Public ‘at risk’ over fire service failings
The internal review of Dublin Fire Brigade warned in the absence of an in-depth audit of serious call-outs, fire crews and the public “could be vulnerable to a significant safety event in the future”.
The document, written by Britain’s chief fire rescue adviser Ken Knight and seen by the Irish Examiner, found that despite responding to 145,000 calls a year, Dublin Fire Brigade is in dire need of reform.
Commissioned by Dublin City Council in February and based on site visits, document reviews and interviews with more than 100 staff and stakeholders, the report found:
* No annual training or development plan exists, while the training that does take place is not part of an overall plan to maintain, monitor or evaluate staff competency.
* The service, with a €118m annual expenditure, has not had a development and fire prevention strategy for the past five years, while other policy documents are either non-existent or unfit for purpose.
* A senior management vacuum is imminent because “almost the entire top team can or will exercise their option to retire within the next 12 to 18 months” with no obvious replacements available due to historical promotion barriers.
* The service cannot provide “basic operational information” other than overall call-out numbers, limiting what is learned and whether budgets are properly focused on real needs. IT software was purchased in 2008 for this purpose but has not been assigned resources.
* No value-for-money strategy exists, with lower level plans “lacking any clear budgetary alignment”.
The report also raised concerns over potential staff level changes which “could leave critical posts open and less effective or crucial areas overstaffed”.
In terms of information storage, it said while some details for the number of fire deaths since 2003 exist, this figure “is likely to be inaccurate due to current reporting standards”.
The report noted that if “staff and training cannot be aligned to best advantage there is a possibility of decisions being taken that could put both the organisation and the public at some degree of risk”.
The non-binding report outlines a series of planned deadlines for the recommendations to be enacted over the next 12 months, with Dublin City Council “proposing to proceed” with the timeline involved.
A Dublin City Council spokesperson said: “A structure to ensure the greatest level of consultation on the implementation of the recommendations is currently being put in place.”
However, despite this statement, the author noted that “history would tend to suggest recommendations rarely come to fruition”.
“There is a risk that unless these recommendations are transferred into an immediate, measurable action and development plan, the findings of this review will wither on the vine,” the report concluded.
