Come on guys, there are some pretty sweeping statements about what FRS' are failing to do. In my experience the overwhelming majority of FSO's carry out their role to the best of their ability and in a very conscientious manner.
Absolutely agree with that and would never suggest otherwise. Any of my critical comments are aimed at the systems under which they are having to work, under difficult circumstances in which the Law has changed so significantly bringing in on the one hand through the RRO a whole raft of premises not formerly subject to their enforcement whilst at the same time the Fire and Rescue Services Act places a new legal duty to focus on additional areas in the community.
All this has taken place without any increase in resources to do the job- as the politicians demand the efficiency and productivity savings to justify that 16.2% pay rise a few years ago. To make the transition possible at all it has been necessary to change the way you work from enforcement of fire safety standards in premises to enforcement of the level of legal compliance by the Responsible Person.
Why is it a failing on the Fire Authority to have NOT inspected all care homes in the first 12 months of the Order coming into force? Do you not think that there are premises out there that pose a far greater risk that should be inspected/
The responsibility to ensure the premises are safe lies with the Employers / owners of them, not the Fire Authority
I have no argument with this point either. My difficulty is down to how the change was managed, communicated and implemented. As others have said on this forum several times, in drafting the guidance documents issued under the RRO the Government recognised there would be significant cost implications for businesses providing care and for the small B&B operator.
I just felt moved to try and balance the argument because I think some postings indicate unrealistic expectations.
From the point of view of the private care home owner, in most brigade areas they have been receiving annual inspections from the fire officer since at least 1984. This is no longer an automatic process for all the reasons pointed out by Johno67 and Baldyman- and rightly so. You only have finite resources. The fire risk in care homes should be pretty well controlled after all these years and there are new uncharted waters to look at.
The legal duty and responsibility sits with the RP - the law is absolutely clear.
But the changes were pretty significant and not clearly set out or publicised. As an RP when you have been receiving annual visits for years by an expert officer who has assessed the physical fire precautions in your care home and given you a clean bill of health "all conditions satisfactory" it is unlikely that having completed your own fire risk assessment, even if astute enough to pick up on the changes hidden away within the guidance document you will have confidence to see the need and justify substantial changes.
You are more likely to await the usual annual visit by the inspector and ask their advice. Will that visit come? Have we informed owners of the change in enforcement? Do we need to? Have we updated out Memoranda of Understanding with CSCI so their inspectors are aware of our new enforcement policies and can inform the RPs?
If when we do visit we have reasonable expectations of compliance and apply the Enforcement Management Model I am happy.
I have visited three care homes this week, all were aware of the new order, two of the three had carried out their own risk assessment and the third has asked me to do it on their behalf following a visit from CSCI. None had had a visit from the fire officer in the last 12 months. None had till then seen the need to make any changes to physical precautions or procedures as a result of the Fire Safety Order.
