Fire Safety 'Co-ordinator' role

[Guest]

FPN11 refers to a position called Fire Safety Co-ordinator.  Is this the same as a Specialist Fire Safety Adviser as described in Firecode Policy and Principles?

If not, how is it different, and do many healthcare organisations employ Fire Safety Co-ordinators?

[Guest]

It will be interesting to see how the " Fire Safety Co ordinators " role will fit in to the NHS Agenda for Change process.  :!:

A Fire Safety Co ordinator is not listed in the above proposed changes!!

The role of a Fire Safety Manager is described in the Agenda for Change job evaluation.

[Guest]

and the the FSM role is the same band as an Assistant Chaplain.

[Brian Catton]

As I understand it the FSC role is same as the old Nominated Officer Fire.
However until the document Fire Safety in Healthcare is written we are all a bit in the dark.

[Colin Newman]

The Fire Safety Coordinator role will be defined fully in the management guidance yet to be formally released for consultation.  The document has been put on hold pending details of the Regulatory Reform Order.

As the draft stands, the FSC is a combination of the Nominated Officer Fire (NOF) and the Fire Safety Advisor (FSA).  The intention is that the FSC will coordinate all matters of fire safety within an organisation.  In some trusts the FSC will posess fire safety competence and will provide for the fire safety advice needs of the trust.  In others, the FSC will provide a coordination role, and will call upon advice from others as necessary.

At the time the draft guidance was written, the FSC role was seen as a role that some current fire safety advisors could undertake, whilst in other cases it was seen that fire safety advisors may delevop into the FSC position.

The FSC role is neither NOF nor FSA but requires a mix of skills currently vested in both positions.  The FSC, unlike the NOF is intended to be a dedicated fire safety position in most organisations.

As the guidance progresses more details of the FSC role and examples of how we see the role fitting in a trust structure will be disseminated beyond the group involved in getting the guidance thus far.

[Brian Catton]

I hope that the role of a FSC has been thought out in more detail than the FPN 11 document, Particularly in Community and Mental Health areas and PCTs.
There needs to be a coordinator for each premises or a group of premises in a PCT. What I wonder is being suggested where a Facilities Group is employed to manage Fire Safety across several Trusts.
In the Trust where I used to work the FSA was responsible for eight organisations, 6 PCTS One Partnership Trust and a RHA.
One coordinator is not enough and with 8 coordinators who will coordinate overall?
Most of the docs coming from NHS estates so far have been biased towards acute hospitals on one site.

[Guest]

Fear not- The latest gossip suggests that the FSC role will not exist.  In order to fit in with the RRO, a Responsible Person will be appointed for fire safety matters within each Trust.  They will be supported by a Fire Safety Practitioner (existing Fire Safety Advisers perhaps?) where appropriate.

We await with baited breath.

[FORRIE]

HTM 05-03 Part K  Fire risk assessment in complex healthcare premises recently issued by the DH after consultation between various organisations, any views?