Upload
vomien
View
218
Download
3
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
APPENDIX A
Operational Assurance Department
Emergency Response Directorate
Operational Assurance Plan
2015-2016
2
Contents
Contents ................................................................................................................................2
Introduction ............................................................................................................................4
Background ........................................................................................................................4
Active Monitoring System .......................................................................................................5
Operational Assurance Assessment Suite .............................................................................6
Assurance Activities for 2015-2016 ........................................................................................7
Allocation of OA Assurance Days .......................................................................................7
Flexible Approach ..............................................................................................................8
Assuring Operational Activities ...............................................................................................9
Role of the OA Officer ........................................................................................................9
OA Proceeding to Incidents .............................................................................................. 10
Assuring Core Activities ................................................................................................... 10
Area Core Assurance Activity Targets .............................................................................. 10
Methodology Applied ........................................................................................................ 10
Station Inspection ............................................................................................................. 12
Assuring Corporate Exercises .......................................................................................... 12
Incident Command Assessor Role ................................................................................... 13
Thematic Reviews ............................................................................................................ 13
Debriefing Operational Activities ...................................................................................... 13
Review of Significant Events ............................................................................................ 14
Miscellaneous Assurance Activities .................................................................................. 15
Online Incident Presentations........................................................................................... 15
Fatal / Possible Fatal Incident Reports ............................................................................. 15
Accident and Incident Investigation .................................................................................. 16
Demand Led Activities...................................................................................................... 16
Identification and Management of Risk ................................................................................ 16
Operational Assurance Risk Management Process .......................................................... 16
Safety Critical Events ....................................................................................................... 16
Recording Mechanisms .................................................................................................... 17
Review and Evaluation of the Ops Assurance Plan .......................................................... 18
Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment ....................................................................... 18
3
Appendix One: Emerging Themes Register ......................................................................... 19
Appendix Two: Annual Availability........................................................................................ 20
Document Version Control
Document Version Control
Document
Version Date Document Author
1.0 1 March 2015 Group Manager Ben Levy
Approval Process
Approval agency Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority: Audit, Standards and
Scrutiny Committee.
Document Owner Deputy County Fire Officer
Approval date
Reviewed on
Next review date
4
Introduction
Background
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority (GMFRA) has a legal responsibility to ensure
that an effective Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) is provided across the city region.
To help ensure this legal requirement is met, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
(GMFRS) undertake active and reactive monitoring across a range of operationally focused
activities. These monitoring activities, forming the Operational Assurance Assessment (OAA)
Suite are carried out by a dedicated Operational Assurance (OA) Team and Area based
Officers.
This Operational Assurance Plan (the Ops Assurance Plan) prepared for approval by the Audit,
Standards and Scrutiny (ASS) Committee of the Authority, sets out the OA activities to be
undertaken during 2015-16. It does so by adopting a ‘risk based’ approach to undertaking
monitoring and assessment activities, ensuring issues and risks identified are followed up with
appropriate action.
This approach ensures resources are targeted in an efficient and effective manner in order to
ensure:
i. The Service has a safe, well trained and competent workforce capable of meeting the
demands placed upon them; and,
ii. The Emergency Response element of the Service is working effectively to achieve the
purpose and aims of the Corporate Plan.
This Plan will provide information towards the assurance of GMFRS’s operational
preparedness. In the context of this Plan, operational preparedness is a measurable state of
readiness which will ensure that the Service is ready to respond to foreseeable emergency
events with the highest level of effectiveness. Operational preparedness is achieved by
ensuring that;
Personnel with responsibilities in support of the emergency response function of the
Service are competent in that role, with all training and assessment current and
validated;
Routine vehicle and equipment checks and periodic tests are carried out robustly, with
an appropriate level of diligence and rigour; and
Discrepancies, deficiencies and damages are recorded, accepted and progressed to
ensure the maintenance of a safe and acceptable level of operational performance.
5
This Ops Assurance Plan contributes towards achieving the following Service Delivery Goals
(DL):
DL4 Reduce property damage, economic loss and damage to the environment.
DL6 Ensure the public are highly satisfied with our services.
DL8 Maintain a high state of preparedness for emergencies, effective emergency
cover and a high quality response.
DL14 Develop and sustain a high quality, performing, effective, well informed and well
trained workforce.
DL16 Develop and maintain confident, capable leaders and managers, with low levels
of absenteeism, staff turnover and ill-discipline.
DL17 Reduce our carbon footprint, use of natural resources and deliver our services
in a sustainable way.
DL18 Develop and maintain a safe workforce with low rates of accidents and injuries
to our people.
Active Monitoring System
The Active Monitoring System (AMS), is the key tool for the assurance of operational activities,
and replaces the previous standalone Debriefing Procedure, Standards Audits, Tactical
Commander Maintenance of Competence Records (TCMCR), Supervisory Commander
Maintenance of Competence Records (SCMCR), Emerging Themes Register (ETR) and
Thematic Audits. Whilst it does not replace the Maintenance of Skills (MOS) i-Trent recording
system or the Incident Command Academy (ICA) formal assessment process, the
Maintenance of Competence (MCR) and Action Plan functionality can be used to support both
systems through the creation of development plans.
Within the AMS is the ability to create Action Plans following an operational event, supported
by Individual Learning Points (ILPs).
Reporting by Exception
Reporting by exception is the principle of only documenting or recording events or occurrences
that are not standard or normal, and therefore demand or deserve attention. The primary aim
of the AMS is to identify record, action and communicate any event that has the potential to
contribute towards the improvement of our Service. This may include examples of good
practice and not just areas for development.
Active Monitoring System Outputs
The AMS features a high level live dashboard, fed directly by each report produced. At the
highest level this forms the ETR, whilst behind this is the detail of each issue raised,
progressed and concluded through existing processes. An example of the Primary Themes
summary contained within the ETR is included at Appendix One.
6
Operational Assurance Assessment Suite
GMFRS has been undertaking formal monitoring and assessment of its operational activities
since May 2005. 2014-15 saw a significant and fundamental workload progressed by the OA
Team to develop the AMS, which has evolved to replace a number of OA focused recording
and reporting processes in place across the Service. Built within the AMS, and launched with
this 2015-16 Ops Assurance Plan is the following suite of OAAs;
i. OAA - Incident Monitoring Report
These reports provide assurance that operational activities are being
undertaken in accordance with applicable standard operating procedures,
policies and guidance, and that equipment, personal protective equipment
(PPE) and guidance is fit for purpose.
i. OAA – Standards Report
The (Station) Standards Report consists of a number elements to provide
assurance that station based personnel are working in accordance with the
‘Work Routines on Wholetime Stations’ guidance and delivers a comprehensive
assessment of the standard to which a range of ‘day to day’ station based
activities, including training and community focused activities are being
undertaken. Areas covered during a Standards OAA include:
Operational Preparedness
Training and Development
Planning and Preparation
Prevention Activities
Station Work Routines
Documentation / Administration
Health and Safety
ii. OAA - Training / Exercise Report
These reports provide assurance that Watch based operational personnel are
undertaking training in accordance with standard operating procedures, policies
and guidance.
Training reports also provide assurance that activities undertaken during
Corporate Exercises are in accordance with standard operating procedures,
policies and guidance.
iii. OAA - Thematic Review
Thematic Reviews are agreed with the Operational Risk Control Group (ORCG)
based upon areas of organisational risk and/or opportunity. Completed
Thematic Reviews are reported to the Leadership Team (LT).
7
iv. OAA – Station Inspection
2015-16 sees the introduction of Station Inspections (SIs) through which each
Station will be the subject of an in-depth operational preparedness review. A SI
is a peer based review led by the core OA Team. See below for further details.
Assurance Activities for 2015-2016
Allocation of OA Assurance Days
The OA Team is led by the Head of Operational Assurance and Performance (HOAP), and
consists of a Group Manager (GM) and four Station Managers (SM).
The core role of an OA SM is to provide assurance of the operational preparedness of the
Service, and of the emergency response to incidents. Examination of the OA SM rota identifies
that each Officer is capable of providing a maximum of 152 days per annum, for this purpose.
(Appendix Two).
This equates to 608 ‘days of assurance’ against which the team will deliver its assurance
activities during 2015-16, as detailed within Table 1 below:
8
Table 1: Allocation of OA Assurance Days
Flexible Approach
Within this Ops Assurance Plan the annual availability of the OA Team is fully accounted for
and allocated in accordance with a risk based approach to setting priorities. This workload is
subsequently reflected within the Emergency Response (ER) Directorate Plan, which sets out
‘when and how’ the planned activities are to be undertaken during the forthcoming year,
including clear targets and milestones against which delivery can be measured.
Whilst a notional allocation of 33 assurance days has been afforded as a contingency for
‘demand led work’, experience has shown that the identification of significant organisational
risk (or opportunity) can occur at any time. Therefore, to be realistic, this Ops Assurance Plan
must retain a high degree of flexibility, thereby ensuring the OA Team can remain sufficiently
agile to respond to any new developments.
1 Commensurate with the full team available to attend operational incidents. 2 60 day based on 1 day per SI (x 2 SMs) plus 3 day write up = 5 days total SI x 24 Sis per year
OPERATIONAL ASSURANCE TEAM ASSURANCE
DAYS ASSURANCE ACTIVITIES
Total Assurance Days Available 608
OAA - Incident 801
OAA – Station Inspection 1202
OAA - Exercise 30
Incident Command Academy Assessor Role 60
Thematic Reviews 120
Operational Debriefing 45
Miscellaneous Activities, e.g;
Incident Investigations
Online incident presentations
Fatal / Possible Fatal incident reporting
Joint Health & Safety/Accident Investigations
Dealing with underperformance
Review of Significant Events (RoSE)
80
Representation at meetings (including preparation) 40
Total Assurance Days Allocated 575
Contingency for demand/risk led activities 33
9
Any variance from the activities contained within this Ops Assurance Plan will be risk based
and will only be implemented in full agreement with the Director of Emergency Response
(DER). Any variance will be captured and subsequently reported as an element of the ER
Directorate reporting process and also within the Ops Assurance Plan outcome reports
produced for the ASS Committee of the Fire Authority.
Assuring Operational Activities
Role of the OA Officer
A fundamental role of the OA Team is to support the achievement of the Service Delivery
Goals. In pursuance of this requirement, OA Team members undertake the monitoring and
assessment of activities across a wide range of operational incidents. To facilitate this, North
West Fire Control (Control) will inform the duty OA Officer of all incidents which meet the
following criteria;
Any ‘Make Up’3 incident
Water Incidents
Special Service Incidents which result in the mobilisation of either a Station Manager
or Hazardous Materials and Environmental Protection Officer (HMEPO)
All ‘Persons Reported’ incidents
Road Traffic Collision (RTC) incidents involving multiple vehicles or where persons are
confirmed trapped
Confirmed acetylene incidents
All fatal (and possible fatal) fires
Other ‘significant’ incidents
Additional benefits achieved through undertaking an ‘Incident OAA’ are that the reviewing
Officer is also afforded the opportunity to:
Mentor and support less experienced colleagues at the incident
Gather and provide evidence in support of the Maintenance of Competency Records
(MCR) process
Review the activities of relief crews to ensure incidents are being adequately
progressed towards a conclusion
Ensure compliance with the Organisational Debriefing Policy (see 12.)
Capture images for use in the production of ‘Online Incident Presentations’
Based upon the 2014/15 levels of activity, each OA SM has been allocated 20 days for
assuring operational incidents. (80 days total, assuming a full establishment of qualified OA
members).
3 A ‘Make Up’ is a request for Fire Service resources, additional to those initially mobilised to resolve an
incident.
10
The Emergency Response (ER) Hub will ensure that in order to support this key function of
the OA Team, a duty OA Officer will be nominated on the Officers’ Rota. Whilst members of
an extended team support this rota, Officers from the core Team will endeavour to provide this
function during office hours. This aims to reduce the impact of OA activities on Borough and
other departmental workloads.
OA Proceeding to Incidents
It is anticipated that, other than in exceptional circumstances, OA will not proceed under
emergency conditions when attending an incidents to undertake an Incident OAA. However to
ensure that the early and dynamic stages of an incident are able to be observed and assessed,
OA Officers may opt to make progress where traffic conditions and travel distance would
otherwise prevent timely attendance.
Assuring Core Activities
Within this Ops Assurance Plan the term ‘core activities’ applies to activities that are primarily
focused upon operational preparedness activities and standards on fire stations.
Area Core Assurance Activity Targets
Responsibility for completion of core assurance activities is devolved fully to Area based teams
with a focus on operational preparedness at Station and Watch level.
Methodology Applied
The Borough requirements are based upon delivery of a minimum of one Standards OAA per
Watch per annum. This will ensure that each Watch will be the focus of a formal assurance
process by the BMT on at least two occasions, since the full Standards OAA will encompass
a period of change of Watch. Each Standards OAA will encompass the previously individual
elements of the Evening Work, Standards and Watch Training OAAs.
Borough Managers should ensure that local processes are in place to ensure achievement of
these targets, whilst applying locally agreed arrangements for peer assessment where
deemed beneficial.
11
Table 2: Area Core Assurance Activities Targets
CORE ASSURANCE ACTIVITIES
Number of
Stations Number of Watches
Number of OAA Station Reports
per annum (one per Watch)
BOLTON 4 14 14
BURY 3 10 10
MANCHESTER 7 28 28
OLDHAM 3 12 12
ROCHDALE 3 9 9
SALFORD 5 18 18
STOCKPORT 5 18 18
TAMESIDE 4 14 14
TRAFFORD 3 12 12
WIGAN 4 16 16
12
Station Inspection
2015-16 sees the introduction of the Station Inspection (SI) schedule, which builds significantly
upon the five percent ‘dip sample’ contained in previous versions of this plan.
The SI process is an in-depth assessment of all areas of the operational preparedness of the
Station, supported by the peer group and subject matter experts where available.
SIs are developed to;
i. Provide LT with a short term check of the efficiency of current operational preparedness
activities at Station level;
ii. Provide a level of assurance to Area Management Teams as to the level of operational
preparedness of Stations under their command;
iii. Provide a level of assurance to SMs, and hold them to individual account with regards
to the Stations for which they have responsibility;
iv. Provide a level of assurance to Watch Managers (WMs), and hold them to individual
account with regards to the Watch for which they have responsibility;
v. Hold individuals, including firefighters, to individual account with regards to the
activities for which they have been devolved responsibility in accordance with their role.
The SI schedule is a 24 month cycle, within which period each GMFRS Station will be the
focus of a detailed assessment. To allow for completion of up to 24 SI, including all
administration, reporting and issue progression activities, OA have allocated a total of 120
assurance days to delivering this aspect of the Ops Assurance Plan.
Assuring Corporate Exercises
The OA Team will attend all GMFRS Service Wide and Large Scale exercises for the purpose
of undertaking the Exercise OAA. Where resources allow, this activity will be extended to joint
exercises taking place within neighbouring FRSs.
These activities will provide the Service with assurance that:
i. The required range of training exercises is being undertaken in accordance with the
Incident Command Academy (ICA) Corporate Exercise Policy.
ii. Personnel are working in accordance with standard operating procedures, policies and
guidance within the training environment.
iii. Supervisory Officers are provided with an opportunity for constructive development and
feedback.
iv. Learning opportunities are being maximised through support of collaborative working
and Peer Review activities etc.
To allow for completion of the required number of Exercise OAA reports and progression of
related issues, OA have allocated a total of 30 assurance days to delivering this aspect of the
Ops Assurance Plan.
13
Incident Command Assessor Role
All members of the OA Team are accredited auditors and experienced operational officers and
are therefore included in the ICA cadre of accredited assessors for In-Role Supervisory
Assessments (IRSA), and operational career progression gateways.
Typically such activities extend to OA Officers assessing Incident Command abilities during
dedicated training events (e.g. high rise training), assisting with the assessment of Officer
incident command skills within the ICA simulation suite and during the Crew, Watch and
Station Manager development courses.
In agreement with the ICA, OA have allocated 60 assurance days to delivering this aspect of
the Ops Assurance Plan. This assessor capacity is reported within the bi-annual outcome
report to the Audit, Standards and Scrutiny Committee.
To support this process, OA Officers will work towards Incident Command Level 3 Advanced
Commander qualification.
Thematic Reviews
Thematic Reviews are based upon specific areas of operational risk and/or opportunity
identified within the Emergency Response arena, using active environmental scanning to
review all available sources.
A Thematic Review will typically involve detailed research and analysis of a subject matter, in
order to provide LT with an informed report for due consideration and subsequent action, as
appropriate.
The identification of significant organisational risks (or opportunities) can occur at any time and
therefore a flexible approach is applied to undertaking Thematic Reviews, ensuring OA can
remain sufficiently agile to respond to new developments.
OA will aim to undertake a minimum of one prioritised Thematic Review, per quarter. The topic
for each Thematic Review will be determined and agreed by the Operational Risk Control
Group (ORCG).
To allow for completion of four thematic reviews during 2015/16, OA have allocated a total of
120 assurance days to delivering this aspect of the Ops Assurance Plan.
Built into these assurance days are six days for the sole purpose of Research and
Development operational improvement visits.
Debriefing Operational Activities
Reviewing workplace activity is an effective means of improving performance and therefore it
is the aim of GMFRS to review operational and training activities on a regular basis. The
application of a robust debrief process provides the organisation with an opportunity to learn
from both successes and improvement opportunities identified during operational related
activities.
This activity is managed by the OA Team and achieved through ensuring debriefs are
undertaken following all operational incidents and training activities at which improvement
14
opportunities, or successes have been recognised. The OA Team is also responsible for
collating and utilising the feedback gathered through this process.
There are three main types of Operational Debrief undertaken within GMFRS:
i. Level One (Hot) Debrief
Carried out at the earliest opportunity following conclusion of an operational activity.
Conducted either at the scene, or immediately upon return to the normal place of work.
ii. Level Two (Tactical) Debrief
Undertaken for any operational incident or training event which has the potential to
raise significant learning opportunities.
iii. Level Three (Strategic) Debriefs
Strategic Debriefs provide a supportive and confidential environment in which the
performance of the senior incident commander can be discussed openly. All Strategic
Debriefs are coordinated and facilitated by OA and focus specifically on ‘command
decision making’.
Each level of debrief may also be applied to the wider aspect of incident management, notably
the opening and functioning of the Command Support Room (CSR).
GMFRS first formalised arrangements for debriefing operational activities in 2005. This
organisational approach has proven to be effective for a number of years in providing a robust
and credible method for the capture and collation of incident/exercise outcomes.
During 2014/2015 a review of the current debrief system has undertaken and embedded within
the AMS, to capture and progress all learning and development areas within a central ETR.
The OA Team will continually review all debriefing activities to provide assurance that GMFRS
maintains a debriefing system which remains ‘fit for purpose’ and justifies the considerable
resources being invested, through delivering meaningful outcomes and driving service
improvement.
OA have allocated a total of 45 assurance days to maintain and delivering an effective incident
debriefing process.
Review of Significant Events
The structured and deliberate review of significant events has been advocated as a useful way
to encourage reflection within an organisation. This method has been widely used as a way of
helping an organisation understand the direct and indirect cause of events, expose potential
gaps in policies, procedures or capabilities, or cause them to think differently about something.
The OA Team will play a key role to support the RoSE process where the focus is on an
operational incident or event.
15
Miscellaneous Assurance Activities As an integral aspect of the working day OA Officers undertake a range of miscellaneous
activities. Examples of some of the more involved activities are provided below.
Online Incident Presentations
In carrying out their role, OA Officers are ideally placed to capture images of activities taking
place at operational incidents and during training exercises, with the aim of highlighting notable
practice, or areas for improvement.
OA have produced 67 Operational Incident Presentations to date, each of which are shared
with all personnel (including non-operational colleagues) and published to the BigRed. These
presentations are available for use for Watch based training and for inclusion in programmed
Corporate Training at the Training and Development Centre (TDC) and the ICA. Where
appropriate, presentations are approved for content by relevant Tactical Advisors and Subject
Matter Experts.
This process helps to ensure that experiences from incidents and training scenarios are used
to advise future practice, identify safety matters and to provide an invaluable debriefing tool.
A presentation focusing on ‘Emerging Themes’ will be produced by OA on a Quarterly basis.
The incident presentations page on BigRed is fully established and is proving to be very
popular with all personnel within GMFRS. In 2014-15 this page received over 10,000 ‘hits’.
During 2015/16 the OA Team seek to develop this resource further, making routine
submissions to TDC and the ICA to assist with developing incident command competences.
Fatal / Possible Fatal Incident Reports
The OA Team capture and report upon fire service actions taken prior to, during, and following
any incident where a confirmed (or possible) fatality has occurred. This procedure aims to
supplement, rather than duplicate, the established fire investigation reports and the Ops 17
Fatal Incident Details report, and does not focus on the suspected cause of the injury or fatality.
This process and procedure was the subject of a full cross-departmental review by the OA
Team in 2014-15.
The OA procedure continues the themes of the assurance of GMFRS activities both prior to
and during the incident and seeks to determine:
i. Any previous GMFRS involvement – for example, any inclusion on a ‘Person at
Increased Risk of Fire’ register, details of prior Home Safety Checks, etc.
ii. The actions taken by operational personnel - incident response times, adherence to
relevant policy, initial actions, etc.
iii. Post incident activities – Home Safety Support campaigns, BeatSweeps arranged, etc.
16
Accident and Incident Investigation
Notwithstanding the introduction of a new Accident Investigation Policy in 2014-15, it remains
the intention that OA Team members will attain the National Examining Board for Occupational
Safety and Health (NEBOSH) qualification at Certificate level where possible.
This will ensure that OA Team members are adequately equipped to fully investigate all Safety
Critical events encountered and to provide the Health and Safety department with the requisite
reports.
Demand Led Activities
There are many occasions where the OA Team (at the direction of the DER) undertake short
notice, demand led activities arising from identified organisational risk. Examples of such
activities undertaken during 2014/15 include significant involvement in post-incident
investigations, involvement in a number of protracted incidents and further development of the
Protracted Incident procedures and the Ops and Safety Alerts process.
Identification and Management of Risk
Operational Assurance Risk Management Process
The identification, capture and progression of risks to the operational function of the service is
pivotal to the role of the OA and supporting processes to provide this have been developed
over a number of years. Generally, the operational risks and opportunities identified in line with
OA activities fall into one of two broad categories, namely ‘people issues’ or ‘process issues’.
People issues are typically simple to address and are often resolved at Watch, Station, or Area
Management Team level.
Process issues on the other hand, tend to be more complex in nature, often requiring for
example, the revision of policy or procedure and thus cannot be resolved at local level. Process
issues are therefore collated by OA and progressed through to the relevant department,
directorate or forum for further action as appropriate.
Safety Critical Events
Occasionally during execution of the role, the OA Officer will observe an action or omission
that is considered to have potential to cause serious injury or severe damage to equipment, or
to the environment. Such occurrences are termed ‘Safety Critical’ events.
All safety critical events must be challenged and where possible rectified immediately. The OA
Officer will, at the earliest opportunity, issue a ‘Safety Critical Notice’ to the individual(s)
concerned via their Borough Manager.
Safety Critical Events will be reported upon with 10 days.
17
Recording Mechanisms
Emerging Themes Register
The ETR has been an inherent part of the operational assurance process since 2005 and in
2014-15 was fully embedded into the AMS developed within this period. The register is
maintained by OA and acts as a ‘catch all’ for issues identified during the range of activities
undertaken by the OA team. The ETR captures issues also identified by Borough Officers
carrying out OAAs, from the debriefing process and through environmental scanning.
The register is under continuous review to ensure it remains current.
Directorate Risk Register
This register is maintained by the Directorate Risk Champion (Area Manager) to collate the
issues applicable to this level. The Directorate Risk Register is a standing item for discussion
at the quarterly ER Planning meeting.
Corporate Risk Register
The Corporate Risk Register is maintained by the Risk and Intelligence Manager (RIM) and is
owned by the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT). The register is utilised in a range of meeting
forums and reviewed by Members of the Fire Authority (FA) at the quarterly meeting of the
ASS Committee.
Risk and Intelligence Manager (RIM)
The RIM is pivotal to the risk management process and has the responsibility for reporting
directly to CLT and the Fire Authority. The RIM has primary responsibility for maintaining the
Corporate Risk Register including the allocation of risk identifiers in order to track and report
upon the progression of a risk and associated mitigating actions.
The OA undertake collation of the outcomes of all OAAs, SIs and other assurance activites
and as a consequence, are responsible for providing regular update reports to all identified
stakeholders, generally driven by the individual meeting schedules.
Identified Stakeholders:
Emergency Response Directorate (Quarterly Reporting Cycle)
Health and Safety Department
Directorate Risk Champion
Operational Risk Control Group (ORCG)
Operational Procedures and Equipment Forum (OPEF)
Corporate Leadership Team (CLT)
Consultation, Research and Assurance Group (CRAG)
Leadership Team (LT)
Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC)
Audit and Risk Management, Wigan Council (Internal Audit)
Fire Authority Audit, Scrutiny and Standards Committee Delivery against the activities set out within this Ops Assurance Plan for 2015/16 will be
reported to DER, in line with the scheduled quarterly meeting process and to the Fire Authority
ASS Committee.
18
Operational Risk Control Group (ORCG)
The purpose of the ORCG is to act as a cross-organisational control group to help manage
risks likely to affect operational activities. The ORCG work to effectively resolve identified risks
from a number of sources, including any unresolved items arising from operational assurance
related activities.
The ETR as captured within the AMS features as a standing item on the ORCG agenda at its
bi-monthly meetings, where representatives from the key support departments work to resolve
or progress the key issues.
Those risks which the ORCG are unable to resolve, or where the issues are considered to be
beyond the authority of the ORCG, are placed on the appropriate Corporate or Directorate risk
register and communicated to the CRAG and LT.
ORCG maintain an action summary detailing progress against all identified risks. This is
communicated to LT, JHSC and CRAG for consideration at the next available meeting and
also forms part of the OA reporting process to the Fire Authority ASS Committee.
Fire Authority Audit, Scrutiny and Standards Committee
To ensure consistency of approach, OA reporting activities directly align with and complement
those utilised by the Internal Audit Service. In pursuance of this requirement, delivery against
the activities set out within this Ops Assurance Plan for 2015/16 will be reported to the Fire
Authority ASS Committee in accordance with the programmed timetable of meetings.
Annual Governance Statement
OA will provide information to support assurance at this level and will report within the Annual
Governance Statement (AGS).
Review and Evaluation of the Ops Assurance Plan
The activities set out within this Ops Assurance Plan will be subject to continual review so as
to ensure they continues to meet with corporate expectation and satisfy the objectives defined
within the introduction to this plan.
Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment
An initial equality and diversity impact assessment has been undertaken and no significant
findings were identified.
19
Appendix One: Emerging Themes Register
Active Monitoring System Emerging Themes Register: Primary Themes
20
Appendix Two: Annual Availability
Operational Assurance Team Officer (Station Manager)
Annual Availability (Theoretical Number of OA Days Available) 248
Annual leave (including public holidays) 37
Work in support of Corporate Goals* 25
Personal Development;
Core skill requirements
‘One to Ones’ / Personal Performance Reviews
15
4
Other Flexible Duty System (FDS) Officer references;
(FDS Role, Hazardous Materials and Environmental Protection Officer, National Inter-
agency Liaison Officer, Hazardous Materials Detection, Identification and Monitoring
Advisor, Senior Accident Investigation Officer etc.)
15
Total days allocated to other activities 96
Total Days Available (per Officer) 152
*Relates to activities undertaken in support of delivering Corporate Goals that are not a direct responsibility of OA,
but to which the function makes a meaningful and necessary contribution.