North Yorkshire Fire Service becomes first 'blue light' business champion.
Preventing road traffic crashes from occurring is one of the key roles of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, which has become the first emergency service to join the Driving for Better Business campaign, which is managed by RoadSafe.
Not surprisingly, the Northallerton-headquartered Service operates one of the safest fleets in the country but it is additionally recognised as a world leader in the extrication of people from road traffic incidents.
Now, the Service believes that its success in becoming the first blue light organisation to achieve business champion status under the campaign will lead to an increased focus by other fire and rescue services on managing occupational road risk.
Chris Anderson, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, said, “It is very pleasing to be the first fire and rescue service to become a business champion. The scheme is an excellent way of promoting not only the importance of road safety to businesses and the public sector but also highlights the operating efficiencies to be gained as a consequence of implementing the good practice measures identified through the process.
“North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is committed to delivering efficient management processes which ensure high standards of health and safety and service delivery.
“By challenging our own arrangements through this system we can see positive benefits in the way we manage our day-to-day business and emergency response requirements. The investment made in going through the process of becoming a ‘business champion’ pays real dividends in terms of business efficiencies, staff safety and overall service delivery to the communities of North Yorkshire.”
Gaining business champion status adds credence to the work of fire officers who are out and about across the county advising businesses on health and safety matters on a daily basis, including road safety.
As part of its accident prevention work, the Service plays an active role in the 95 Alive Road Safety Partnership - a partnership of local authorities, emergency services and other North Yorkshire agencies working together to educate, inform and train, with the aim of lowering the number of road casualties across North Yorkshire.
Working from a baseline average of 1,037 killed or seriously injured per year in the period 1994-1998, the Partnership agreed to work to reduce that figure by 40% by 2010. Through a programme of education children and young people and offering roadside advice to motorists, a near 50% reduction (538) in the number of people killed and seriously injured was achieved in 2009/2010.
Mr Anderson said, “This success highlights the benefits of effective partnerships and the contribution North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue can make to wider community safety needs.”
Meanwhile, Dave McCabe, Group Manager for York and Selby North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, added, “We can advise employers on occupational road risk management but we can also talk directly to staff about road safety and the hazards of modern driving.”
Mr McCabe, who was instrumental in the service becoming a business champion, added, “Becoming the first fire and rescue service to join the campaign shows we have in place a highly effective road safety strategy which other services and employers can follow.
“We are trailblazing the importance of occupational road risk management. When our colleagues in other fire and rescue services see that we have joined the Driving for Better Business’campaign I believe they will want to follow suit and that will raise the profile of road safety in the workplace.”
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has a strong learning culture and as such actively seeks out opportunities to not only challenge its own performance but to learn from others.
The service’s Road Accident Extrication team was part of a contingent that represented the UK at last autumn’s World Rescue Challenge in Frankfurt, the team came in the top ten at that event, an extremely good result considering the event draws in the best road accident rescue teams from all over the world.
Team members are drawn from across the Service and the world finals required each team having to complete three separate rescue exercises involving live casualties being rescued from complex road accident scenarios.
Mr McCabe said, “We are continuing to strive for excellence and being involved in the Challenge has allowed our staff to become very highly trained. Such opportunities enable us improve our rescue techniques, identify new equipment but most importantly promote road safety to businesses, our staff and public alike.”
The North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service covers over 8,280 square kilometres and is the second largest area of all the English Fire Services. It operates a fleet of 166 vehicles, which includes 58 company cars and 48 utility vehicles including light commercial vehicles and Land Rovers as well as 60 fire appliances.
The leased company cars were introduced to replace the use of private vehicles for official purposes. Known as the grey fleet, privately owned vehicles driven on business are acknowledged as a key area for occupational road risk management focus so eliminating their use as far as practicable is viewed by the campaign as putting best practice into action.
There are an estimated up to 200 road deaths and serious injuries a week resulting from crashes involving at work drivers, and more employees are killed and seriously injured on Britain’s roads while driving on behalf of their employer than in any other work-related activity.
Those risks are just as high for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service with Mr Anderson saying, “Driving to incidents is one of any Fire Service’s biggest risks.
“Getting fire fighters and support personnel to the scene of an incident safely, contributes significantly to the work they carry out once there. This, therefore, places work-related road safety high amongst those risks to be managed by the Service.
“In response to the high risk nature of the service it provides and is measured upon, the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service takes a robust and proactive approach to risk management.
“It reviews its policy and procedures constantly against current best practice. The service endeavours to keep this risk to a minimum through a strict process of reporting and of investigating vehicle accidents.”
The North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has a good record in road safety and in the final quarter of the 2009/10 financial year (January, February and March 2010) it recorded 10 vehicle related incident reports in comparison with 20 for the same period in 2009.
Mr Anderson says that a key element in maintaining this good record is the meticulous analysis of all situations which might increase the risk of an incident and the identification of lessons learned from them.
All vehicle accidents and near misses are investigated by the service’s Health and Safety Unit, Transport and the Workforce Development Branch in accordance with the Service’s accident investigation policy.
Mr Anderson said, “As a result of these investigations, procedures and individual performance standards are reviewed with the aim of improving safety output. In the event of a failure of individual standards, re-assessment leading to further development training is a possible solution. Where procedures need to be changed or improved, this is done immediately.”
The Service’s safe driving policies and procedures covering driving in support of training activities, in support of administrative activities and driving for operational purposes include: purchasing the right vehicles and associated equipment to carry out the functions of the roles in the service; adhering to regular maintenance and service schedules; implementing safety in all activities; providing teaching and practice in defensive driving techniques; risk assessing journeys and driving styles; and undertaking regular driving review checks. Additionally, each driver has an individual profile which records their complete driving history.
Michael Parish, programme consultant for the Driving for Better Business campaign, said, “The North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service prides itself on the fact that its ethos is based on a system of constant analysis, of improvement and of training development. This is a lesson that all organisations can learn from as it should be the aim of every employer to reduce their at-work driving risk exposure and eliminate all incidents.
“It is vital that our business champions take their occupational road risk management expertise to other employers and help them improve their safety record. That is exactly what North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is doing through its community partnership approach.”