Issue - meetings

WFRS Health, Safety and Wellbeing Annual Report

Meeting: 08/06/2020 - Staff and Pensions Committee (Item 4)

4 WFRS Health, Safety and Wellbeing Annual Report pdf icon PDF 453 KB

Minutes:

Ben Brook, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, presented the report. Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service (WFRS) has a statutory duty to meet requirements set out in several pieces of legislation including the Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004, Fire & Rescue National Framework 2018, Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, National Operational Guidance and the Health & Safety framework for operational guidance. Ben Brook commended the team for their hard work and good performance over last 12 months, especially due to the situational circumstances; the Chair and committee reiterated this.  

He continued that the report focused on ?how the hospital to home activities ?have become embedded as a part of our service provision to the community, ?that staff ?are being trained on analytical risk assessment as well as ?ongoing work ?looking at post fire conta?minants, which is a local and national area of research, ?and specifically the contamination of PPE (personal protection equipment) clothing.

Ben Brook concluded that WFRS had carried out an action plan following the Grenfell tragedy, including a 32-metre high turn-table ladder, to protect communities. He added that personal and vehicle injuries are slightly up but there had been no increase in violence towards crews or major injuries. 97% of WFRS staff members passed their health assessment criteria and there are now Health and Wellbeing Ambassadors and a regular newsletter. 

 

In response to a question from Councillor Neil Dirveiks, Ben Brook clarified that all aggression towards the WFRS was made by the public when the fire service was on duty. 

 

Following a question from Councillor John Horner, Ben Brook stated that the majority of vehicles incidents were at slow speed during manoeuvring and that poorly parked vehicles in streets is a problem across the country, and this can prevent access to emergency vehicles.     

 

In response to a query from Councillor Stevens, Ben Brook said that the report figures included whole time and on-call fire service staff and concurred that the WFRS are receiving help for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). 

 

Resolved

That the Staff and Pensions Committee considered and commented on the report.