Agenda and minutes

of the previous meeting held on 14 December 2020 attached.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2020 were approved as a correct record.

Report of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer and Director of Governance & Digital Services (HRMDC/21/1) attached.

The Committee received for information a report of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer and Director of Governance & Digital Services (HRMDC/21/1) that set out the progress made in respect of monitoring the health, safety and wellbeing of staff during 2020-21.

The following key points were highlighted:

Proactive monitoring:

·                    there had not been any progress made since the previous meeting in October 2020 on moving forward the actions in the Service Safety Management Systems audit due to the spike in Covid-19 in January 2021.  67% of areas reviewed had been identified as compliant with the Service was working towards the 26% outstanding and this remained the position to date in 2020-21.  The Service would be looking at the risks associated with the remaining actions and then work through the high risk areas;

·                    Workplace (Health and Safety) Inspection & Assessments – this was now 84% completed in quarter 3 of 2020-21 as compared with 55% in quarter 2 which was very positive.  The chart now showed the target as 100% as requested by the Committee at its meeting in October 2020;

Reactive monitoring:

·                    Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) – there had been an increase in reporting of RIDDOR events in quarter 3 of 2020-21 with 6 Occupational Disease reports submitted to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).  This was due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the increased risk at incidents.  Each incident had been investigated carefully and the HSE was content with the outcomes and the Service’s response to the pandemic;

·                    Personal injuries – the trend line showed this area had decreased over the past four years as the approach taken was to report and investigate all injuries to seek learning points so this was a very positive position. Sprains, strains and musculoskeletal were the primary injuries received which was reflected with other fire & rescue services;

·                    Vehicle incidents showed a reduction in 2020-21 to quarter 3 with 32 reported as compared with 75 in 2019-20.  The Occupational Road Risk Group met quarterly to review vehicle related incidents and take action as appropriate which could include corrective measures such as driver training;

·                    The Health & Safety team continued to provide advice, guidance and support to the Service’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and thus high volumes of work continued.  As a result, the Service was looking to outsource some elements of this work to assist workloads such as on vibration assessments.

The interim Head of Human Resources advised the Committee that sickness absence continued to be below the target of 8 days per person/shifts lost in quarter 3 of 2020-21 at 6.0 days, a reduction of 16.4%.  On Call sickness absence was higher than other staff categories, however, at 9.61 days although this was measured over a 7 day period rather than shifts lost or working days.  She added that the overall trend for absence had continued to decrease due to Covid-19 largely but the Service could not rely on this to be the rationale so would be looking in detail  ...  view the full minutes text for item HRMDC/20

Report of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (HRMDC/21/2) attached.

The Committee received for information a report of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (HRMDC/21/2) that set out the progress made to date with implementation of the Service’s People Strategy.

It was noted that there had been good progress made with implementation of many areas of the Strategy.  A review had been carried out to determine key actions that would make the difference between improvement and transformation in order to achieve the outcomes set out within the Strategy which were being called “game changers”.  The report, together with a presentation made at the meeting, set out the key actions taken, including:

Leadership:

·         A talent management system had been introduced;

·         A comprehensive, curated approach to how the Service developed its future leaders underpinned by the National Fire Chief Councils (NFCCs) Leadership Framework;

·         Working with leaders and managers to create a common message about the Service’s culture.

Learning & Development:

·      Ensuring people feel safe through the “Safe To” initiative, including learning from our experiences, successes and mistakes and sharing ideas to make things better;

·      Developing non-technical skills through curating learning content and allowing people to take ownership of their personal development in line with their role and their aspirations; and

·      Technical competency through utilising expertise as a technical training partner provider to maximise efficiency of the apprenticeship levy together with ensuring Safe Professional and High performing operational teams through a focus on competence, discipline and performance, underpinned by an engaged safety culture.

Inclusion:

·      The intervention programme “Safe To” provided the tools to make inclusion a reality through deliberate behaviours including the development of a toolkit to promote Fairness and Respect;

·      To improve workforce diversity the Service had instigated a clear focus on positive action in Firefighter recruitment and development through paying attention to how communities view us as an employer, a new ‘always open’ approach to recruitment and accessible practical assessment facilities; and implemented the ‘Our Time’ sponsorship programme;

·      The Service continued to consider “People by Design” through planning and implementing involvement and engagement in change and improvement, assessing impacts on people and working towards a ‘value for people’ approach to complement ‘value for money’

Ways of Working:

·      Smarter Working – developing a people led approach to a more agile and flexible workplace, with collaborative virtual working, easier access to information, and an emphasis on collaborative workspace rather than desk space, and less commuting miles;

·      Work on governance processes to support more visible planning and performance to give people more effective tools for greater collaboration and alignment; and

·      Transforming people services to ensure the delivery of expertise and support in the most effective and efficient way.

Health, Safety & Wellbeing:

·      As part of the “Safe To” initiative to learn, contribute and challenge intervention, developing an engaged safety culture based on best practice from military aviation and a learning teams approach to incident debrief;

·      Working with partners, developing a Wellbeing Strategy and Charter which will set out levels of new and existing proactive and reactive wellbeing interventions; and

·      Immediate support provided through the Covid19 Welfare Cell,  ...  view the full minutes text for item HRMDC/21

Report of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (HRMDC/21/3) attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (HRMDC/21/3) that set out two applications for retirement and re-employment made in accordance with the Authority’s Pay Policy Statement for 2020-21.

RESOLVED that the applications for retirement and re-employment as identified in paragraph 2.4 of report HRMDC/21/3 be approved.