Risk Management by Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service - Article Example

Name Course Tutor Date Risk management Introduction Risk management is a plan approach of identifying and maximizing or controlling the potential risk hazards. It involves some policies, practices or processes which are applied together to easily identify, examine and monitor the risks. These risks can be managed by transferring them to another location, minimizing their occurrences or the severity of the effects they are likely to have on the affected areas or where possible completely preventing their happening. There are many and differing risks that are likely to occur in a place depending on the geographical area and the activities taking place. For example, the risk of floods, drought, famine, and out break of diseases but the most common in the today’s societies is that of fire as a result of changes in the lifestyle of residents. Many organizations and communities have come up with organizations to manage the risk of fire, for example, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service ensures that residents in areas like communities, schools and business centers are safe from the potential risks through their prevention strategies. Risk management by Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service The goal of this organization is to ensure that the lives and properties in the environment are safe from risks and their objectives are achieved through effective use of the locally available resources. To ensure that their services are proficient and resilient in the changing world, the organization has short term mostly annually based and long term, covering three to five years action plans and a competent workforce in various sub division. They also have a culture in which equality is promoted at all levels and standards of various personnel and members of public. The organization has 24 fire stations in Oxfordshire with different responsibilities to the society including education on the possible safety measures or responding to the emergencies. The organizing committee is responsible for formulation of various action plans of the entire group and ensuring that they are implemented (Hurst, 35-37). Risk assessment For effective management of risks, it is essential to carry out an assessment process which involves careful examination of the environment of concern and the activities so as to identify the potential hazards, those likely to be affected and the possible measures to take against them. There are five steps followed to carry on an effective risk assessment process: identifying the hazards, deciding who might be harmed, evaluation of the risks and deciding on the precautions and regularly reviewing the assessment to fit in the current happenings in the society. The hazards of the risk of fire depends on the activities taking place in an environment or the lifestyle of the residents, for example, the hazards in education centers or in the students residential halls are much different to those in the police camps since their style of living is completely different. Most of the commercial activities taking place in the today’s activities are causing occurrences of fires. For example, improper handling of open flames used to conduct hot work like in welding, grinding or cutting of metals. Other gases like excess oxygen can also cause fire if not properly handled especially those in cylinders or enclosed places burn with explosions and their effects are very severe. The most common in causes of domestic fires is electricity, the residents interferes with electrical installation so as to increase the application of the appliances like cookers, heaters and other electronics. This may cause short circuits or overloading of electricity hence explosions or some of the residents may not have proper skills of handling electrical cables and their connections may cause explosions (LaGoy, 214-250). Some people especially the young ones like the students are careless while handling fire, for example, the smokers may carelessly dispose burning cigarette filters without minding where they land. Improper disposal of highly flammable materials like, clothes and papers causes and enhances faster spread of fire in an environment. The space in most of the residential places is limited to accommodate the residents and their properties thus there is no enough space between the highly combustible substances and the heating equipments or cooking areas. Improper maintenance of the electrical conductors and connections are causing most of the fires incase they are damaged and not repaired they are likely to cause electrical fires. The occurrence of these fires is likely to burn the residents of these areas especially those who may not be able to rescue themselves or if they are caught unawares, the rescuers may also be burnt as they struggle with their services. Inhalation of excess smoke is likely to cause health problems to the affected and others may be hurt or killed by exploding blocks of the burning building. People suffer psychological problems due to loss of properties or their friends and relatives and others are left homeless (Kemshall & Pritchard, 23-36). To prevent or reduce the occurrence of risk caused by these hazards the Oxfordshire fire and rescue service considers all the possible precautions against each hazard. For example, they ensure that there is proper management and maintenance of the electrical conductors and connections; they ensure that all damages in the electrical installations are repaired to reduce the outbreaks of fire. This is best achieved when the residents are taught on the safety precautions while handling electricity. They teach the commercial user of electricity for welding or grinding to be careful when handling these open flames and to avoid leaving them open so as to reduce the risks of fire. Others handling oxygen in cylinders should be careful not to bring in open fires to avoid fire outbreaks. A smoking zone should be set a side for the smokers and a good rubbish disposal system implemented to ensure that the highly flammable materials like papers are not littered everywhere. This helps the concern organization to reduce the risk of occurrence of fire or reduce its severity although the best control measure is to teach the individuals on the best lifestyles to avoid the activities which can cause outbreaks of fire. Oxfordshire fire and rescue service records the findings of the assessment process and the committee meets to formulate the proper ways of implementing them. This process involves all the shareholders since different opinions are necessary for effectiveness of the decision taken. The organization has 24 fire stations which offer safety education, advice and emergency to their targeted groups, the organization use these groups to implement its findings and action plans against the risks. The prevention and control measures formulated should be relevant to the locally available resources so as to make them most effective, for example, they cannot plan to fight fire using hydrocarbon substances when their sources is miles and miles away to respond to an emergency or they cannot plan to use water to put off fire in deserts (Newman & Strojan 56-68). There are many changes taking place in the today’s societies especially those caused by divergences in the lifestyles. This means that the organization needs to keep on reviewing its risk assessment process to make it more efficient in the activities of the present world and the new risks hazards coming up, for example, the use of cooking gases is very common in most of the today’s household than it was some years back and they are causing the outbreaks of domestic fires or increasing their severity since they burn in explosions. The process should be reviewed to include these cooking gases as hazards and a way of controlling or preventing their dangers formulated this information included in the records. This also gives the committee of the rescue organization a chance to think or discover the most effective and faster ways of responding to the coming up hazards. The Integrated Risk Management Plan of Oxfordshire fire and rescue service The organizing committee of Oxfordshire fire and rescue service has come up with the integrated management plan, a tool to help them inform the community on the effects of the risks of fire and how they are supposed to behave to avoid them. This is meant to provide guidance on the expectation of the organization for the next three to five years although there are other plans which are annually based for the flexibility to the changes in the societies or occurrence of risks which were not included in the long term action plan. It also helps to ensure that right resources are allocated in the relevant place at the right time and the best response is considered against the identified risk. This is to ensure the safety of the fire fighters as the substances considered to put up fire depends on its causes (Heathcoat & Parry, 2-3). The document involves the ways of preventing the risks of fires and other emergencies before their occurrence. To ensure that this is achieved, the management ensures that the committee formulating this document represents all the departments for it to be effective to everyone working under it. Every year the fire authority consults the shareholders and all the workers at various levels for their views before formulating the annually based strategies, this is to ensure that the interests of every area is considered. The aim of the Integrated plan of the of 2008-2013 is to make Oxford fire and rescue service more effective to the identified needs of the locality and also make more productive use of the resources of fire and rescue service and their goal is have safer communities and workforce. When developing the integrated risk management plan, the committee is required to do an analysis of the major data relating to the intrinsic and potential risk as result of fire in the country and the most relevant allocation of resources to control or prevent the occurrence of these risks. They also ensure that all the projects set upon to be undertaken by the entire organization are included in either the short term or long term plan. The Integrated Risk Management Plan of Oxfordshire fire and rescue service is effective in response to the local interests because it is regularly reviewed and up dated to match the present risks. They also follow the recommendation of the government committee when formulating their action plan, thus their activities are supported by the politicians (Heathcoat & Parry, 2-3). Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004 The main feature of fire and rescue service Act 2004 is to ensure that all authorities work towards promoting safety in the all areas. Their efforts are concentrated on prevention than curing since some of the effects caused may not have ways of healing them, for example deaths or physical harms resulting to disabilities thus they recommend all the organizations to have a common objective of reducing the occurrence of risks or the severity of their effects. This is best achieved if all the residents of a certain community are informed of the safety precautions to be considered when carrying out their activities (The parliament, 243-245). Fire safety in the premises The regulatory reform or fire safety order 2005 provides a guide on the general fire precautions to be considered by the residents to ensure safety in the premises. The activities of the residents are the key causes of the outbreak of fires and they should be used to prevent it or control its effects. A well established fire-detection and warning system should be implemented and this can range from shouts to electrical systems depending on the group of people or the resources available but the necessary thing is to ensure that the system considered is able to warn people in all circumstances. People should be trained the basic ways of fighting small fire before it spreads to large areas or before it is severe. This is effective if the light and portable extinguishers are provided and ensuring that people are conversant with their use. To reduce the effects of the risk to the health of the residents, they should be trained on the safe routes of escaping fires and this should be considered during the constructing time so as to include suitable fire exit doors and enough space especially in the living and cooking areas. The fire and rescue services should be aware of their duties as required by the management of health and safety at work especially when carrying out the steps of risk assessments or teaching the public about the safety measures to prevent the occurrence of the risks of fire or reduce their severity (Perry, 68-79). Conclusion The present societies are prone to many and different risks caused by the lifestyles of the residents. Risks such as fire, drought, famine or floods are very common and highly affect the social and economic activities of the people. Organizations such as Oxford fire and rescue services are coming up to control or prevent the occurrence of these risks or their effects and so as to ensure that their objectives is achieved, they carry on an assessment process so as to identify the potential causes of risks and the possible ways of overcoming them. They also have an integrated risk management plan to guide them carry their activities or effectively respond to the present emergencies in the locality. These plans have to be regularly reviewed to eliminate those which are not effective and include the new ones depending on the identified hazards. This is so as to achieve the main aim of the fire and rescue service of preventing or controlling the occurrence of the fire risk. Work cited Heathcoat, Judith & Parry, John. Oxford fire and rescue service integrated risk management plan 2010-2011. Oxford: Kidlington, 2010. The parliament. Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 Factsheet. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: West Yorkshire, 2004. LaGoy. Peter. Risk assessment: principles and applications for hazardous waste and related sites. Uruguay: Publisher William Andrew, 2000. Kemshall, Hazel & Pritchard, Jacki. Good practice in risk assessment and risk management. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2001. Newman, Michael & Strojan, Carl. Risk assessment: logic and measurement. Olympus: CRC Press publishers, 1999. Hurst, Nick. Risk assessment: the human dimension. New York: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2000. Perry, Pat. Fire safety questions and answers: a practical approach. Leicester: Thomas Telford, 2003. Read More