Inspection of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service North Service Delivery Area

Response – How effective is the Service in the NSDA at responding to incidents when they do occur?

69. An effective Fire and Rescue Service will, when the public calls for help, ensure its firefighters respond promptly and possess the right skills, knowledge and equipment to deal with the incident effectively. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s overall effectiveness within the North SDA is judged to be Satisfactory.

Staffing

70. Similar to the East and West SDAs, in the NSDA the Service operates the WT and On Call duty systems to crew its appliances. WT station appliances are crewed 24 hours per day, 365 days per year by fulltime firefighters across the Five Watch Duty System (5WDS). On Call station appliances are crewed by personnel who live and work in the vicinity of the fire station, wear a pager, and provide a commitment to respond to emergency calls that are made to the SFRS as and when required. On Call personnel will also attend their station one evening per week for 2 to 3 hours to fulfil their training and administration commitments. The On Call group will also often utilise extra hours that are made available by the LSO management team to fulfil specific work requirements e.g. operational training, community safety engagement work or the collation of OI related to their station risk. The On Call personnel group align to the Retained Duty System for much of this staff group but also encompasses a small number of Volunteer stations and their personnel.

71. In common with the East and West SDAs, and as set out previously in those reports, the Central Staffing function monitors the availability of 5WDS personnel and aims for WT station appliances to be crewed appropriately. Central Staffing will regularly consult with the SDA and LSO teams to ascertain availability and have the authority to move personnel between stations and to utilise non fixed workdays, known as ‘Orange Days’, on an individual basis to ensure appropriate crewing levels are maintained as often as is possible.

72. The SFRS operates a policy which determines a fire station crewing level which is expressed as the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) based against a Target Operating Model (TOM). The TOM is the number of personnel who, in ideal circumstances, are available to crew and operate the emergency response appliances of any station. Any reduction in the FTE will inevitably have a detrimental impact upon the Service’s ability to have all its emergency response vehicles available. The SFRS provided statistical data that showed an FTE level for WT North SDA personnel of 100.93% relative to the Target Operating Model (TOM). The FTE for On Call RDS was 65.65% which equates to a difference of 664 personnel. The On Call Volunteer FTE was 71%, but with much lower numbers of these personnel this equates to a shortfall of 29. Any deficit of the FTE rate has been shown in the East and West SDA to have the potential to impact the availability of the Service appliances. This can lead to high levels of detached duties, appliance removals and/or increased salary payments to operational staff who may be called into stations on overtime to make good staff shortages. The deficit in the On Call FTE is most clearly shown in the numbers of vacancies at some fire stations in the NSDA, with this having knock on effects for appliance availability. It should also be noted that there are many On Call fire station where the FTE number of firefighters is significantly below 100%, but they have managed to maintain appliance availability to commendably high levels. The On call station in Hoy for example has a vacancy rate at 75% but manages to achieve availability at commendably high overall levels of 86%, with that figure being 94% for evenings and weekends.

73. The overall level of WT FTE in the NSDA is welcomed, but it does not tell the full story regarding station operational personnel availability. We have found the NSDA to have unique logistical considerations regarding travel distances between a number of its fire stations. Travel distances between some NSDA stations, both On Call and WT, are such that they effectively become ‘mainland located islands’ that are isolated from their neighbour stations. These stations must be self-sufficient in many ways including the provision of personnel. A case in point is Inverness WT station which has a TOM of 70 personnel and an FTE of 72, effectively carrying extra personnel to mitigate for potential personnel availability issues. The difficulty that was expressed to the inspection team, is that Inverness is the only viable location within Highland LSO area that can provide the personnel who can be offered the opportunity for local temporary promotions. These can be used to cover deficiencies in watch based numbers, as well as in functional roles such as training and on the Community Safety Engagement Team (CSE) etc. Clearly ensuring any gaps in these roles are closed is important, and the opportunity for development in temporary promotion roles is welcomed by personnel at Inverness. However, most temporary promotions inevitably lead to a reduction of a firefighter on a watch as act up chains are populated. Perversely this leads to crewing deficiencies, even when as previously described, the FTE is in a positive position.

Recommendation 6

The Service should consider how best to plan for any reduction in FTE in geographically isolated stations such as Inverness when personnel are drafted in to fill temporary vacancies.

74. Across the NSDA there was a commonly held belief within the On Call personnel group that the work hours available were not enough to effectively manage the overall level of work that was expected by the Service. Stations have a weekly training night attendance of three hours . During this time the main focus for all of the personnel that we spoke with was to ensure that the TFoC framework modules were being completed. TFoC is the system around which the NSDA On Call staff build their station routines and it takes primacy above all others. There is a strong and commendable focus to ensure that firefighters, and in particular trainees, are up to date with the competence requirements for the operational element of the job. Given that there are three hours available for each station to use per week, time is at a premium and these hours are regularly supplemented by additional hours being utilised by personnel across the week. These hours may be used when On Call personnel are available to conduct HFSVs, compile OI reports, attend additional training sessions, conduct equipment checks, and carry out station maintenance routines etc. The necessity to utilise additional hours to fulfil the basic functions of any fire station indicates that there are not enough hours that are made formally available to the On Call in the first instance. It should also be noted that On Call WCs and their FDOs had not encountered any issue accessing additional required hours when they are needed, which were always within the overall personnel budgets available.

75. We concluded that the On Call stations operate with many of the same expectations of a WT station but with limited time available to complete them. We did not encounter any cause for concern within the On Call personnel group at completing the work requirements, but there was frustration that some work such as email volume takes up, in relative terms, a significant portion of time available. In particular we received frequent comments on the time taken to complete training modules on topics such as cyber security and data protection etc. These issues are clearly important, but measured against the time that is available, appear to some to be of less significance than training for core practical skills which there is already limited time to practice.

76. On visiting mixed WT and On Call stations we could observe and hear of positive benefits that were gained through sharing the premises. When visiting Elgin, it was clear that the WT and the On Call teams mutually facilitate the work of either group. The WT at Elgin have several competences, including water rescue, which require significant training time for the personnel to maintain. In normal circumstances accessing time away from the station to undertake the required training would be problematic. However, with the On Call crew available for operational duties this pressure was alleviated. On the other hand, much of the station work routines can be undertaken by the WT thus freeing up valuable time for the On Call to focus as much as possible on their TFoC etc. In geographical terms we found that Elgin offers the potential for a central hub (the WT station) to support, and be supported by, the surrounding On Call stations as well as the On Call crew from their home station. With the range of specialisms that the WT are required to remain competent in, the surrounding On Call stations access a more complete operational response during incidents on their station ground.

Availability

77. The Service monitors the availability of On Call appliances electronically. On Call personnel individually use the Gartan system to manage their own availability. Gartan is a recent introduction to the NSDA, and it was universally welcomed by the On Call personnel that we interviewed, who commented that it has added a level of control and oversight to availability that was not present before. At a number of On Call fire stations, personnel also informally and collectively manage their personal availability, to ensure that an appliance remains available. Once the number of personnel available falls below the minimum number, with the correct skill set required to crew an appliance, it will be deemed unavailable and as such would not be mobilised to an incident. In these circumstances the next nearest available appliance would be mobilised. In common with the East and West SDA, availability is usually higher during the evening and weekend hours. There are a number of factors that influence this, but primarily it is due to a high proportion of On Call firefighters’ primary employment not being located within the allowable five-minute travel time of their station.

78. There were a number of notable On Call stations where the maintenance of appliance availability was commendably high, however there were a number that had low levels of availability across the week. The average availability of On Call appliances across the NSDA for 2023-24 was 77%.

79. There are a number of factors which can influence On Call availability, particularly in the more remote areas of the NSDA. Reasons cited to the inspection team included a lack of available employment opportunities locally in some areas, in some instances the age demographic of the local population and, in the case of a number of stations, a lack of population in terms of numbers who may be available to take up the role of operational firefighters. On Call RDS firefighters are required to commit to a 120 hours per week contract, which is also commonly referred to as a 100% contract. At the time of writing this report, the only variation to contract length that would be formally endorsed by the Service was for 90 hours, also referred to as a 75% contract. During our interviews within the NSDA when we asked what possible solutions could help alleviate the availability issue, we were consistently told that the minimum length of contract at 75% was an inhibitory factor to entry to the Service. We were given several examples of locally employed people who had indicated that they could be available during the 9 to 5 daytime employment hours, which are often hours that are difficult to cover for the SFRS On Call cadre, but who could not fulfil the 75% contract. The 75% contract has long been an employment contract issue and is clearly, based on the SDA inspections to date, an inhibitor to accessibility into the Service for a number of different groups who could perform the firefighter role. HMFSI note that the SFRS, during the period of this inspection’s fieldwork, and in consequence of changes to UK national conditions of service, has produced a proposal that allows for a much greater degree of flexibility for On Call contract length. This proposal has undergone consultation with representative bodies and the firefighters themselves and has been formally accepted. This development is welcomed and should go some way to laying the ground conditions for greater accessibility to the On Call firefighter role, which it is hoped in turn will have a positive impact on appliance availability.

80. We were given details of several pilot initiatives that are underway in the NSDA as the Service seeks to maintain an appropriate operational response to emergency calls. These include the use of bank hours to place firefighters at strategic locations where there may be a short term crewing deficiency. A crew member would locate themselves within the station and undertake meaningful work, forming part of the fire crew in the event of an operational call. Bank hours are effective in making a fire station operationally available, particularly when it sits within a cluster of other stations that are deficient of crew. Locally however there are frustrations that attempts to widen the use of the bank hours approach in the NSDA have met with a perceived lack of pace in SFRS governance arrangements. The view of some within the NSDA was that bank hours needed to form part of a broader approach to addressing On Call availability issues and that this should be wrapped up within the ongoing Strategic Service Review Programme (SSRP) and the recently implemented new On Call contract arrangements. On Call crews told us about the positive impact of using a mixed crew arrangement to ensure a functioning operational response, meaning a crew could be formed in the event of local stations being deficient in crew members and unavailable for fire calls as a result. Essentially two ‘part crews’ would mobilise from On Call stations, meet at a predetermined point, form a combined crew of sufficient numbers and skills and then travel to, and deal with, the operational incident. The mixed crewing model has achieved success in the NSDA, and the Service is seeking to widen its use out across the SDA. It should be noted that each joint mobilisation requires careful thought and input from NSDA OC colleagues, and their role in its success should not be understated. Although not yet in place, HMFSI was informed of an innovative proposal that is currently being considered to form fire appliance crews from a range of emergency service providers in remote areas where the population demographics make it difficult for consistent appliance availability to be achieved. This arrangement would require personnel from these partners to be suitably trained and equipped by the SFRS before they could be considered an effective part of an On Call crew who could assist with operational incidents.

Recommendation 7

The Service should continue to explore and use innovative approaches to ensure the availability of On Call operational responses and should consider the merits of these innovations and actively seek to use current governance processes to facilitate them.

81. The individuals fulfilling the role of the OCSWC across the NSDA play a significant role in ensuring On Call appliances remain available. Primarily this is achieved through these officers locating themselves at a station that requires an additional appliance crew member, thus making up the complement required to attend operational incidents. There were many examples of this across the NSDA. However, it was also noted that this could entail significant periods of the working day moving to or between stations as the need for an additional crew member becomes known. As well as increasing road risk through significant travel distances being undertaken, a resultant economic cost for travel time and fuel costs should also be considered. It is our view that a number of other tasks that could add value can become less of a focus through a lack of available time or agency. OCSWCs across the SFRS add great value in their many and varied roles. When a significant part of their function is to fulfil the role of a peripatetic appliance crew member, then the impact that they can bring to other work is diluted and diminished. Our investigations in the East, West and North SDAs have shown that the OCSWCs are most effective when they are free to focus on recruitment, organising or contributing towards training, organising or collating OI, organising or helping to deliver community safety initiative outcomes etc. While remaining available to perform the role of a crew member of an On Call appliance, particularly at a strategic location amongst a group of low availability stations is important, it is our view that a WC need not perform this. Over recent years across the SFRS the introduction of the OCSWC role has proven that appropriately skilled and motivated personnel can move into unique support roles. HMFSI advocates the consideration of an On Call Support Firefighter role to assist the OCSWCs and to bolster the peripatetic cadre who could be made available to support appliance availability. Much of the valuable support work that is currently undertaken by the OCSWC could also be undertaken by individuals at firefighter level. The main assumed benefits from this change would be a freeing up of capacity for the OCSWC to focus on other more impactful work such as On Call recruitment.

Recommendation 8

The SFRS should continue to develop its successful use of On Call Support personnel. The use of this approach could be considered for extension to other roles such as Crew Commander and firefighter, who could perform elements of work currently undertaken by OCSWCs, thus freeing them up for more impactful management-focused work.

NSDA Estate

82. The SFRS published a Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMPP): Property 2023-28 which sets out its aim to provide a modern fit for purpose fire and rescue service estate. The SAMPP highlighted many issues that resonate with the findings from our inspection investigations including a lack of dignified toilet facilities, a lack of appropriate facilities to enable post incident decontamination to be undertaken by operational personnel, a lack of storage and drying facilities for operational PPE etc.

83. The Service has also had a Property Condition Survey carried out on all fire stations in the NSDA which has attributed a score to each. The surveys give Service managers information regarding the assessed condition of the fabric and services of the building. A Corporate Landlord model details each stations rating regarding Condition and Suitability. With regards to Condition and scoring, out of 165 Fire Stations, the NSDA had no stations scored as being in good condition, 67.5% were in satisfactory condition, 30% were in poor condition and 2.5% were in bad condition. With regard to Suitability, 6.1% were good, 4.3% were satisfactory, 57.7% were poor and 31.9% were bad. This information can be used by property managers within Assets to prioritise future station improvement works.

84. Both the SAMPP and the Property Condition Surveys that have been undertaken need to be considered in the context of the current SFRS risk based 5 Year Capital Programme that includes Property, as well as Fleet and Equipment. The Service faces significant funding challenges to maintain standards at existing levels and to ensure that its estate is fit for purpose and can contribute to the central mission of enabling its operational assets to mobilise from, and return to, suitable and sufficient premises that can underpin and enable the wellbeing of its personnel.

85. This risk-based approach has the rebuild or refurbishment of those fire stations affected by Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), which HMFSI has reported upon in the recent East and West SDA reports, as a top priority. This would of course include those located within the NSDA. While we acknowledge the competing demands for resources within the SFRS, and agree that a balance needs to be struck between the provision of a quality estate as well as fleet and equipment, we are also cognisant of the health surveillance exercise relating to firefighter exposure to fire contaminants that is underway and due to report its findings. With this in mind, and notwithstanding the necessary project planning and lead in times for estate works, having observed the current lack of preparedness to meet the contaminants challenge within the Services’ fire stations, we would urge a flexible approach to future property upgrade planning. During our site visits we observed the decontamination system that has been installed and is successfully running in Inverness fire station and offers an insight into what is possible when tackling the issue of firefighter decontamination post incident. We also note and welcome the opening of new facilities at Dingwall Fire Station and the long term strategy plans as advised to us by SFRS to address this issue more generally.

86. While much of the NSDA estate was considered by its personnel to be in satisfactory condition and the staff who operated from these premises were content with them, this was not the case with a significant number of other sites. When considering fire stations, the overall suitability of those premises in the NSDA was scored as being either poor or bad on 90% of occasions. Specific property feedback that we received from NSDA staff included:

• A lack of dignified facilities, particularly for female personnel
  
  
• A lack of appropriate storage for operational PPE
  
  
• A lack of separation between appliance bays and PPE storage in On Call stations
  
  
• A lack of showers and other infrastructure necessary for post incident decontamination
  
  
• Instances of poor broadband connectivity within a number of stations
  
  
• Insufficient numbers of computer terminals for personnel to undertake and mark up training
  
  
• Limited storage and recharging facilities for BA cylinders.

87. During our fieldwork we were informed that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had placed an improvement notice on three WIOS stations that lack basic facilities such as running water or toilet facilities. The issues leading to this action have been known about for many years and the NSDA has proposed solutions to them without a resolution being achieved. At this time, we understand that these affected stations require to be redesignated as ‘garages’, that they have been provided with portable toilet facilities and any post incident decontamination etc. must be undertaken at the most suitable neighbouring stations that could be some distance away. In WIOS there are a significant number of fire stations that lack many of the basic features. The lack of dignified facilities in stations was commented on as being a barrier to entry to the Service by females in particular, for whom a number of stations have no designated toilet or shower facilities.

88. The NSDA, like the East and West SDAs, has several fire stations that have RAAC incorporated into their structures. Across the SFRS remedial actions have been considered and temporary structural support solutions introduced to mitigate the probability of fire station structures failing. These temporary solutions have now been in place for a considerable length of time. Through our engagement with the Service on this subject, we understand that a full resolution to RAAC affected fire stations is the top priority for the Property team within Assets, and that a medium term series of major renovations is planned and scheduled to resolve them. We agree with the Service that resolving RAAC issues within its property estate is important and would urge that it be done as soon as is practicable, within the budgetary constraints.

89. We acknowledge that change and improvement to the scale required across the NSDA, and indeed across the entire property estate, will require significant capital investment. We also acknowledge that the SFRS cannot achieve such improvement without appropriate funding being provided by the Scottish Government in annual budget allocation. Whilst we are pleased to note that capital funding provided to the SFRS rose significantly in 2024/25 and 2025/26 budgets, the level of improvement and upgrade required to address this issue will depend on sustained investment over a longer period of time.

90. A source of frustration for many in the NSDA, including station based personnel and senior managers in the Areas, was a widespread belief that it takes too long for property repairs and upgrades to be completed. There appears to be a lack of informative communication between property and the sites regarding works that are planned. Many report that they enjoy good personal relationships with their property managers, but do not feel informed and cannot understand the process for selecting which work is undertaken as a priority. A common example cited in this regard was the fitting of fire doors throughout a number of fire stations in the NSDA, and across a number of other sites in the Service estate. Personnel in stations often felt that more pressing property issues should be dealt with as a matter of priority, rather than the fitting of these high quality doors throughout stations. During our site visits we noted on a number of occasions that 60 minute fire doors were fitted, doubtless at significant cost, in locations where they were not required. We would regularly receive comments regarding fire door installation taking precedence over solving deficiencies at stations such as adequate showers and toilets. While we acknowledge it is for the SFRS to make informed decisions about what works should be undertaken at its sites, there is a need for the informed decision-making processes to be communicated to its staff groups. We note from our fieldwork interviews that there is a feeling within the SFRS Assets team that the many excellent examples of work that they do undertake often goes unreported and is often unknown to the wider Service staff groups. We were informed that it is the intention of Assets to begin to produce a regular newsletter to “inform and celebrate” the work that is done in providing suitable appliances, equipment and places to work within the SFRS.

Recommendation 9

The SFRS Assets Team should consider and introduce a communications and engagement process that ensures that staff at SDA, LSO and station level are informed of property upgrade works that are planned or are in progress.