Agenda item

The Authority considered the Annual Safety, Health and Environment Report for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service covering the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

As the body with ultimate responsibility for staff health, safety and environmental compliance it was important that all CFA Members were aware of performance in this respect. The report therefore provided a summary of overall progress and performance in respect of accidents and near misses, carbon emissions and environmental performance, health and wellbeing initiatives, together with a look forward to planned improvement areas for 2023/24.

The report summarised the arrangements in place to deliver the Service's Safety, Health and Environment Policy and provided a summary of safety, health and environment performance data.  It included the reporting on occupational safety, health and environmental issues that had arisen during the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

External Audit of HSE Management Systems 2023

Since initial certification in November 2011 surveillance visits had been conducted annually with re?certification every 3 years to maintain external certification of the Health and Safety and Environment Management Systems.  In March 2023 the auditor from British Assessment Bureau carried out a surveillance audit against health and safety standard ISO 45001:2018 and environment ISO 14001: 2015.  The scope for both standards was ‘The Provision of Fire, Rescue and Supporting Services across Lancashire’.  This broad scope encompassed all Service activities with audit visits to Service Headquarters, Service Training Centre, 4 fire stations that operated different duty systems together with several supporting departments.  Continued certification was granted without any non-conformance and 1 opportunity for improvement was identified.  Improvement actions during 2022/23 were identified in the report.

Health and Safety Performance

During 2022/23 there were 80 accidents, 96 near misses and 10 RIDDOR events.  The report provided a summary of the total accident and ill-health statistics for 2023/23.  Comparison against the previous 7 year’s performance data showed an overall downward trend from absence following work related injury/illness however the figures reported in 2018/19, 2020/21 and 2021/22 had seen a smaller number of staff away from work for long term absence which related to safety events which had impacted the overall performance. 

Health and Wellbeing

For the fourth anniversary of the introduction of Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) a full review of the process was undertaken.  As a result, the procedure was updated and relaunched along with updated leaflets, pull up banners and a new team of trained TRiM Practitioners.  Group Trauma Incident Briefings were trialled and proved effective.  These were formally introduced in August 2022 and now make up one third of the TRiM referrals receive.  With the cost of living a high priority, a series of articles were run that covered financial wellbeing, promotions for over the school holidays, energy reducing tips and recipes (for cooking together, to help reduce social isolation, to help use less energy and to help food budgets go further).  This year the TRiM team and wellbeing support dog team, along with the CFA Health and Wellbeing Champion developed the Wellness Events calendar for 2023/24.  A bespoke health and wellbeing training module continued to be provided which focussed on resilience. 

Firefighter PPE Contamination

Work on PPE contamination continued during 2022/23 progressing actions identified after the gap analysis of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), “Minimising Firefighters’ Exposure To Toxic Fire Effluents – Interim Best Practice Report”.  Additional academic research papers on the health impact of contaminants had been released by UCLAN in 2022 which had also been considered by the Service.  At the Service Training Centre, the facilities for management of contamination during training had continued to be embedded and the enhanced BA set cleaning machines were having a real impact on cleanliness with the ability to undertake a deep clean when BA equipment was brought into the Fleet and Engineering Services workshop for repair or annual servicing.  One of the action plan items was to look at measures to enable staff to remove contaminants from their skin at the incident ground.  Following localised trials, at the start of 2023 all operational appliances were issued with a post fire incident hygiene bag to carry out a Service-wide trial to understand how useful these products were to staff.  Additionally, a similar kit bag had been provided to Incident Intelligence Officers for use during fire investigation activities.

Environmental Performance

The current Carbon Management Plan included a target of 40% carbon emission reduction by March 2030 from a baseline of 4352 tonnes of CO² in 2007/08.  The Service had achieved an overall reduction of 26.3% by March 2022 which related to measured carbon emissions for gas, electric and fleet vehicle fuel. Separately water was currently seeing a 35.2% reduction from baseline year (which was not as high as the 46% reduction shown in 2018/19). Data was shared with stations allowing comparisons to be made by station over several years.  It was noted that the way carbon emissions were recorded and reported had changed and the Carbon Management Team were currently looking at how data could be used to better represent the Service’s impact on the environment.

The total waste created in 2022/23 was 101.1 tonnes a decrease from 102.2 tonnes in 2021/22. The overall recycling rate across the Service remained very good at 35%.

The Service continued to support the Firefighters Charity with 19 fire stations currently having recycling banks on site.  In 2022/23 the banks collected over 60 tonnes of textiles.  A further 5 clothing banks were due to be installed on stations later in 2023.

A look ahead to 2023/24

The report also detailed key safety, health and environmental priorities for 2023/24 which included: maintaining certified standards; continue to implement the Health, Safety and Wellbeing 5-year Plan and progress aspirational development items; focus on safety, health and environmental issues to enhance internal checks; reducing accidents and related sickness absence; expand peer support network by introducing Peer Support Administrators; develop revised training with a focus on ensuring operational staff have skills and knowledge to be able to respond to challenging incidents involving mental health; integrate fitness to enhance resources and further combine subject areas to provide a holistic whole person approach to resources; engage and support Environmental Champions to assist the continued reduction of carbon emissions from energy and fuel use and reduce waste collected and increase waste recycled; develop approach to decarbonisation of buildings and fleet vehicles and undertake a refresh of the Carbon Management Plan; and continue to improve how we deal with the management of PPE contaminants.

CC Hennessy asked which SHE Management System (detailed on page 40 of the agenda pack) was the most difficult to review.  In response the Director of People and Development advised the continued investment in PPE was sometimes challenging ie: providing the appropriate item of clothing or protection suitable; because what worked in one environment could be dangerous in another.

CC Mein requested detail regarding the 10 staff exposed to harmful substance (detailed on page 38 of the agenda pack).  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that 8 staff were exposed to a hazardous substance at 1 incident which resulted in 1 firefighter ending up in hospital with no long-term effects identified.

Resolved: That the Authority noted and endorsed the report and associated safety, health and environment performance outcomes.