Safety, Health and Environment Policy - Statement of Intent

The Chair of the Fire Authority and Chief Fire Officer have overall responsibility for compliance with the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and other associated legislation. We recognise the impact that a positive health, safety and wellbeing and environmental culture has on the organisation.

We are committed to the continuous improvement of safety, health and environmental performance and management for the services we deliver and activities we undertake. We will aspire to the highest standards of health, safety and wellbeing for our staff and prevent pollution and minimise our impacts on the environment. To achieve this, we will provide adequate financial and physical resources, competent staff and expert advice when required.

We will deliver our services and activities in a manner that provides a safe place of work for staff, contractors and visitors and protects the environment.

Our aims and objectives are to:

·         Ensure compliance with safety, health and environmental regulatory and other requirements that apply to our activities and services.

·         Be fully committed to the prevention of injury and ill health to staff and visitors. We will provide safe workplaces.

·         Continually develop and maintain systems and procedures to ensure that all equipment, vehicles and workplace premises are safe and do not have an adverse effect on health, wellbeing and the environment.

·         Clearly define the responsibilities and duties of all employees.

·         Consult and communicate with staff and representative bodies promoting safety, health, wellbeing and environmental expectations and standards.

·         Identify hazards, aspects and impacts and reduce risks to as low as is reasonably practicable whilst being risk aware rather than risk adverse.

·         Raise awareness, train staff in safety, health, wellbeing and environmental matters and encourage our staff to play an active role in reducing impacts and risks and contributing to policy and procedural implementation.

·         Support staff fitness and wellbeing through the provision of fitness equipment, fitness assessments for operational staff and fitness support resources for all staff.

·         Provide access to an Occupational Health function to comply with our statutory requirements on health surveillance and support staff health.

·         Plan and set objectives to monitor and review our systems using proactive and reactive methods to continually improve our safety, health, wellbeing and environmental performance reporting progress each year.

·         Have appropriate plans/arrangements to deal with emergency situations.

·         Manage waste according to our duty of care, minimising waste going to landfill, by re-use and recycling wherever possible.

·         Purchase goods and services that minimises the consumption of natural resources, where possible.

·         Implement energy saving technologies and initiatives for our premises.

·         Encourage engagement on health and wellbeing for our staff, building personal resilience and providing support for dealing with the challenging situations our staff experience.

·         Hold contractors and third parties accountable for adhering to the Service’s health, safety and environmental policy and audit contractor systems and procedures to ensure satisfactory health, safety and environmental performance.

·         Review all safety events to capture learning opportunities, contributing to continual improvement of our arrangements.

·         Audit and review to improve systems, processes, health, safety and environmental performance.

Our policy will be displayed on all Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service premises, available and communicated to workers within the organisation and available to interested parties, as appropriate.

The policy will be reviewed periodically not exceeding three years to ensure it remains relevant and appropriate.                                                                                     

Nikki Hennessy                                                                    Jon Charters

Chair of the Fire Authority                                                  Chief Fire Officer

The main law governing health and safety at work in the United Kingdom is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This places general duties on you to do what is reasonably practicable.  This means balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control the real risk in terms of money, time or trouble. However, you do not need to take action if it would be grossly disproportionate to the level of risk.

Other regulations supporting the Act set out more detailed legal duties for specific activities.

Environmental requirements are set out within a range of legislative Acts and Regulations which require as a minimum statutory compliance.

Every organisation that employs five or more staff must have a written Health and Safety Policy. The statement of general policy on health and safety at work sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what you want to achieve.

In Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service the health and safety commitments are combined with the environmental and employee wellbeing commitments into one Safety, Health and Environment Policy. This policy is reviewed at least every three years reiterating and reinforcing the principles of our Health and Safety Management System and Environmental Management System.

Lancashire Combined Fire Authority is the responsible for providing an effective and efficient Fire and Rescue Service for Lancashire through the delivery of a range of services including:

·                     Emergency response

·                     Prevention and protection activities

·                     Specialist support and administration functions

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service sites are spread throughout the county of Lancashire, including the unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool.  Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service has 39 fire stations, plus a Headquarters site in Preston and a Training Centre in Chorley which also includes an Urban Search and Rescue facility.

The scope of this policy includes all roles and sites of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.  This means that operational activities, training activities and routine activities are included within the scope of our Safety, Health and Environment Policy.

The implementation of this policy will follow the ISO 45001:2018 standard and the Health and Safety Executive Publication HSG65 – Successful Health and Safety Management model of ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ approach.

This policy forms an integral part of our Community Risk Management Planning and Corporate Planning processes and Business Continuity Arrangements.

The Authority is responsible for agreeing the Safety, Health and Environment Policy and for ensuring adequate resources are available for safety, health and environmental purposes.  The Authority will provide a clear direction for the Executive Board and Senior Management Team to establish policies and manage health and safety performance effectively.

Overall and finial responsibility for safety, health and environment rests with the Chief Fire Officer.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer will support the Chief Fire Officer with the implementation of this policy and be the Executive Board lead for safety, health and environment.

Implementation of this policy is a shared management responsibility and all managers must recognise their role within the policy and achieving the objective of operating in a safe and efficient manner.

All staff are expected to adhere to the Safety, Health and Environment policy. All employees should:

·         Co-operate with managers on health and safety matters;

·         Take reasonable care of their own health and safety; and

·         Report all health and safety concerns to an appropriate person within Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.

Contracted staff and visitors are made aware of the policy and their obligation to work safely whilst under our control.

Roles and responsibilities for groups and specific job roles are contained in the organisational arrangements detailed in the Health and Safety and Environment Service Orders which form the basis of our Management System.

The Safety, Health and Environment Department will support Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service to ensure that a suitable Management System is in place which provides clear guidance on hazards and risks which need to be controlled within the organisation.  All Safety, Health and Environment documentation will be available to staff through the Engine House intranet site.

A risk assessment is the evaluation of the chance that a hazard will cause harm, who may be harmed and identification of control measures to reduce the likelihood and/or severity of the harm.  Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service complies with relevant legislation which requires risk assessments to be undertaken for our activities. Risk assessments are completed by staff with health and safety training, and are available to all staff through the risk assessment application on the Engine House intranet site.  Risk assessment outcomes are included within our Standard Operational Procedures and other safe system of work documents

It is essential that employees are competent to undertake their health, safety and environmental responsibilities.  Training and development requirements are evaluated, and appropriate briefing, training and development provided through the Service’s training strategy, organisational development arrangements, performance management appraisal process. All staff receives initial Safety, Health and Environment training and three yearly refresher training as a minimum supported by role specific training as required.

Staff consultation for health, safety and welfare at work is principally achieved through the Health and Safety Consultation Meeting.  The Service has arrangements in place to work with Safety Representatives from the following Representative Bodies:

·         Fire Brigades Union (FBU)

·         UNISON

·         Fire Officers Association (FOA)

·         Fire and Rescue Services Association (FRSA)

As an emergency service, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service has arrangements in place to respond to a range of foreseeable emergency situations.  This response includes arrangements for dealing with emergency situation on Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service premises and for emergency events which may occur during our operational response activities. These arrangements are detailed within our Service Policies and form a key part of our operational Standard Operational Procedures documents. 

From a legal, economic and moral standpoint, a number of health and safety and environmental obligations are imposed on the Service and Fire Authority, whilst the Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency will readily take enforcement action where significant or recurring failures are identified.

Proactive monitoring will be achieved primarily through regular and planned formal inspections and audit.

The Service will ensure that there is a robust safety event reporting system in place in accordance with legal requirements. All safety events are investigated, the purpose of the investigation is to achieve continuous improvement through making recommendations and ensuring remedial actions are taken.

The content of our Statement of Intent will form the basis of the Safety, Health and Environment Policy that will be signed by the Chair of the Fire Authority and Chief Fire Officer and displayed on a poster in all Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service premises.

The Safety Health and Environment Policy is available externally on the service internet website.

New staff members are made aware of the Safety Health and Environment policy, especially their individual responsibilities as part of the induction process.