Inspection of Operational Assurance in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

7. The inspection outline set out the terms of reference for our team to work within and guided our fieldwork. Inevitably new areas of interest arose during the fieldwork process, and these are also set out within the report. This thematic inspection into the SFRS’s OA provision, the utility of these services and cultural aspects that could impact upon the use of them was based on key lines of enquiry. Ultimately our key lines of enquiry focussed on management, performance, pre- during- and post-incident processes as well as outcomes. The findings for each of these key lines of enquiry are set out within this report alongside complementary additional findings. Our report includes a number of observations, areas for consideration, as well as noted areas of good practice and recommendations.

8. Whilst conducting our inspection, we have come to understand that OA is both a function of management as well as command and as such, responsibility for it cuts across most staff groups within the SFRS. Furthermore, many uniformed staff have both command and management responsibilities intrinsic to their role. Whilst examining the evidence throughout this inspection we identified that nomenclature used in the vast array of documents can be interchangeable, confusing and seem complicated to the unacquainted. Consequently, we feel it necessary to provide a brief explanation to some terms for clarification.

9. For the purposes of OA there are three main managerial categories, which are Strategic, Middle and Supervisory, as detailed in Table 1 below.

10. Crew Commander (CC), Watch Commander (WC) and corresponding support staff grades are designated Supervisory Managers. Station Commander (SC), Group Commander (GC) and corresponding supports staff grades are Middle Managers and Area Commander (AC), Deputy Assistant Chief Officer (DACO), Principal Officer (PO) and corresponding support staff grades are Strategic Managers.

11. From a command aspect, all commanders from PO to CC may be conferred the role and responsibilities of Incident Commander (IC) depending on the size, scale and type of incident. An Officer in Charge (OiC) is a commander in charge of an appliance, crew or watch and as such, will normally be a CC or WC. Whilst a Flexi Duty Officer (FDO) is a commander providing supervision for more complex incidents, normally working the Flexi or Continuous Duty Shift system (FDS/CDS). As such, FDO refers to a SC or above.

12. Lastly, throughout the documentation related to OA the terms ‘incident’, ‘event’, ‘training’ and ‘exercising’ are used routinely to describe aspects of service delivery that OA should encompass. For the purposes of this inspection report and simplicity the term ‘incident’ can be applied to non-operational events that impact the organisation as well as training for, exercising for, preparing for and responding to operational incidents, including all operational control room activity that supports this.