Firefighter Fatalities

Conference notes the decision of the HSE in January 2008 to issue an Improvement Notice against Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authority (Warwickshire County Council) and the subsequent decision of the County Council to appeal this Notice. These events follow the tragic loss of life at the incident at Atherstone-on-Stour on 2nd November 2007. This incident saw the highest number of Firefighter fatalities at a single incident since 1972. Conference is deeply concerned that this incident, along with a number of other fatal incidents in recent years, indicates a rising trend in Firefighter fatalities at operational incidents. Conference instructs the Executive Council to fully re-examine all recent incidents in order to identify whether any trends appear from the investigations in each case. This inquiry should consider the impact on such incidents of: ● The introduction of IRMP and the removal of national standards of emergency cover; ● The policy vacuum in relation to the development of national guidance on operational matters; ● Current training regimes; ● The shift in emphasis towards preventative community safety measures often at the expense of planning, preparation and investment in intervention activity; ● Current policies in relation to weight and speed of attack at operational incidents; ● The introduction of the Regulatory Reform Order and current fire safety inspection regimes within the Service; ● Any other relevant matters. Conference instructs the Executive Council to give urgent consideration to the findings of this report. Conference further instructs the Executive Council to develop a campaign around the issues identified including lobbying appropriate bodies. This campaign should focus around the need to invest in Firefighter safety and ensure that safe systems of work are put in place to protect our members.