Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer introduced Ged Basson, Operations Manager from North West Fire Control who presented Members with a 6?monthly update on issues relating to call handling.

 

Mr Basson advised that the target from time of call to mobilise for Lancashire was 90 seconds; this was not being achieved but there had been gradual improvement towards that with a current time of 106 seconds which included call challenge. 

 

During the last quarter the percentage of incidents had increased for Lancashire and a table was presented that showed the calls by hour of the day across quarters 1 and 2.  In response to a question raised by Councillor Dave Smith, Mr Basson confirmed that the staffing structure was scaled down and increased in line with the expected peak in calls.

 

Details of the number of calls challenged that related specifically to: automatic fire alarms, gaining entry on behalf of the Police and bonfires was presented.  Generally there was just over a quarter of these incidents where the Service was not mobilised; this helped to maintain fire cover and reduce cost and risk of accidents.  There had been no change in the call challenge procedure, but this figure was worth monitoring to ensure the challenge carried out on behalf of LFRS was providing the right results or whether there were other external factors involved.  The number of 999 calls over the bonfire period showed a downward trend due to LFRS initiatives such as Bright Sparx.        

 

Mr Basson also provided an update on the following:

 

·        Bonfire Period - All fire and rescue control services had been informed nationally that they had managed to answer calls on bonfire night without deferred delay (no more than 2 minutes);

·        Ordnance Survey Mapping – the mobilisation system would be updated on 12 December to include a new road route network;

·        Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report – NWFC was working with fire and rescue services to see how to implement the recommendations; The Deputy Chief Fire Officer reassured Members that with any national learning LFRS would examine the report to understand what was needed to strengthen the response to high-rise buildings.  What had been put in place on the back of Grenfell was to transmit a message from the incident ground of any need to move away from the stay put policy and that message was transmitted from the recent incident at student accommodation in Bolton really early;

·        Strategy Planning Day – a day had been arranged for March 2020 to look at the purpose of NWFC.  The Fire and Rescue Services in NWFC and the Board of Directors would look at strategic plans and develop a new business case;

·        Pre-Alerting – NWFC and LFRS worked together on this early warning system;

·        Senior Operations Manager – it was noted that Tessa Tracey was retiring in the New Year.  The Committee wished her well for the future and asked Mr Basson to pass on their best wishes for a happy retirement.

 

Councillor M Khan advised that, as Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council he was looking to put a motion to Government to change legislation for fireworks to only be sold under licence and would ask that other local authorities consider doing the same.  The Committee Chairman, County Councillor Holgate added that fireworks were not just a challenge for the fire service but for others given the noise of explosions made had seemed to get louder and were more frightening for some adults, children and animals.  A co-ordinated response was needed across all services to support the overall wellbeing of people.

 

In response to questions raised by County Councillor Hennessy in relation to staff turnover, training and whether NWFC was inspected, Mr Basson confirmed that NWFC prepared for staff retirements and there had recently been 3 people who had retired in October with 8 staff recently recruited.  He confirmed that from placing the advert to someone taking their own calls was a minimum 16 week period although it took someone 2-3 years to become competent.  Recruitment was again planned for February 2020 which would take staffing levels to over-establishment however, this was considered against the staff profile and the expectation that more people would retire.  He advised that NWFC came under the HMICFRS inspection as a sub-section of LFRS and did have an annual audit.

 

In response to a question raised by the Committee Chairman, CC Holgate regarding peer review, Mr Basson confirmed that call handling arrangements across the country were very different and that there was a Mobilisation Officer Group who met to look at best practice and peer review could be considered by that group.

 

County Councillor Dave Stansfield asked that a visit to NWFC be arranged in the New Year for CFA Members and Mr Basson agreed to facilitate this.

 

This was the 2nd quarterly report for 2019/20 as detailed in the Risk Management Plan 2017-2022.

 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented the report and 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.

 

1.2      Overall Activity

 

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

 

Quarter 2 activity 4,547, previous year quarter 2 activity 4,780 a decrease of 4.87% over the same quarter.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 2	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 2
9,079	4,547	9,417	4,780

 

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.

 

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 2 activity 213, previous year quarter 2 activity 196, a decrease of 8.67% over the same quarter.

 

Total number of Accidental Dwelling Fires – Year to Date, 421

 

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 93.5% which was a decreased of 1.9% against the 95.4% recorded in the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Previous Rolling 4 Quarters				Quarter 2
Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
4.6%	4.5%	3.2%	4.3%	6.5%
46.4%	52.7%	49.7%	49.0%	44.9%
49.0%	42.8%	47.0%	46.6%	48.6%

 

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	28	13%	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.

 

Sadly there had been 3 people who has lost their lives in accidental dwelling fires including 1 fatality during the latest quarterly period.  Four casualties were recorded as serious and 11 slight.  The same quarter of the previous year recorded 2 fatalities, 1 serious and 9 slight.

 

Casualty Status	2019/20 Quarter 2	2018/19 Quarter 2
Fatal	1	2
Victim went to hospital visit, injuries appeared Serious	4	1
Victim went to hospital visit, injuries appeared Slight	11	9
TOTAL	16	12

 

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 21.51% over the same quarter.

 

Total number of incidents	2019/20 Quarter 2	2018/19 Quarter 2
	73	93

 

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 79.2% against a 63.4% 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 2
Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
36.6%	28.7%	29.5%	35.6%	20.8%
44.1%	52.5%	50.5%	50.6%	58.3%
19.4%	18.8%	20.0%	13.8%	20.8%

 

1.6Deliberate 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 2	2018/19 Quarter 2
1.6.1 Deliberate Fires – Anti-Social Behaviour	390	674
1.6.2 Deliberate Fires – Dwellings	38	27
1.6.3 Deliberate Fires – Non-Dwellings	44	18

 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer introduced Area Manager, Jon Charters who provided Members with a presentation on Bright Sparx.  This was an annual safety campaign aimed at maximising public safety and the safety of firefighters. The target audience were those at greater risk and the campaign’s key messages included: encouraging attendance at organised bonfire displays, ensuring legal compliance of safe storage and sale of fireworks, working closely with our partners and reassuring concerned members of the public. 

 

AM Charters advised that an online portal had been created for each district to input their plans and to share best practice.  Hot spot areas were identified and staff worked with trading standards, radio stations issued messages, leaflet and flyers were distributed, schools were visited, environmental vulnerability assessments were undertaken and diversionary activities for youths were offered in conjunction with partners.  For example, in West Lancashire a refuse amnesty was introduced where skips were place across the district; the Fleetwood Firework Extravaganza was really successful, resulting in almost zero fires in the area; LFRS also held a very successful organised event at Service Training Centre, Euxton; and Radio Wave transmitted live from Forest Gate Fire Station in Blackpool.  Social media messages reached over 70,000 on twitter and 16,000 on Facebook with Instagram videos over 1,100 views.

 

A general overview of the campaign for 2019 during the period 1 October to 12 November was:

 

·        There had been a consistent decrease in the number of Anti-Social Behaviour fires over the last 5 years Bright Sparx campaign periods;

·        Anti-social behaviour fires during the latest Bright Sparx period recorded the lowest number over the 5 years at 215;

·        This was a 17% decrease over the previous year and a 46% decrease over the 5 year high of 400 recorded during 2015/16;

·        Bonfire incidents also recorded the lowest number at just 17 incidents, against the previous year’s 44.

 

A multi-agency vehicle was used to ensure LFRS could respond to critical incidents which included a 6-pump commercial fire in Hyndburn and a fatal road traffic collision on the M6.

 

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Aidy Riggott, AM Charters advised that there may be occasions where a deliberate secondary fire spread to property; however, LFRS had some of the fastest response times across the country.

 

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 34% over the same quarter of the previous year and those with a high risk outcome, decreased by 6%.

 

	2019/20	2018/19
	% of High HFSC outcomes	% of High HFSC outcomes
Q1	65%	66%
Q2	61%	67%
Q3		64%
Q4		65%

 

County Councillor Aidy Riggott queried whether it was possible to determine from the domestic fires attended how many had refused a home fire safety check.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer agreed to investigate and report back.

 

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 increased 36% 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	8,158	85%	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	411	38	270	90	9%	9%
Q2	392	35	248	105	9%	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 2 – 1st pump response improved 5.4% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 2	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 2
88.78%	88.37%	84.31%	82.97%

 

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 2 – 2nd pump response improved 4.47% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 2	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 2
88.03%	86.32%	83.31%	81.85%

 

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 decreased 4% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 2	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 2
88.58%	87.35%	90.05%	91.35%

 

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 99.50% was an increase of 0.19% over the same period of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 2	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 2
99.50%	99.42%	99.31%	99.13%

 

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                       61%

·        Crew deficient                             73%

·        Not enough BA wearers 51%

·        No driver                                      50%

 

Standard: above 95%

 

Year to date availability 87.09%, a 0.72% increase against the previous year to date of 86.47%.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 2	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 2
87.09%	86.34%	86.47%	84.59%

 

This is a negative exception report due to the month of August recording availability of 84.47% which is outside the lower control limit of 84.55%.

 

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

 

The months of July and September were within tolerance, unfortunately, the month of August recorded 0.08% outside of the lower control limit.  Typically, the summer period months could be a struggle to provide cover. This could be due to family commitments as school age children needed to be cared for and annual summer holidays.  Normally this peak would be smoothed out by other months in the quarter, but given monitoring was now on a monthly basis, instances such as this were more transparent and more readily identified.

 

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

 

·        Recruitment – This quarter’s recruitment campaign saw LFRS receive over 160 on-call applications Service?wide. This was a big improvement on previous year’s campaigns and emphasised the work being carried out by OCSO’s (On-call Support Officer’s).  Over the last year there had been a marked improvement on the public’s awareness of on-call, which would only assist the service to attract potential applicants in the future.  The current November on-call initial course had 31 recruits starting and would prove a welcome support to stations where availability was below the benchmark;

·        Local action plans for stations with availability of less than 85% would continue to be produced in conjunction with SDM’s (Service Delivery Manager’s), Unit Managers and OCSO’s to tailor the support required to each unit;

·        In addition, further input from OCSO’s had seen significant improvements in Firefighter/Officer development, along with the highest numbers of applications applying for and joining on-call. As these changes would take effect over the course of the next 12 months it was envisaged that availability would begin to increase;

·        A focused look at existing contract alignment while ensuring staff were fulfilling existing contracts when under contracted hours. SDM’s would ensure ownership of this at a local level;

·        Support given to national on-call campaigns and use of their recruitment literature and designs.

 

In response to Member discussion, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that when the report was refreshed at the beginning of this reporting year, consideration was given to the appropriateness of the 95% target.  His professional advice was to aim high and explain the actions being taken towards improving performance.  He would provide a retrospective report covering the reporting periods for the year to date on the number of incidents not attended and the effect of that on the Service; this would be sent out to Performance Committee Members and built into future reports.

 

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 2 was 81.92%. 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 decreased by 17.39% against the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2019/20 Quarter 2	Previous year to Date	2018/19 Quarter 2
40	19	38	23

 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer proposed that at the next meeting the

Head of Safety, Health and Environment, Julie Lamb be invited to attend to present Members with an update on this target.

 

 

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 September of £27.4m. The spend for the same period was £27.0m which gave an underspend for the period of £0.4m; a variance of -0.71%

 

3.2       Overall User Satisfaction

 

There had been 2,250 people surveyed since April 2012 and the number satisfied with the service was 2,228; % satisfied 99.02% against a standard of 97.50%; a variance 1.56%.

 

During the latest quarter, 97 people were surveyed and 96 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 3.716

 

This was a negative exception report due to the number of shifts lost through absence per employee being above the Service target for each month during quarter 2.

 

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

 

During quarter 2 (July 2019 to September 2019), absence statistics showed above target for all 3 months.  Wholetime personnel and non-uniformed personnel were both above the target over all 3 months.  There were 13 cases of long term absence which spanned over the 3 months, the main reasons were cases of cancer and mental health.

At the end of September the cumulative totals showed that non-uniformed staff absence was above target at 5.61 shifts lost per employee.  Wholetime staff absence was also above target at 3.12 shifts lost per employee.  Overall absence for all staff (except on-call staff) was 3.72 shifts lost which was above the Service target of 2.50 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, 0.39%.

 

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