From the HSE press release site...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is working with Warwickshire Police who are leading the ongoing criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragic deaths of the four fire fighters in the warehouse fire at Atherstone-on-Stour in November last year. This is being carried out under the terms of the national protocol for liaison where there has been a work related death.
Alan Craddock, Head of Operations for the HSE in the Midlands Region says:
“The investigation is complex and involves a thorough investigation of all aspects of the incident. In terms of health and safety, the HSE team also has to consider the wider arrangements the Fire & Rescue Authority has in place for managing risks not only on the night in question but also more generally. Likewise, HSE, with the Police, is also looking at other duty holders involved with those premises as part of the investigation.”
“As a result of our work on this investigation HSE has formed the opinion, based on the evidence we have seen, that the current arrangements employed by the Fire & Rescue Authority do not comply with the statutory duties to provide its fire fighters with all the information they should have to assist them in making the appropriate decisions when attending a fire.”
“We have therefore today issued an Improvement Notice requiring the Fire & Rescue Authority to make the appropriate arrangements to gather and take action in response to Information about special risks which may be present at premises where fire fighters may have to deal with emergencies.”
The Improvement Notice indicates that the Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Authority should make an Action Plan for the inspection of premises that ensures links are made between the relevant prevention, enforcement and operations sections of WFRS and which, in return, gives priority to higher risk premises. This is to be done within a realistic timescale, taking account of all the information gathered and received by WFRS. It also requires the Authority to ensure that the arrangements are reviewed at appropriate periods. The Authority is permitted to take equally effective steps to meet the requirements of health and safety legislation.
The service of an Improvement Notice is one step toward ensuring that Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authority fully complies with its duties for the protection of firefighters in the future.
Alan Craddock continued:
“We recognise that there will be times when in order to protect the public, members of the fire service will expose themselves to danger and that it is not possible to eliminate all risks. That is not what the law requires. What is required is that precautions are taken that are commensurate with the risks and the circumstances. In the course of operational incidents officers and their managers need to be able to make difficult decisions by access to the most complete information possible so that they can weigh what they are trying to achieve, be that the protection of lives or property, against what they are facing and the level of risk to themselves and their colleagues.”
“HSE believes that the brave men and women in the emergency services deserve to have the right equipment, the right training, and information whilst fulfilling their pledge to protect the public.”
“There are wider learning issues here and that is why we have engaged with Sir Ken Knight, Chief Fire and Rescue Advisor at the Department of Communities and Local Government. He will be issuing an alert to all Fire and Rescue authorities to remind them of their legal obligations to gather such information and ensure it is easily accessible in the event of an operational incident.”
“We wish to stress that this is only one aspect of the investigation, which is continuing.”
Notes to editors
Warwickshire County Council discharges the statutory responsibilities as the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authority. The activities of the Fire and Rescue Service form part of the Authority's undertaking.
WRFA is the employer of the WRFS fire fighters and therefore the legal duty for compliance with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 lies with the Authority.
The Authority is specifically required under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to have appropriate arrangements to identify risks to health and safety and to provide relevant and comprehensible information about those risks in order to secure health and safety. The Authority is also subject to a further duty under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 s7(2)(d) which requires it to make arrangements to obtain information needed for the purpose of extinguishing fire and protecting life and property in the event of a fire, including that necessary for the protection of operational fire fighters.
The Authority has 21 days in which to appeal against the service of the Notice. After that date, if no appeal has been received, details of the Improvement Notice will be published in due course on the Health and Safety Executive’s public register on its website.
