Agenda item

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, presented a detailed report to the Performance Committee. This was the 3rd quarterly report for 2021/22 as detailed in the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2017-2022.

 

This quarter, 3 KPIs were shown in red which indicated that they were in negative exception. These were 2.3 Fire Engine Availability – Wholetime, Day Crewing and Day Crewing Plus, 2.4 Fire Engine Availability – On Call Duty System: and 4.2.1 Staff Absence – Excluding On-Call Duty System.

 

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. Area Manager, Mark Hutton, explained that the County risk map score was updated annually and would be presented to the Performance Committee in the report for quarter 1 of 2022/23.

 

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

 

The current score was 31,862 and the previous year’s score was 32,448 meaning that the fire risk continued to reduce.

 

1.2       Overall Activity

 

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

 

Quarter 3 activity 4,616 previous year quarter 3 activity 4,111 an increase of 12.28% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

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; most notably was that 52% were false alarms.

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that the new attendance policy for Automatic Fire Alarms (AFAs), would be introduced by the Service from 1 April 2022 for non-sleeping risk premises during the day (08:00hrs to 19:00hrs), as it was found that 99.5% of AFAs from these building types were false alarms. The Service had undertaken a three-month business engagement and implementation phase.

 

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'.

 

It was noted that quarter 3 activity was 212, the previous year quarter 3 activity was 231, which represented a decrease of 8.23% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

It was stated by Area Manager, Mark Hutton, that the Service actively worked to reduce ADFs with many targeted campaigns established.

 

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 92.0% which was a small decrease of 4.6% against the 96.6% recorded in the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Severity (Direction against the same quarter of previous year)		Previous Rolling 4 Quarters				Quarter 3 (2021/22)
		Quarter 3 (20/21)	Quarter 4 (20/21)	Quarter 1 (21/22)	Quarter 2 (21/22)
High	Ç	3.5%	7.0%	4.6%	5.6%	8.0%
Medium	Ç	48.1%	55.1%	56.5%	50.5%	56.6%
Low	ò	48.5%	37.9%	38.8%	43.9%	35.4%

 

 

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 to the fire occurring.

 

Over the latest quarter, Accidental Dwelling Fires with a previous HFSC decreased 10% against the total number of ADF’s over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

	2021/22		2020/21
	ADF’s with previous HFSC	% of ADF’s with previous HFSC	ADF’s with previous HFSC	% of ADF’s with previous HFSC
Q1	17	7%	26	12%
Q2	14	7%	21	11%
Q3	8	4%	32	14%
Q4			14	7%

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, confirmed that following the review of Key Performance Indicators by the Planning Committee at the meeting held 7 February 2022, this KPI would be removed when the revised KPIs were introduced in Q1 of 2022/23 (resolution 30/20-21 refers), as it was possible for it to be interpreted in different ways.

 

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.

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton reported that sadly, there had been 4 dwelling fire fatalities in the last quarterly period. Four casualties were recorded as serious and 10 slight. The same quarter of the previous year recorded one fatality, one serious and 10 slight. Fatal Fire debriefs had been undertaken and learning which might influence future prevention policy would be taken to the Services Intelligence and Analysis Group (SIAG).

 

 

Casualty Status	2021/22 Quarter 3	2020/21 Quarter 3
Fatal	4	1
Victim went to hospital visit, injuries appeared Serious	4	1
Victim went to hospital visit, injuries appeared Slight	10	10
TOTAL	18	12

 

 

1.5 (a) Accidental Building Fires (Commercial Premises)

 

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental’ or ‘unknown’ and included property types which were regulated under the fire safety order such as: offices, retail, and hotel accommodation. Due to the nature of the construction of private garages and private sheds, there were recorded separately in KPI 1.5(b).

 

Quarterly activity increased 16.95% over the same quarter of the previous year, however, remained within tolerance.

 

Total number of incidents	2021/22 Quarter 3	2020/21 Quarter 3
	69	59

 

 

1.5 (b) Accidental Building Fires (Non-Commercial Premises: Private Garages and Private Sheds)

 

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental’ or ‘unknown’ and included non-commercial building types: private garage, private shed, private greenhouse, and private summerhouse.

 

Quarterly activity decreased 40.91% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Total number of incidents	2021/22 Quarter 3	2020/21 Quarter 3
	13	22

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, informed that statistics for accidental building fires in non-commercial premises such as private garages and private sheds were presented separately. This provided a more accurate performance indicator as these types of accidental building fires were often recorded as high severity due to the loss of a building, often before the Fire Service had arrived on scene.

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, explained that the decline in the number of accidental building fires was potentially contributed to by the wider safety in the BrightSparx campaign which had run over the bonfire night period.

 

1.5.1 (a) Accidental Building Fires (Commercial Premises) – Extent of Damage (Fire Severity)

 

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental’ or ‘unknown’ and included property types which were regulated under the fire safety order such as: offices, retail, and hotel accommodation. Due to the nature of the construction of private garages and private sheds, there were recorded separately in KPI 1.5.1 (b).

 

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 building fires 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 82.6%. This was a decrease of 0.5% against a combined severity of 83.1% in the same quarter of the previous year.

 

1.5.1 (a) Severity (Direction against the same quarter of previous year)		Previous Rolling 4 Quarters				Quarter 3 (2021/22)
		Quarter 3 (20/21)	Quarter 4 (20/21)	Quarter 1 (21/22)	Quarter 2 (21/22)
High	Ç	16.9%	20.9%	18.9%	17.6%	17.4%
Medium	ò	67.8%	69.8%	67.6%	67.6%	66.7%
Low	Ç	15.3%	9.3%	13.5%	14.7%	15.9%

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that there was a potential link between the targeting and success of the Service’s protection activity, the level to which people responsible for fire safety management undertook their responsibilities, and the severity of fire damage when fires occurred. Providing business safety advice and undertaking audits meant that, if a premises experienced a fire, there was a greater potential for it be detected sooner and confined to the room of origin, reducing the impact on business.

 

1.5.1 (b) ABF (Non-Commercial Premises: Private Garages and Private Sheds) – Extent of Damage (Fire Severity)

 

This indicator reported number of primary fires where the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental’ or ‘unknown’ and included non-commercial building types: private garage, private shed, private greenhouse, and private summerhouse. Due to their single room construction, any damage was often classified as ‘whole building’ which had the effect of increasing their severity category outcome.

 

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 building fires 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 53.8%. This was a decrease of 0.7% against a combined severity of 54.5% in the same quarter of the previous year.

 

1.5.1 (b) Severity (Direction against the same quarter of previous year)		Previous Rolling 4 Quarters				Quarter 3 (2021/22)
		Quarter 3 (20/21)	Quarter 4 (20/21)	Quarter 1 (21/22)	Quarter 2 (21/22)
High	Ç	45.5%	33.3%	51.7%	34.8%	46.2%
Medium	ò	54.5%	53.3%	48.3%	60.9%	53.8%
Low	_	0.0%	13.3%	0.0%	4.3%	0.0%

 

 

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	2021/22 Quarter 3	2020/21 Quarter 3
1.6.1 Deliberate Fires – Anti-Social Behaviour	253	288
1.6.2 Deliberate Fires – Dwellings	29	30
1.6.3 Deliberate Fires – Commercial Premises	19	27

 

In addition to the BrightSparx campaign which had impacted positively on performance in Quarter 3, Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that the Service would soon be implementing Business Fire Safety Checks (BFSCs). These were piloted in the Northern and Western areas over the past year and would now be rolled out to all wholetime fire stations where operational crews would visit lower risk commercial premises. BFSCs included an external arson vulnerability assessment and crews would provide advice to reduce the potential of a deliberate fire occurring or to reduce the impact if it did.

 

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 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.

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, stated that, since moving out of lockdown, the number of completed HFSC’s had increased 42% over the same quarter as the previous year, with the cumulative year to date HFSC’s increasing by 72% against the same period of 2020/21.

 

It was explained by Area Manager, Mark Hutton, that HFSCs were now being followed up on households where full checks could not be conducted during lockdown. The impact of Covid-19 working guidelines during the previous 21 months had meant that different triaging processes had been used alongside different delivery techniques. Although triaging and delivery had started to return to pre-pandemic approaches, the Service would be undertaking a robust process to follow up all households where it had not been possible to complete a full Safe & Well visit. Although it was important to ensure that Covid-19 had not adversely impacted fire risk in Lancashire, this approach had led to a decrease in the percentage of HFSCs resulting in a high-risk score. Work would be undertaken to refresh existing partnerships and make new ones based on risk, to ensure the generation of future HFSCs for high- risk households.

 

	2021/22	2020/21
	% of High HFSC outcomes	% of High HFSC outcomes
Q1	66%	71%
Q2	68%	72%
Q3	63%	69%
Q4		74%

 

To help illustrate the importance of the Home Fire Safety Check service; properties that had not accepted the offer of a HFSC, but subsequently suffered an Accidental Dwelling Fire, were monitored. During this quarter, 5 properties recorded an ADF after not accepting a HFSC during the previous rolling 12-month period.

 

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.

 

An improvement was shown if the percentage of positive influenceon participant’s behaviour was greater than the comparable quarter of the previous year.

 

To align with the start of the academic year, LFRS staff had been delivering Road Sense events in schools across Lancashire. Feedback had been requested from teachers to enable the Service to evaluate how effective the package and delivery was. During the October to December 2021 period teachers were asked whether they thought that the session would have positively influenced the behaviour of children regarding road safety. From the feedback received, 83% of teachers recorded that they felt the package and delivery was outstanding in achieving this, with the remaining 17% recording good with no sessions being marked as satisfactory or inadequate. Monitoring and evaluation would continue throughout the academic year.

 

Wasted Lives had a relaunch to coincide with Road Safety Week in November and further evaluation would be collected in relation to that specific Road Safety prevention offering.

 

During quarter 3:

 

·         Road Sense had recorded 2,171 students,

·         Wasted Lives sessions had been delivered to 1,058 students,

·         Safe Drive Stay Alive (SDSA) had been delivered to 934 students,

·         Biker Down had been delivered to 58 attendees.

 

Over the three-month period, a total of 4,221 attendees had been recorded.

 

The Service also continued to engage with people via social media platforms with road safety videos on the ‘Biker down’ page and engagement via Twitter and Facebook.

 

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 failed to comply.

 

Formal activity was 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.

 

Quarter 3 recorded a decrease of 4% against the same quarter of the previous year.

 

	2021/22					2020/21
	*No. of Inspections	Requiring		Satisfactory Audit	% requiring Formal Activity	% requiring Formal Activity
		Formal Activity	Informal Activity
Q1	344	25	211	69	8%	4%
Q2	538	28	336	109	5%	7%
Q3	431	26	236	98	6%	10%
Q4						11%

 

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

 

Members were informed by Area Manager, Mark Hutton, that the Service was the Fire Safety Regulator for non-domestic premises in Lancashire and they targeted activity on a risk-based inspection programme. The risk-based inspection programme targeted approximately 2,500 premises per annum which were typically premises where people slept and were more vulnerable in the event of a fire. Other premises were also targeted where people did not sleep but where their escape may be difficult such as night clubs and licenced premises. Operational crews would commence delivery of Business Fire Safety Checks in lower-risk buildings.

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, highlighted that 431 inspections were undertaken in Quarter 3 with 26 requiring formal activity and 236 requiring informal activity. Formal activity would consist of an enforcement notice or action plan, an alteration notice or prohibition notice. Informal activity would involve the responsible person for the premises being issued a letter outlining all the areas of non-compliance with the Service expecting those areas to be addressed by the next audit.

 

 

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

 

The Service set a 6-minute attendance standard which included 1 minute for call handling at North West Fire Control.

 

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 3 – 1st pump response decreased 4.91% of total first fire engine attendances over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2021/22 Quarter 2	Previous year to Date	2020/21 Quarter 2
88.36%	84.73%	88.83%	89.64%

 

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.

 

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

 

·         Very high-risk area = 9 minutes

·         High risk area = 11 minutes

·         Medium risk area = 13 minutes

·         Low risk area = 15 minutes

 

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

 

Quarter 3 – 2nd pump response decreased 7.09% of total second pump attendances over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2021/22 Quarter 3	Previous year to Date	2020/21 Quarter 3
82.29%	80.76%	86.43%	87.85%

 

 

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 quarter 3 1st pump response increased 0.90% over the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2021/22 Quarter 3	Previous year to Date	2020/21 Quarter 3
89.22%	88.48%	88.67%	87.58%

 

 

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

 

Recovery times for crews following a significant incident was also highlighted as a reason for fire engines being unavailable.

 

Standard: 99.5%

 

Year to date availability of 99.23% was a decrease of 0.06% over the same period of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2021/22 Quarter 3	Previous year to Date	2020/21 Quarter 3
99.23%	99.16%	99.29%	99.16%

 

 

The negative exception report was due to the percentage of wholetime (WT) pumps being available to respond to emergencies being below the lower control limit during the month of December.

 

The availability of WT pumps during December was recorded at 98.63%. This was 0.24% outside the 98.87% control limit, and below of the Service’s 99.5% standard. This was due to a pump at Blackpool and a pump at Burnley recording a combined total of 157 hours off the run.

 

Due to a spike in Covid-19 related absences during the last week of December, the Service adopted a degradation model to ensure wholetime cover could be maintained at every WT station. The degradation model was designed to be used for any type of staff absence and in this instance, it was due to Covid-19. This necessitated one of the two pumps based at Blackpool (W30) being the first appliance to be intentionally taken off the run, followed by one of the two pumps at Burnley (P90). In total, there were four occasions of one of the above pumps being taken off the run. The plan also allowed for an appliance at Blackburn, then one at Preston, to have been taken off the run next, but this was not required. It was noted that the special appliances of the Aerial Ladder Platform at Blackpool (W30) and the Hazardous Materials Unit at Burnley (P90) went to a primary crew model to ensure they were still available. The extra resource was then utilised to fill shortfalls.

 

The exception was generated following a planned model in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

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                      55%

·         Crew deficient                            80%

·         Not enough BA wearers           69%

·         No driver                                      41%

 

Standard: Aspirational Standard 95%

 

Year to date availability 79.34%, an 11.12% decrease against the previous year to date total availability of 90.46%.

 

Year to Date	2021/22 Quarter 3	Previous year to Date	2020/21 Quarter 3
79.34%	77.56%	90.46%	87.90%

 

The negative exception report was due to the percentage of On-Call (OC) pumps available to respond to emergencies being below the lower control limit during each month of quarter 3.

 

The availability of OC pumps during the quarter was recorded at 77.56% with each month being outside the 83.38% control limit and below the Service’s 95% aspirational standard.

 

The primary contributing factor was the loss of staff; recording 13 fewer staff in quarter 2 compared with the previous quarter. Thirty new On-Call firefighters were recruited during quarter 3; however, approximately 43 staff members left the organisation during the same period.

 

There was no single notable reason to account for the OC leavers with a variety of different reasons cited: moving out of area, pursuing other career options, retirements and commitments becoming too demanding. Staffing was predicted to improve over the next 12 months as 20 recruits were due to join the organisation in February, along with 2 full recruit courses later in the year, with 24 recruits each. To help limit the spread of the Covid-19, key station status was removed from several stations, which meant that the use of wholetime imports to bolster availability was restricted.

 

Actions being taken to improve performance were:

 

·           Continue with our recruitment strategy, utilising a targeted approach to stations that were in exception.

·           A focused look at existing contract alignment whilst ensuring staff were fulfilling existing contracts when under contracted hours.

·           High levels of sickness were still an issue on a small number of stations, and Covid-19 was continuing to have a small effect on availability throughout the OC.

·           On-Call Support Officer’s (OCSOs) and unit managers to support Firefighter development to assist with future OIC/LGV development.

·           Support national On-Call campaigns and utilise their recruitment literature and designs.

·           Invest in On-Call through recruitment material and resources.

·           Fill OCSO Team vacancies to ensure all units received the support required.

 

Local action plans for stations with availability of less than 85% would continue to be produced in conjunction with Station District Managers, Unit Managers and OCSOs to tailor the support required to each unit.

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that run times for Preesall and Tarleton stations could be extensive due to their location and when the on-call crew were unable to maintain staffing on appliances, wholetime staff were detached to those stations to keep them on the run.

 

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 On-Call crewed engines were available for quarter 3 was 75.56%. 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 2 incidents against the same quarter of the previous year.

 

Year to Date	2021/22 Quarter 3	Previous year to Date	2020/21 Quarter 3
61	17	50	15

 

 

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

 

3.1      Progress against Savings Programme

 

The budget to the end of December 2021 was £42.1 million. The spend for the same period was 41.5 million.

 

As a public provision, the Service was committed to providing value for money to the community and it was important that once a budget had been agreed and set, the spending remained within this.

 

The annual budget for 2021/22 was set at £58.2m with a budget to 31 December of £42.1 million. The spend for the same period was £41.5m giving an underspend for the period of £0.6m.

 

3.2      Overall User Satisfaction

 

People surveyed included those who had experienced an accidental dwelling fire, a commercial fire or a special service incident that the Service attended. The standard was achieved if the percentage of satisfied responses was greater than the standard.

 

Question	Total	Number Satisfied	% Satisfied	% Standard	% Variance
Taking everything into account, are you satisfied, dissatisfied, or neither with the service you received from Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service?	2,873	2,841	98.89%	97.50%	1.42%

 

 

Since April 2012, 2,873 people had been surveyed and the number satisfied with the service was 2,841; 98.89% against a standard of 97.50%; a variance of 1.42%.

 

During quarter 3, 49 people were surveyed and 49 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 6.198.

 

The negative exception report was due to the number of shifts lost through absence per employee being above the Service target for quarter 3.

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, presented Members with the analysis, that during quarter 3, October 2021 – December 2021, absence statistics showed above target for the quarter.

 

Whole-time personnel and Non-uniformed personnel were both above the target.

 

Absence by quarter:

 

Non-uniform – 482            shifts lost = 2.36          Target – 1.25

Wholetime – 1,292            shifts lost = 2.08          Target – 1.25

 

Absence by quarter (Cumulative to date):

 

Non-uniform – 1,306         shifts lost = 6.4 per person    Target – 3.75

Wholetime – 3,820            shifts lost = 6.14 per person  Target – 3.75

 

 

There were 5 cases of long-term absence which spanned over the total of the 3 months with the reasons being:

 

Grey Book
Reason	Case/s
Mental Health	1
Gastro-intestinal	1
Coronavirus	1

Green Book
Reason	Case/s
Ear/Nose/Throat	1
Neurological	1

 

 

There were 39 further cases of long-term absence which were also recorded within the 3 months:

 

Reason	Case/s
Hospital/Post-operative	9
Covid-19 Coronavirus	6
Mental Health – Other	5
Musculo skeletal – Lower limb	4
Musculo skeletal - Other	3
Musculo skeletal - Back	2
Mental Health – Stress	2
Cancer and Tumours	1
Cause known, but not specified	1
Ear/Nose/Throat	1
Headache/Migraine/Neurological	1
Heart, Cardiac & Circulatory problems	1
Musculo skeletal – Neck	1
Other known causes (not specified above)	1
Respiratory – Cold/Cough/Influenza	1

 

During the quarter, 28 of the 439 employees returned to duty.

 

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 (HR) supported managers in following the Absence Management Policy, ensuring the appropriate management of individual long-term cases, addressing review periods/triggers in a timely manner and dealing with capability of staff due to health issues;

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

·         Encouraging employees to make use of the Employee Assistance Programme provider Health Assured and The Firefighter’s. 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 (PTIs);

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

 

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that the number of hospital/post-operative absences could relate to the improved ability for the NHS to offer procedures as the impact of the pandemic back-log was addressed. The Service had continued to experience absences due to Covid-19.

 

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 contracted staff.

 

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

 

Cumulative on-call absence (as % of available hours cover) at the end of the quarter, 0.98%.

 

The Chairman thanked the Area Manager, Mark Hutton, for a comprehensive report.

 

 

County Councillor Beavers queried, in relation to Fire Safety Enforcement and those premises requiring informal activity, whether it would be more proactive to visit a premises within three to six months to check if areas of non-compliance had been addressed rather than wait until the next audit which could take up to three years. Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that a national enforcement model was utilised whereby the Service used a recognised method of auditing a premises and if the inspector were to look at the previous inspection history and find that areas of non-compliance had not been improved, the enforcement management model would lift it to an enforcement notice which would be followed up. Working in this wat ensured that the finite number of inspecting officers could continue to work through the Risk Based Inspection Programme. County Councillor Beavers asked if finding the resources to re-visit properties requiring informal activity could be highlighted for the future as it was to protect the general public. Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that there were options around where the Service targeted BFSC activity. He also noted that any complaints or fires in a premises were immediately elevated above any planned activity so several of the audits reported to the Authority did not come directly from the risk-based inspection programme but rather, from the risk based intelligence.

 

In response to Councillor Smith’s question regarding legislation around buildings deemed unsafe by the Fire Service and whether they should be forced to close with residents moving out, Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that the legal powers which the Service had to place a prohibition notice, was Article 31 of the Fire Safety Order. He added that the Order gave the power to immediately close a business or residence and as such, as it was some of the most powerful legislation in English law, it was used carefully. Although a Prohibition Notice would legally close a building, it did not give the Fire Service any powers to require individuals within a premises to leave. If however, a responsible person managing a premises was found not to have complied with a prohibition notice, they could be prosecuted by the Fire Authority by way a separate offence (to be in breach of a prohibition notice). Typically, for residential properties where a prohibition notice had been placed, the Service would work with the housing authority for a multi-agency approach to assist any residents and prevent homelessness. If, in the same situation, a landlord continued to run the premises for trade or gain, the Service would interview them under caution and take the appropriate action.

 

In response to a question from County Councillor Singleton in regard to whether the definition of a deliberate fire was when an individual had been prosecuted, Area Manager, Mark Hutton, confirmed that the KPI was broken down into three areas which were: anti-social behaviour, deliberate fires in dwellings, and deliberate fires in commercial properties. Although serious fires were always thoroughly investigated by the Incident Intelligence Team and the Police, not all deliberate fires resulted in a prosecution. He further explained that if fire crews attended a small fire in the open and there was no one present or legitimate reason for the fire, it would be classed as an anti-social behaviour fire.

 

In response to a further query from County Councillor Singleton regarding the definition of fire safety enforcement, Area Manager, Mark Hutton, explained that the 26 cases noted in the report would be a combination of enforcement notices and prohibition notices. When a notice had been issued to the responsible person of a premises, if they did not complete the work needed within the allotted timeframe and there was a legitimate reason, the notice could be extended. However, if at the end of the extension they had failed to comply with the notice, it was a separate offence within the order and at that stage they would be interviewed under caution with the Service considering the public interest of moving to legal action. If the level of non-compliance was so high that there was an immediate risk to life, the Service would issue a prohibition notice and also issue an enforcement notice in the longer term to give the responsible person time to understand the work that needed to be undertaken to bring the premises back to compliance.

 

The Committee Chairman asked that it be put on record that resolution 15-20/21 to establish a Task & Finish Group to investigate improving on-call fire engine availability had been discussed with the Chairman of the Authority and the Chief Fire Officer who agreed that a Task and Finish Group would not be required given the on-call availability was included in the Service Annual Plan, progress against which would be brought to a future committee meeting. To reassure Members that the Service was doing everything it could to improve the position, Area Manager, Mark Hutton advised that the Service was not complacent around the availability of on-call fire appliances. He advised that the issue was a problem for the majority of fire and rescue services across the UK and therefore, national working groups existed, of which, LFRS was part of.

 

 

RESOLVED :- That the Performance Committee endorsed the Quarter 3 Measuring Progress report and noted the contents of the 3 negative exceptions.