, analysis of the issue and actions being taken to improve performance.

 

Members examined each indicator in turn as follows:-

 

KPI 1 – Preventing, fires and other emergencies from happening and               Protecting, people and property when fires happen

 

1.1         Risk Map

 

This indicator measured the fire risk in each Super Output Area.  Risk was determined using fire activity over the previous 3 fiscal years along with a range of demographic data, such as population and deprivation.

 

The standard was to reduce the risk in Lancashire – an annual reduction in the County risk map score.

 

The current score 31,816, previous year score 32,114 an overall reduction in fire risk of 1%.

 

1.2       Overall Activity

 

This indicator measured the number of incidents that the Service attended with one or more pumping appliances.

 

Quarter 1 activity 4,535, previous year quarter 1 activity 4,637 a decrease of 2.20% over the same quarter.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 1	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 1
4,535	4,535	4,637	4,637

 

Incidents attended consisted of a myriad of different types.  The report presented a chart which represented the count and percentage that each activity had contributed to the overall quarter’s activity.

 

In response to Member queries in relation to false alarm calls which put others at risk, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed that 43% of overall activity related to false alarm calls.  He advised that the majority of these (54%) related to faulty apparatus.  He confirmed the Service would respond and where necessary take firm action with the responsible person to make sure steps were being taken to eradicate false alarms; where necessary, legislative action was taken against the business concerned. 

 

Members agreed that it would be helpful to discuss this topic in more detail at the next meeting.

 

1.3       Accidental Dwelling Fires

 

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of the fire had been recorded as 'Accidental' or 'Not known'.

 

Quarter 1 activity 209, previous year quarter 1 activity 212, a decrease of 1.42% over the same quarter.

 

Total number of Accidental Dwelling Fires – Year to Date, 209

 

1.3.1   Accidental Dwelling Fires – Extent of Damage (Fire Severity)

 

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of the fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental or Not known’ presented as a percentage extent of fire and heat damage.

 

The extent of fire and heat damage was recorded at the time the ‘stop’ message was sent and included all damage types.  The report charted a rolling quarterly severity of accidental dwelling fire over the previous two years with each quarter broken down into high, medium and low severity.  Each quarter included the percentage (out of 100%) that each severity type represented of the total, with an indicator to illustrate the direction against the same quarter of the previous year.

 

The latest quarter recorded a combined ‘low’ and ‘medium’ severity of 96.2% against a 94.8% in the same quarter of the previous year.  Accidental dwelling fires with a calculated fire severity of ‘medium’ and ‘low’ decreased 1.4% against the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Previous Rolling 4 Quarters				Quarter 1
Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
5.2%	4.6%	4.5%	3.2%	3.8%
48.6%	46.4%	52.7%	49.7%	49.8%
46.2%	49.0%	42.8%	47.0%	46.4%

 

1.3.2   Accidental Dwelling Fires – Number of Incidents where occupants have received a Home Fire Safety Check

 

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental or Not known’ by the extent of the fire and heat damage. The HFSC must be a completed job (i.e. not a refusal) carried out by LFRS personnel or partner agency. The HFSC must have been carried out within 12 months prior of the fire occurring.

 

	2019/20		2018/19
	ADF’s with previous HFSC	% of ADF’s with previous HFSC	ADF’s with previous HFSC	% of ADF’s with previous HFSC
Q1	23	11%	21	10%
Q2			17	9%
Q3			24	11%
Q4			15	8%

 

1.4 Accidental Dwelling Fire Casualties

 

This indicator reported the number of fire related fatalities, slight and serious injuries at primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental or Not known’. A slight injury was defined as; a person attending hospital as an outpatient (not precautionary check). A serious injury was defined as; at least an overnight stay in hospital as an in-patient.

 

There were 2 fatalities during the latest quarterly period.  6 casualties were recorded as serious and 7 slight.  The same quarter of the previous year recorded 2 fatalities, 1 serious and 7 slight.

 

Casualty Status	2019/20 Quarter 1	2018/19 Quarter 1
Fatal	2	2
Victim went to hospital visit, injuries appeared Serious	6	1
Victim went to hospital visit, injuries appeared Slight	7	7
TOTAL	15	10

 

1.5       Accidental Building Fires (Non-Dwellings)

 

This indicator reported number of primary fires where the property type was ‘Building’ and the property sub type did not equal ‘Dwelling’ and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental’ or ‘Not known’.

 

Quarterly activity decreased 27.12% over the same quarter.

 

Total number of incidents	2019/20 Quarter 1	2018/19 Quarter 1
	86	118

 

1.5.1   Accidental Building Fires (Non-Dwellings) – Extent of Damage (Fire Severity)

 

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where the property type was a building and the property sub-type was not a dwelling and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental or Not known’ presented as a percentage extent of fire and heat damage.

 

The extent of fire and heat damage was recorded at the time the ‘stop’ message was sent and included all damage types.  The report charted a rolling quarterly severity of accidental dwelling fire over the previous two years with each quarter broken down into high, medium and low severity.  Each quarter included the percentage (out of 100%) that each severity type represented of the total, with an indicator to illustrate the direction against the same quarter of the previous year.

 

The latest quarter recorded a combined ‘low’ and ‘medium’ severity of 65.1% against a 65.3% in the same quarter of the previous year.  Accidental building fires with a calculated fire severity of ‘high’ and ‘low’ increased against the same quarter of the previous year, whilst ‘medium’ severity decreased.

 

Previous Rolling 4 Quarters				Quarter 1
Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
34.7%	36.6%	28.7%	29.5%	34.9%
54.2%	44.1%	52.5%	50.5%	51.2%
11.0%	19.4%	18.8%	20.0%	14.0%

 

1.6         Deliberate Fires

 

This indicator reported the number of primary and secondary fires where the cause of fire had been recorded as 'Deliberate'.  Secondary fires were the majority of outdoor fires including grassland and refuse fires unless they involved casualties or rescues, property loss or 5 or more appliances attended. They included fires in single derelict buildings.

 

Deliberate Fire Type	2019/20 Quarter 1	2018/19 Quarter 1
1.6.1 Deliberate Fires – Anti-Social Behaviour	679	687
1.6.2 Deliberate Fires – Dwellings	30	40
1.6.3 Deliberate Fires – Non-Dwellings	35	41

 

This was a negative exception report.

 

As activity was now measured on a monthly basis (rather than quarterly) this was a negative exception report due to the number of Anti-Social Behaviour fires recorded during the month of April being higher than the upper control limit.

 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented Members with the analysis, that:-

 

·        There were 314 recorded Anti-Social Behaviour fire incidents in April 2019; this was 4 incidents greater than the upper control limit of 310;

·        This was the largest April count over the past five years, although the overall quarter 1 count was lower than the same position of the previous two years;

·        Several large increases in small geographic areas contributed to the increase, particularly in Eastern and Western areas. Since the April high activity levels in these areas had reduced to normal levels;

·        There had been shown to be a correlation between seasonal temperature and its influence on social behaviour, particularly when the temperatures were high. A relatively warm start to the early spring period, with maximum temperatures being above the same period of the previous 5 years, also coincided with the Easter half term school holidays, which no doubt helped contribute to the April high;

·        Rainfall was also lower in April than preceding months, with 192mm of rain in March 2019; which recorded 113 ASB’s, to the 77mm in April with 314 incidents.

 

Members also considered the actions undertaken to improve performance which included that:

 

·        There had been an increase in Environmental Visual Audits (EVA) in problem areas, particularly around waste bin collection days. A system was also in place with some council’s so that fly tipping could be reported online;

·        EVA’s had also increased in popular moorland areas, along with ongoing education initiatives around barbecues and open fires;

·        Firewise Communities were being introduced to help reduce moorland incidents and mitigate the associated impacts. This would be introduced around Winter Hill and Scout Moor. This enabled local residents to help maintain defendable spaces along with partners to deliver more positive outcomes;

·        A case was also being made in partnership with Chorley Council, Lancashire Constabulary (LANCON) and the Environmental Agency to put in place a Public Spaces Protection Order for Winter Hill. This would give powers for Council Officers / LANCON to remove items that could be responsible for antisocial behavioural incidents in this area.

 

In response to Member concerns regarding a spate of anti-social behaviour in the West Lancashire area particularly around the delph quarry, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer would consider whether more fire safety education could be delivered.

 

Members welcomed the work done to improve performance in relation to deliberate fires including the environmental visual audits.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer agreed to look at whether the Teen safe education package could be delivered in schools before the Easter period.

 

1.7       Home Fire Safety Checks

 

This indicator reported the percentage of completed Home Fire Safety Checks (HFSC), excluding refusals, carried out where the risk score had been determined to be either high.

 

An improvement was shown if: i) the total number of HFSC’s completed was greater than the comparable quarter of the previous year; and ii) the percentage of high HFSC outcomes was greater than the comparable quarter of the previous year.

 

The number of completed HFSCs increased 45% over the same quarter of the previous year and those with a high risk outcome, decreased by 1%.

 

	2019/20	2018/19
	% of High HFSC outcomes	% of High HFSC outcomes
Q1	65%	66%
Q2		67%
Q3		64%
Q4		65%

 

1.8       Road Safety Education Evaluation

 

This indicator reported the percentage of participants of the Wasted Lives and Road Sense education packages that showed a positive change to less risky behaviour following the programme; based on comparing the overall responses to an evaluation question before and after the course.

 

Total participants were a combination of those engaged with at Wasted Lives and Road Sense events.

 

The total number of participants decreased 13% and those with a percentage of positive influence on participant’s behaviour remained consistent with the same quarter of the previous year.

 

	2019/20 (cumulative)		2018/19 (cumulative)
	Total participants	% positive influence on participants’ behaviour	Total participants	% positive influence on participants’ behaviour
Q1	4,354	85%	5,002	85%
Q2			5,983	85%
Q3			10,613	85%
Q4			17,220	85%

 

1.9       Fire Safety Enforcement

 

This indicator reported the number of Fire Safety Enforcement inspections carried out within the period resulting in supporting businesses to improve and become compliant with fire safety regulations or to take formal action of enforcement and prosecution of those that fail to comply.

 

Formal activity is defined as one or more of the following; enforcement notice or an action plan, alterations notice or prohibition notice.

 

An improvement was shown if the percentage of adults ‘requiring formal activity’ was greater than the comparable quarter of the previous year.  This helped inform that the correct businesses were being identified.

 

*The ‘number of inspections’ count included business safety advice and advice to other enforcement authorities which were not captured within the formal/informal or satisfactory counts.

 

	2019/20					2018/19
	*No. of Inspections	Requiring		Satisfactory Audit	% requiring Formal Activity	% requiring Formal Activity
		Formal Activity	Informal Activity
Q1	374	32	261	78	9%	9%
Q2						12%
Q3						7%
Q4						11%

 

 

KPI 2 – Responding, to fire and other emergencies quickly and competently

 

2.1.1   Emergency Response Standards - Critical Fires – 1st Fire Engine Attendance

 

This indicator reported the ‘Time of Call’ (TOC) and ‘Time in Attendance’ (TIA) of the first fire engine arriving at the incident in less than the relevant response standard.

 

The response standards included call handling and fire engine response time for the first fire engine attending a critical fire, these were as follows:-

 

·        Very high risk area = 6 minutes

·        High risk area = 8 minutes

·        Medium risk area = 10 minutes

·        Low risk area = 12 minutes

 

The response standards were determined by the risk map score and subsequent risk grade for the location of the fire.

 

Standard: to be in attendance within response standard target on 90% of occasions.

 

Quarter 1 – 1st pump response improved 4.84% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 1	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 1
89.52%	89.52%	85.39%	85.39%

 

2.1.2   Emergency Response Standards - Critical Fires – 2nd Fire Engine Attendance

 

This indicator reported the time taken for the second fire engine to attend a critical fire incident measured from the time between the second fire engine arriving and the time of call. The target is determined by the risk map score and subsequent risk grade for the location of the fire.

 

Standard: to be in attendance within response standard target on 85% of occasions.

 

Quarter 1 – 2nd pump response improved 6.62% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 1	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 1
90.07%	90.07	84.48%	84.48%

 

2.2.1   Emergency Response Standards - Critical Special Service – 1st Fire Engine Attendance

 

This indicator measured how long it took the first fire engine to respond to critical non-fire incidents such as road traffic collisions, rescues and hazardous materials incidents.  For those incidents there was a single response standard which measured call handling time and fire engine response time.  The response standard for the first fire engine attending a critical special call was 13 minutes.

 

Standard: to be in attendance within response standard target on 90% of occasions.

 

The latest quarter 1st pump response improved 1.36% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 1	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 1
89.98%	89.98%	88.77%	88.77%

 

2.3       Fire Engine Availability – Wholetime, Day Crewing and Day Crewing Plus

 

This indicator measured the availability of fire engines that were crewed by wholetime, day crewing and day crewing plus shifts. It was measured as the percentage of time a fire engine was available to respond compared to the total time in the period.

 

Fire engines were designated as unavailable for the following reasons:

 

•      Mechanical	•      Lack of equipment
•      Crew deficient	•      Miscellaneous
•      Engineer working on station	•      Unavailable
•      Appliance change over	•      Welfare
•      Debrief

 

Standard: 99.5%

 

Year to date availability of 99.58% was an increase of 0.1% over the same period of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 1	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 1
99.58%	99.58%	99.49%	99.49%

 

2.4       Fire Engine Availability – On-Call Duty System

 

This indicator measured the availability of fire engines that were crewed by the on-call duty system. It was measured as the percentage of time a fire engine was available to respond compared to the total time in the period.

 

Fire engines were designated as unavailable (off the run) for the following reasons which include the percentage of off the run hours that each reason contributed to the total.   Members noted that fire engines can be off the run for more than one reason; hence the percentages were interpreted individually (rather than as a proportion of the total):

 

·        Manager deficient                       62%

·        Crew deficient                             72%

·        Not enough BA wearers 50%

·        No driver                                      46%

 

Standard: above 95%

 

Year to date availability 87.86%, a 0.58% decrease against the previous year to date of 87.86%.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 1	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 1
87.86%	87.86%	88.37%	88.37%

 

2.4.1   Fire Engine Availability – On-Call Duty System (without wholetime detachments)

 

Subset of KP1 2.4 and provided for information only

This indicator measured the availability of fire engines that were crewed by the on-call duty system (OC) when wholetime detachments were not used to support availability. It was measured by calculating the percentage of time a fire engine was available to respond compared to the total time in the period.

 

Fire engines were designated as unavailable (off-the-run) for the following reasons:

 

·        Manager deficient          

·        Crew deficient                

·        Not enough BA wearers

·        No driver                         

 

Standard: As a subset of KPI 2.4 there was no standard attributable to this KPI.

 

The percentage of time that OC crewed engines were available for quarter 1 was 84.28%. This excluded the wholetime detachments shown in KPI 2.4.

 

2.5       Staff Accidents

 

This indicator measured the number of staff accidents.

The number of staff accidents during the latest quarter increased by 40% against the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 1	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 1
21	21	15	15

 

 

KPI 3 – Delivering, value for money in how we use our resources

 

3.1       Progress against Savings Programme

 

The annual budget for 2019/20 was set at £56.0m with a budget to 30 June of £13.7m. The spend for the same period was £13.6m which gave an underspend for the period of £0.1m; a variance of -0.18%

 

3.2       Overall User Satisfaction

 

There have been 2,153 people surveyed since April 2012 and the number satisfied with the service was 2,132; % satisfied 99.02 against a standard of 97.50%; a variance 1.56%.

 

During the latest quarter, 48 people were surveyed and 48 responded that they were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘fairly satisfied’ with the service they received.

 

 

KPI 4 – Valuing, our people so that they can focus on making Lancashire safer

 

4.2.1 Staff Absence – Excluding on-Call Duty System

 

This indicator measured the cumulative number of shifts (days) lost due to sickness for all wholetime, day crewing plus, day crewing and support staff divided by the total number of staff.

 

Annual Standard: Not more than 5 shifts lost

Cumulative total number of monthly shifts lost 1.543

 

This quarter results indicated the number of shifts lost through absence per employee being above the Service target for 3 months.

 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented Members with the analysis, that:-

 

During quarter 1 (April 2019 to June 2019), absence statistics showed above target for all 3 months.  Shifts lost showed a monthly increase from April through to June for wholetime personnel.  Non-uniformed personnel were above the target over all 3 months.  There were 7 cases of long term absence 5 of which spanned over the 3 months, the main reasons were cases of cancer and mental health and one employee left the Service on ill health retirement.

At the end of June the cumulative totals showed that non-uniformed staff absence was above target at 2.37 shifts lost per employee.  Wholetime staff absence was slightly above target at 1.27 shifts lost per employee.  Overall absence for all staff (except On Call staff) was 1.54 shifts lost which was above the Service target of 1.25 shifts lost for this quarter.

 

Members also considered the actions undertaken to improve performance which included that the Service aimed to continue with:

 

·        Early intervention by Occupational Health Unit (OHU) doctor / nurse / physiotherapist;

·        Human Resources supported managers in following the Absence Management Policy managing individual long term cases, addressing review periods / triggers in a timely manner and dealing with capability of staff due to health issues;

·        Absence management presentations / training and question and answer sessions on the ILM course and for newly appointed managers;

·        To be included again within the leadership conference to assist future managers understanding and interpretation of the policy; 

·        Encouraging employees to make use of our Employee Assistance Programme provider Health Assured and The Firefighters Charity;

·        HR to be in attendance at Stress Risk Assessment meetings, to support managers and to offer appropriate support to the employee along with signposting;

·        OHU to organise health checks for individuals on a voluntary basis;

·        Support from Service Fitness Advisor / Personal Training Instructors;

·        Promotion of health, fitness and wellbeing via the routine bulletin and Employee Assistance programme.

 

4.2.2   Staff Absence – On-Call Duty System

 

This indicator measured the percentage of contracted hours lost due to sickness for all on-call duty staff.

 

Annual Standard: Not more than 2.5% lost as % of available hours of cover.

 

Cumulative retained absence (as % of available hours cover) at the end of the quarter, 0.29%.

 

RESOLVED:- That the Performance Committee endorsed the quarter 1 measuring progress report and noted the contents including the 2 negative key performance indicator exception reports.