Annual General Meeting 14th May 2010

23 March 2010 by Jim Bennett

Our Annual General Meeting will be follwed by an enabling discussion on:

 

Lessons Learned from the Scottish Fire Safety Legislation Implementation: next STEPS?

 

What has worked well?

What can we do better?

Next STEPS?

Brian Fraser, Head of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Advisory Unit (SFRAU), will introduce the topic.

Date: 14^th May 2010

Time: 1300hrs, buffet lunch at 1230hrs

Venue: Tayside Fire and Rescue Service Training and Development Centre, 401 High Street (Long Causeway), Perth, PH1 1PL, Tel – 01738 622226

Please advise secretary@ife-scotland.org.uk if you are attending. Visitors are also most welcome to the next STEPS discussion.

SIFE AGM MinutesRev1 – May 2010

Draft Fire Risk Assessment Document

Striking the balance between operational & Health and Safety duties in the Fire and Rescue Service

12 March 2010 by Jim Bennett

 

Geoffrey Podger and Judith Hackitt of the Health and Safety Executive have issued guidance to clarify how the Fire and Rescue Service should comply with the UK Health and Safety at Work duties within their operational work. Please click here for the full statement and guidance.

 

Summary

The guidance may be summarised as follows:

• The 8 Scottish Fire Authorities/Fire and Rescue Services have a ‘duty of care’ towards their firefighters whilst at work.
• Fire and Rescue Activites are fast moving, at times very hazardous and emotionally charged.
• A balance need to be managed between meeting statutory Health and Safety regulatory requirements whilst providing an effective emergency service to our communities.
• It’s effectively a test of  ’appropriateness’ - “doing the right thing at the right time”.
• The “quantum of risk” is subjective and ultimately will be defined by ‘case law’ – the test will include “Would another competent Fire Commander do the same thing given similar circumstances? The guidance details the principles to be considered.

Member Data Forms

20 February 2010 by Jim Bennett

Our membership renewal process is presently in progress.

Members are requested to forward updated Membership Data Forms to Mark Cawthra at Hedquarters as soon as possible. Any requests for furthter clarification should also be addressed to him.

Thanks in anticipation.

Jim

Branch Secretary

New COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) rules become effective in April 2010

7 February 2010 by Jim Bennett

In 2008 the COMAH Competent Authority (CA) initiated a fundamental review of its approach to regulating onshore major hazards in the UK – the CA has remodelled its key regulatory processes, and will implement a series of changes in April 2010.

Improvements include a better national coordination of the CA’s priorities, improving performance monitoring against existing, and emerging new priorities, and ensuring that the CA continues to focus on the right issues.

The Competent Authority comprises three organisations: the Health Safety Executive (HSE), the Environment Agency (EA – for England and Wales) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). These three organisations are responsible for the enforcement of the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations.

The Competent Authority Strategic Management Group (CASMG) will meet quarterly, setting a strategic direction and plan of work for the CA s a whole. It will be responsible for reporting back publicly on progress both in the UK and to the European Union.

For more information – click here 

In Scotland we are reviewing our regulatory environment as described in the “Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Bill: Consultation Paper” 
The principle is to facilitate moving from an ‘enforcement model to and enabling environment’. – Please forward comments to the Branch Secretary.

The Eight Step Training Model: Improving Disaster Management Leadership

12 August 2009 by Jim Bennett

In the aftermath of public tragedies such as the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, intense scrutiny was placed upon the emergency management community throughout all levels of government.

Clearly, it is imperative that emergency managers understand the scope and scale of these events and subsequently the depth of planning required to execute coordinated preparedness, response and relief efforts. However, plans are merely a step in the overarching requirement of coordinating disaster response and delivering relief.

One method for emergency managers to achieve success may be through the implementation of a disciplined training methodology, developed in the United States Army, known as the “Eight Step Training Model.” For more info please click here

Department of Health Pandemic Guidance

9 August 2009 by Jim Bennett

The UK Department of Health has released a guidance document on “Pandemic Influenza: Meeting the needs of those who are or may become vulnerable during a pandemic” which will be of interest to emergency response managers.

Please click here for details.

Understanding Crowd Behaviours

19 July 2009 by Jim Bennett

In 2008 the Civil Contingencies Secretariat commissioned Leeds University to produce a series of research reports collectively titled ‘Understanding Crowd Behaviour’. These reports are now being published as part of the body of UK Civil Protection Guidance.

While definitive, precise and infallible rules for event preparation and crowd management simply do not exist, these reports have distilled and interpreted what represents good practice and they will provide planners with clear direction, and supporting information, about the assumptions that can very reasonably be made about crowd behaviour.

Five reports comprise the guidance. Each is briefly summarised below, with links to each report.

    * Understanding Crowd Behaviours: A Guide for Readers [PDF 2.3MB] – This brief report summarises the substantive research reports and is the recommended starting point for readers.

    * Understanding Crowd Behaviours: Guidance and Lessons Identified [PDF 13.2MB] – This is a highly practical report, which provides a comprehensive set of good practice guidelines for crowd events and management, and for emergency situations and evacuations. It also provides a comprehensive set of good practice guidelines for simulating crowd behaviours. This report should be of interest to all those involved in the field of crowd events.

    * Understanding Crowd Behaviours: Supporting Evidence [PDF 6.2MB] – This report sets out the literature behind the good practice guidelines for crowd management, emergency situations and evacuations and crowd simulation techniques. It is expected that readers will want to explore this report as a supplement to “Understanding Crowd Behaviours: Guidance and Lessons Identified”, in order to better appreciate the derivation of the guidelines.

    * Understanding Crowd Behaviours: Simulation Tools [PDF 2.7MB] – This report contains a detailed review of three of the leading agent-based simulation tools currently available. It is particularly relevant to those already involved with simulating crowd behaviours, or those who are looking to use simulation tools to assist with event preparation.

    * Understanding Crowd Behaviours: Supporting Documentation [PDF 2.1MB] – This report sets out and references in detail the sources of the literature underpinning the guidance and lessons identified. As such it is a resource for readers wishing to further explore aspects of the literature in which they are most interested and researchers in the crowd behaviour field.

2009 AGM, Conference and Exhibition

18 July 2009 by Jim Bennett

1-2nd July 2009  our annual AGM and confernce was held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow.

Conference theme: Fire and Life Safety Engineering – The Impact on Global Communities. Our International president, Bill Stewart,  welcomed key thinkers from around the world to Glasgow and a dynamic event that included: Australian Wildland Fires, Human Fire Behaviour, Wind Driven Fires, Fire Problems in Europe, the 21st century Fire Safety Engineer, Community Fire Safety in Scotland, the Channel Tunnel Fire, Fire Engineering for Life Safety, Field Research for Cyclic Performance of Fire Resistant doorsets, NFPA Global Inpact on Fire Engineering.