The fire service said there was “more work to be done” to improve safety and 999 response times

Avon Fire and Rescue Service is making “good progress” in addressing issues with its information to protect firefighters, but “there is still work to do”.

In a report from May 2023, HMICFRS inspected Avon Fire and Rescue Service for seven weeks and found that the service still lacks an effective system to ensure it collects and records relevant and up-to-date risk information to help protect firefighters, the public and property during an emergency and that most operational staff did not receive the support they needed to gather risk information.

It also highlighted concerns about the dispatch system, which records information and dispatches resources to emergency incidents, saying it is unreliable and crashes during 999 emergency calls, leading to slower responses.

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HMICFRS returned in December 2023 to interview staff, including the Chief Fire Officer, and found that there were adequate and clear governance arrangements in place to monitor the progress of the action plan.

HMICFRS reported: “We were pleased to note that the service has increased staff resources within the risk information team. This allowed him to provide training to operational staff, including operational firefighters as well as supervisory and middle managers.

“While staff spoke positively about the new process for collecting and storing risk information and the service’s plans for the future, some felt that IT systems could still be improved. For example, staff felt that the process was still complicated and that the transfer of risk information records should be automated rather than manual. This would reduce the risk of records being lost or deleted.”

The service has introduced a new quality assurance process that involves the supervisory manager approving risk information records. At the time of the review, the service was planning to install its new mobile data terminals on its fire engines. This will allow firefighters to access risk information more easily compared to current tablets, which have been described as insecure.

About the mobilization system he added: “In our last inspection, we reported that the mobilization system crashed on some consoles. This happened while the fire control operator was taking emergency calls.

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“This unnecessarily delays the mobilization of resources, which results in a slower response to emergencies. During our review, we were encouraged to find that the system was more reliable after escalating with the third-party provider, but the system is still not free of technical glitches.

“The service escalated the issues identified with the provider to the highest level. Regular daily meetings were held to report progress.”

In conclusion, the report states: “We were pleased to see that the service has started to make good progress in relation to both of these accelerating causes of concern. We recognize that the service has invested time and resources to develop its action plan and put in place appropriate and clear governance arrangements, which are being further strengthened following the publication of our full report.

“Despite the progress made, there is still work to be done. While the action plan is comprehensive, it is too early to determine how effective the plan will be in addressing the accelerating causes of concern. We look forward to seeing further progress made, particularly once all SSRI visits have been completed and the service has tested the stability of its mobilization system over a longer period.

“We will be returning to Avon Fire and Rescue Service at a date to be agreed in the near future. We will assess whether the service has made satisfactory progress with its action plan and whether the service it provides to the public has improved.”