Agenda item

The Authority considered the Annual Safety, Health and Environment Report for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) covering the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

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 2024/25. 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 2023 to 31 March 2024.

External Audit of HSE Management Systems 2024

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 February and March 2023, the auditor from British Assessment Bureau (BAB) carried out an audit against the International Standards for health and safety ISO 45001:2018 and environment ISO 14001:2015. The audit scope for both standards was ‘The Provision of Fire, Rescue and Supporting Services across Lancashire’. This broad scope encompasses all LFRS activities with audit visits to the Service Headquarters (SHQ) site, Service Training Centre (STC), four fire stations operating 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 2023/24 were identified in the report.

Health and Safety Performance

During 2023/24 there were 97 accidents, 85 near misses and 11 RIDDOR events.  The report provided a summary of the total accident and ill-health statistics for 2023/24. Comparison against the previous 8 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

In September 2023 LFRS launched Peer Support Ambassadors to bolster its peer support network. Colleagues who volunteered to be a Peer Support Ambassador attended a 2-hr workshop about active listening, signposting, raising awareness of mental health and reducing the stigma around mental conversations. Workshops would be held every year to increase the number of peer supporters available. The focus of mental health awareness training across the Service was personal resilience; building and maintaining. This also supported the Service’s continued embedding of ISO 45003, with the introduction of a 12-month pilot of a co-developed programme (with the Fire Fighters Charity). The aim of the programme was to increase personal resilience of staff and included elements of positive psychology, relaxation coping strategies and suicide awareness. There were specific operational elements that included operational shared experiences, responding to mental health related incidents and a more detailed awareness of the impact of trauma on individuals. The programme had received positive feedback within LFRS and interest from other Fire and Rescue Services across the UK.

With the success of last year’s wellbeing events planning day, members of the peer support network (TRiM, Wellbeing Support Dog handlers, Peer Support Ambassadors) came together to develop the Wellness Events calendar for 2024/25. Each month one of the peer supporters would lead a wellness event, supported by fellow peer supporters.  

Firefighter PPE Contamination

Work on PPE contamination continued during 2023/24 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”. At the Service Training Centre, leading facilities for the management of contamination during Breathing Apparatus (BA) training continued to be embedded, with the dirty to clean workflow designed into the building to allow staff to remove any harmful residues after training. At the start of 2024, the Service had begun to consider how it can reduce the impacts of contaminants from live fire burns at the initial design stage for new training facilities which were planned for the Training Centre site. As an additional enhancement in 2023/24 the Service had introduced at the Service Training Centre, the De-Wipe After Fire Hair & Body Wash. This product was formulated to assist removal of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in soot, dirt and smoke. Following some positive feedback from our firefighters on this product, the Service would undertake a further evaluation of this product across fire stations.

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 25.4% by March 2023 which related to measured carbon emissions for gas, electric and fleet vehicle fuel. Separately water was currently seeing a 30% 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 LFRS had submitted a bid for the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund, which if successful, would support the Service in progressing building audits for the majority of the estate, considering suitability for carbon reduction and energy generation measures.

The total waste created in 2023/24 was 105.7, including increases from 2022/23 of 7.7% for general waste and 5.2% for dry mixed recyclable waste. The overall recycling rate across the Service remained very good at 34%.

The Service continued to support the Firefighters Charity with 24 fire stations currently having recycling banks on site. In 2023/24 the banks collected over 48.5 tonnes of textiles. This has raised £10,294 for the charity. 

During 2023/24, to reduce waste, the Service had introduced a number of promotions around its new ‘Waste Less’ branding which included reusable drinks cups for meeting areas, which had begun at Service Headquarters, and each station had been provided with a uniform repair kit to avoid uniform being thrown away for simple repairable defects. The Service now had 45 Environmental Champions across the Service and other Service-wide promotions included Plastic Free July, Cycle to Work Day, Recycle Week, Energy Saving Week, and Earth Hour.

Over the last year, the Service had increased its staff skills base on environmental aspects using the programmes offered by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA). The Assistant SHE Advisor completed the Level 5 IEMA Certificate in Environmental Management, following which their application for Practitioner Membership of IEMA was successful. The Environment and Sustainability Group (formally Carbon Management Team) had developed a new Environmental Sustainability Plan which to launch during 2024/25. This plan would outline LFRS’ current position and its vision for reaching net zero emissions.

A look ahead to 2024/25

The report also detailed key safety, health and environmental priorities for 2024/25 which included: refreshing the LFRS safety, health and environment policy statement; maintaining certified standards; continuing 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; 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; delivering the programme of wellbeing promotional and awareness activities; examining current arrangements for supporting staff dealing with traumatic operational incidents; refreshing fitness equipment issued to fire station gyms; launching the Service’s new approach to decarbonisation of buildings and vehicle fleet to replace the existing Carbon Management Plan; and reviewing the Service’s position against further released guidance and best practice arrangements.

Councillor Hugo asked for further information in relation to the RIDDOR event which involved a member of the public. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO) advised that this incident related to a vulnerable person who climbed onto a Fire Engine which resulted in a minor injury.

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