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Part-Time Firefighters

CHAPTER FIVE: INTERCHANGEABILITY AND FLEXIBILITY

The previous chapter noted the need for delivery of training that offers flexibility across fire brigades and the communities that they serve. Another aspect of part-time firefighters' role that sits alongside training issues relates to interchangeability or a capacity to adopt additional roles in order to provide the best possible fire service to the local community. The concept of interchangeability and the extent to which this can be applied to part-time firefighters will be examined in this chapter.

Adoption of a Community Safety Role

5.1 Almost all respondents participating in the qualitative research acknowledged to an extent that elements of interchangeability have already been adopted by some part-time firefighters. For example, in some areas, there has been a move towards fire prevention with some part-time firefighters playing a part in delivery of community safety. However, senior personnel and part-time firefighters both acknowledged that this was usually only on an informal basis. For example, some part-time firefighters will attend local school fairs to be on hand to provide information and to meet with members of their local community. However, this is an element over and above the remit of part-time firefighters, and attendance at events like this is generally reliant on firefighters giving up their own time. Most part-time firefighters do not actually visit business premises or local homes to provide advice on, say, fire alarms, as they only answer incident call outs during the day. Given the lack of formally contracted hours for part-time firefighters, it is not considered appropriate by many to adopt further roles that will stretch their availability even more.

"We've always been pushing for local community fire safety and to actually use retained firefighters, and basically what you'd be doing with them is giving them an official title to what they do already. I mean at the moment, the sub-officers, the officer in charge, and usually two or three firefighters within the area - they're all well-known and all old hands at giving Community Fire Safety advice. I would welcome any move to actually firm that up and give them the authority to go with that role and training to back up what they're doing."

(Stakeholder)

5.2 It is generally only whole-time firefighters who have adopted a more formal approach to fire prevention and who provide this as one element of their contract of employment. This is seen to fit well with the day shifts operated by whole-time firefighters and to be a role suited to their job.

5.3 Whilst there was an acceptance from many respondents that part-time firefighters could adopt a formal community safety role, there were a number of drawbacks highlighted to this. First, part-time firefighters do not receive appropriate training to be able to adopt a community safety role. Second, and related to this first point, they do not have enough time to be able to adopt additional roles requiring further training, outwith the more traditional remit of firefighting. Third, the hours at which they attend their local station are outwith standard working hours and thus they could not offer advice to employers in the area.

5.4 If these drawbacks can be overcome, most respondents agreed that the introduction of a formalised system offering interchangeability would be of benefit to both the local communities served and the part-time firefighters themselves. For example, part-time firefighters would have a greater level of involvement in delivery of community safety - this is particularly important given the change in emphasis from firefighting to fire prevention. Also, part-time firefighters are in a position to have a good understanding of issues within the local community from which they are recruited.

5.5 Stakeholders generally agreed that part-time firefighters would be suitably qualified to undertake a number of additional roles, particularly in relation to community safety. However, many whole-time and part-time firefighters were of the view that additional training would need to be undertaken before part-time firefighters could play a part in community safety. This is an important issue, given that many whole-time and part-time firefighters were in agreement that the level of training received by part-time firefighters needs to be increased in order to bring about the same basic levels of competency and personal development.

The Potential for Undertaking Control Room Duties

5.6 Reactions to the concept of part-time firefighters undertaking control room duties were negative. The argument against adoption of this role was in relation to managing capacity and training. For a firefighter to carry out control room duties, they are required to have specialist training and they would need to be available on an ongoing basis to provide this cover. This is a particular concern at present given that a key differentiator between whole and part-time firefighters is the level of training currently undertaken. However, many respondents also felt that it would not be appropriate for whole-time firefighters to take on control room duties either, given the very different skills and training which most perceived to be required for this job. There were references to the need for specific "people" skills in dealing with emergency 999 calls and a capacity to work with computers and IT, neither of which are felt to currently be offered to either whole or part-time firefighters as part of their training and development. Indeed, it was suggested that control room duties require very specialist skills and that many existing firefighters would not have the necessary skills or ability to take over these duties.

"I think that control room duties require very different abilities to that of a part-time firefighter and I do not agree that simply because you are a firefighter, you can also do control room duties."

(Senior Personnel)

The Staffing of Appliances

5.7 In terms of the staffing of appliances, in the current cultural climate where part-time firefighters are seen to offer a secondary service, the mixing of whole-time and retained firefighters is seen to be problematic. In order to provide an effective Fire Service, there is a perceived need to ensure that cover is offered by teams of firefighters used to training and working together. At present, whole-time and part-time firefighters do not generally train together at their stations and thus the system is not perceived to be geared towards both types of firefighter working together on one appliance. There are also concerns that mixing whole-time and part-time firefighters on one appliance could lead to delays in responding to an incident. Cultural and attitudinal differences discussed in an earlier chapter of this report also currently provide constraints upon the mixed staffing of appliances.

5.8 Having generally been negative about the concept of mixed crews on appliances, some respondents did suggest that drivers could operate across different teams of firefighters, given their very specific role as part of a team responding to an incident. One example cited was where whole-time and retained teams might both operate from the same station, and where all necessary part-time firefighters were available to attend but were still waiting for a driver. In these instances where a retained driver did not respond quickly to an incident, there would be no reason why a whole-time driver could not attend instead. Another senior manager suggested that if a second whole-time appliance responding to an incident was one man down, a retained firefighter could be called upon to make up numbers. However, this idea was disliked by the whole-time and part-time firefighters themselves who prefer to work in teams with known colleagues.

5.9 Some respondents suggested that given the increasing difficulties in recruiting part-time firefighters in some areas, a capacity to allow a part-time firefighter to operate out of two fire stations would serve to address these difficulties and counteract the problems brought about by increased working mobility. As suggested in the following quotation, a commuter could be allowed to work out of a local work-based station during the day and then from their local home-based station at other times. The only issue would be the decision as to which station would have responsibility for training this individual and this was a key issue raised in the main by firefighters themselves in respect of a need for team working. However, this issue could be addressed by an individual firefighter training primarily with one station, but maintaining contact with firefighters at the other station in order to have regular contact with this team. The firefighter would also need to either carry uniform around with them in their car or to have a uniform at both fire stations.

"So say you're a retained firefighter, but you work 3 towns away, right? .. but maybe for instance a woman whose children are at school who's available through the day doesn't want to be committed in the evenings or finds it difficult to be committed in the evenings. Whereas you may be wanting to, you know, despite having moved your job to 3 towns away, you might still be looking to keep your connection there and keep going - but by the present rules it would be difficult to manage this. So I think the more flexibility that can be given, and the greater the diversity of people that have an option to be involved."

(Stakeholder)

5.10 One or two respondents referred to the possibility of firefighters adopting the additional role of paramedic at incidents. However, most respondents found this concept unfavourable, at least until such time as the same level of firefighting training is provided to all firefighters.

5.11 Most part-time firefighters currently have a full time job and there were concerns that the Fire Service does little to attract a more diverse range of individuals into firefighting. In considering the concept of interchangeability and flexibility, one or two respondents suggested that it might be possible to create a job for some individuals that is more akin to a full-time job, that encompassed a firefighting element and other elements not wholly based on firefighting. One example cited was the potential for administration work to be removed from junior officers and carried out by a part-time firefighter who does not have alternative employment but who has developed administrative skills in a previous work capacity. This, in turn, might encourage applications from unemployed individuals or individuals looking for more part-time work which would utilise their previously developed skills. Another example cited of one way to create a full-time role was creation of a community safety officer who might work, say, two days per week offering community safety advice and who could work the remainder of the week as a part-time firefighter.

5.12 This idea was picked up on by some respondents attending the workshop sessions and one was aware that the concept of mixing two or three different part-time jobs to create one full-time job was already being undertaken in some of the Metropolitan areas in England and Wales. As illustrated by the following quotation, this could also go some way to helping to attract a more diverse range of individuals to become firefighters.

"That kind of thing has implications not only for training but for attraction as well. Personally, I wouldn't want to be a part-time firefighter to go out to incidents, but I might be attracted to do something that suits my skills …. You would be a fire service employee working with the retained."

(Workshop Attendee)

5.13 There were mixed views from workshop attendees over the potential for firefighters to train for different jobs. Some respondents felt that this would place too many limitations on a firefighter in terms of their usefulness at an incident. Others felt that this would help to attract a more diverse range of individuals to the Fire Service and that it should not be necessary for all firefighters to be trained in exactly the same way.

Reactions to the South Wales Pilot

5.14 The following section of this report examines a recent pilot undertaken in South Wales, designed specifically to counteract a number of the issues that have been discussed in previous chapters of this report and examines how applicable such a system would be in Scotland. It needs to be borne in mind that there was a low level of general knowledge among the Scottish Fire Service of the South Wales pilot. As such, for many respondents this pilot represented an abstract concept. Comments made at the workshop sessions by some attendees also suggested that there was a need for information on this pilot to be provided in order to allow for consideration of the ways in which such a pilot scheme would impact upon the Fire Service in Scotland.

5.15 The pilot was set up as a result of national concerns regarding the recruitment and retention of part-time firefighters and sought to examine these issues along with others of relevance to the effective management and development of the retained service. The system was introduced to bridge the gap between whole-time and retained firefighters. The objectives of the pilot were to :

• Investigate the reasons why individuals leave the service within a short period of time
• Explore different avenues for recruitment in communities
• Investigate retention issues
• Create a new system that has an improved work-life balance
• Identify the health and safety issues that currently exist and seek to minimise the impact on the individual, their community and the organisation
• Identify best practice in other brigades
• Consider the implementation of the Integrated Personnel Development System (IPDS) into the retained service
• Explore avenues for the introduction of community fire safety into the retained service to benefit the community they serve and protect

5.16 The pilot was based on payment for commitment (via 6 hour shifts), rather than a basic retainer, payment for attending a call out and subsequent attendance at an incident. An agreed optimum number of hours were needed to run each station and a rota system was introduced that was based on a maximum of five or six firefighters being on call at any one point in time. Payment scales were developed and parity of pay also meant that fire stations had fixed budgets within which they could work. Extra payments were made for training courses, bank holidays and any authorised extra duties.

5.17 Different advertising was introduced, which was station specific rather than the brigade, and with a dedicated recruitment trailer and video. Information packs were more informative and posters targeted specific groups of the population to bring about a greater diversity within the Fire Service. Recruitment was based on a single point of entry and training was risk based carried out by each station using a risk assessment sheet.

5.18 Respondents participating in this research were provided with a brief description of this pilot and, in general, it was well received by most respondents as offering options to address issues in relation to training, recruitment and so on, and was seen to offer a system much more akin to that currently on offer to whole-time firefighters. There was general agreement that the advantages of this pilot included :

• A fairer allocation of work
• Guaranteed ride on the appliance (allows for levels of competency and experience to be maintained for all)
• Time allowed for other commitments to employer and family
• Offering flexibility in terms of hours / shifts worked
• Offering the potential to recruit part-time firefighters across a much more diverse range of individuals (anecdotal evidence suggested that some potential firefighters might not consider firefighting because of the need to be on 24 hour call, 7 days a week, 365 days per year)
• Removes the emphasis on firefighting and encourages community fire safety
• Offers the part-time firefighter a guaranteed income
• Allows for a fire station to plan budgets more effectively

5.19 Importantly, the concept of having a structured commitment to work was seen to fit well with IPDS and other suggested changes to training and offer much more potential for flexibility and interchangeability. As the following quotation emphasises, some respondents feel there is a need for the Fire Service to consider adoption of working practices currently adopted by other employers.

"If you compare it to something like Tescos, that's a 24/7 operation in most big towns. They don't operate shifts. People come and go to suit family friendly hours or whatever. They'll have peaks and troughs and they'll have more people on some shifts, and they'll have less people on shifts at 1 o'clock in the morning. So people come and go more flexibly, and I can foresee a situation on the fire station where you might have more in the day perhaps and only 3-5 people at night, because the demand is lower. You only keep one vehicle in the station at night. But equally, during the day, of those 10 people who want to be there, some of those may want to work a little bit of the night and a little bit of the day, if it suits them. They still work 8 hours. They get paid for that. It's challenging the mindset which says 'well from 9 till 6, there is a green watch on duty."

(Stakeholder)

5.20 In line with changes to working practice that could be introduced, there was also acknowledgement from both senior personnel and firefighters that, across most fire stations, there will be informal arrangements between firefighters regarding coverage at particular times of day or night. For example, if one firefighter has a family wedding to attend, they will alert other colleagues that they will not be available to provide cover on a certain date and others will ensure that they will be free to respond to an incident. One or two part-time firefighters stated a preference for a continuation of this informal system rather than a formalised system. At some fire stations, there are actually rotas on noticeboards where firefighters are asked to provide details of when they are unable to provide cover.

"One of my jobs is to audit the figures - to look at who is attending and who is not and we find that quite regularly that five people always attend the day calls and five people always attend the night time calls. The problem is that it is all informal. There is never any time at all you can guarantee that fire engine will go out the door due to these working systems but there might be ways of possibly say in the future that we can put a whole time fire fighter into that area for the day when there is going to be a deficiency, like a driver or a competent person or whatever, in there to supplement that crew."

(Senior Personnel)

"I cover quite a large area in my job and there are some days when I am far too far away to be able to respond to a shout. I generally let people here know so that they know I won't be turning up."

(Retained Firefighter)

5.21 As the following quotation illustrates, a shift system would offer advantages to both firefighters and their brigades.

"That sounds good because you have got seven turning up and the other six standing about. And you don't get paid for standing about anyway, so that would be more beneficial to the brigade. Plus it is more beneficial for the men so they can have a night off and they don't have to worry because they are not on call."

(Volunteer Firefighter)

5.22 While respondents were generally positive about the South Wales pilot, two key disadvantages were cited, and these related to cost and the Scottish context. First, there were concerns about the cost implications of the introduction of a system akin to that being piloted in South Wales. Across the fire stations in Wales participating in the pilot there has been a need to increase staffing levels in order to provide the necessary cover to operate a shift system. The area of South Wales where this was piloted only had retained firefighters and there was a view that something akin to this system would not fit well with volunteer firefighters in Scotland who operate on a very different basis within the Fire Service. There is also a need in the first instance to recruit additional firefighters to allow for flexibility in application of a rota system.

"It's all about what works locally and is best for that community. If you throw away that flexibility, really what you've done is to throw out the very strength of having, you know, sort of people who are willing to give up a large part of their lives to do something that they really enjoy. We have to be flexible to them in the way we treat them and also in the way that we enable them to serve their communities. My experience is when we actually take some of the constraints away, they repay us 3 or 4 times over. It's a bit like, they've already created parts of the South Wales pilot informally."

(Senior Personnel)

5.23 Second, there were concerns that the geography of Scotland and the dispersed nature of the population in some parts of Scotland would render this system difficult to introduce, particularly in areas where there are already difficulties in recruitment of part-time firefighters. One volunteer attending a group discussion pointed out that the local volunteer firefighters represented about 6% of the local population that could feasibly become firefighters, that other potential firefighters were volunteer coastguards instead, and that it would be extremely difficult to recruit additional people to work a shift system.

5.24 In essence, it is likely that certain elements of the South Wales pilot would work effectively in Scotland and many respondents commented that the pilot needs to be sufficiently flexible to allow for certain elements of the system to be adopted or to allow for adoption in some areas, with a continuation of the existing system in other areas. Another solution would be to continue to operate a two tier system in Scotland, with retained firefighters trained and developed in exactly the same way as their whole-time counterparts, and volunteers (or community emergency response units) who could continue to represent very small rural communities.

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