Operational Preparedness

A fire and rescue service must:

1. Have an operational strategy that is based on a thorough assessment of risk to the community.
2. Be able to evidence consideration of and actions taken in relation to the below key activities, when preparing and providing an operational response:
   1. legislative responsibilities;
   2. data management;
   3. risk management;
   4. health and safety management;
   5. site-specific risk information;
   6. emergency response plans;
   7. operational assurance;
   8. competence and training, including validation and revalidation;
   9. organisational learning, including operational learning; and
   10. participation in legal proceedings.
3. Undertake all appropriate risk assessments, as required under legislation, to prepare for an operational response.
4. Review existing cover models, resources, equipment and training against all appropriate risk assessments.
5. Carry out capabilities-based planning to support emergency preparedness and response from a national, regional or local level.
6. Determine its responsibilities for operational response and be fully prepared to deliver them.
7. Have a health and safety policy for the operational and fire control environment that clearly outlines the responsible parties and their obligations.
8. Undertake a review of how the organisation is structured and functions, to confirm its ability to support operational preparedness; if there are any gaps identified there should be a clear plan for making appropriate changes.
9. Develop and embed operational policies, procedures and tailored guidance based on the NFCC Operational Guidance, unless by evidenced exception its content is not relevant to the service.
10. Deliver the strategic actions provided in the suite of NFCC Operational Guidance and Fire Control Guidance frameworks, unless by evidenced exception a strategic action is not relevant to the service; the strategic gap analysis tool may be used to support this process.
11. Train its operational and fire control employees to carry out operational activities safely and effectively; this includes the ability to recognise hazards and use control measures to reduce the risks arising from those hazards.
12. Align relevant policies, procedures and tailored guidance in preparation for working with other fire and rescue services, National Resilience, other Category 1 and Category 2 responders and Local Resilience Forums, to improve its operational response to multi-agency incidents.

A fire and rescue service may:

13. Use the Training Specifications to inform its training needs analysis.
14. Work within regional, national or thematic groups to develop and improve its policies, procedures, tailored guidance and training for operational response.

1. Comprehensive and accurate risk management processes to protect fire and rescue service employees and the community, backed by national expertise.
2. Simpler processes for the development of policies, procedures and tailored guidance, by aligning methods for the identification of local hazards and control measures with NFCC Operational Guidance and Fire Control Guidance.
3. The ability for those outside the service, including coroners or those responsible for matters such as public inquiries, to recognise and acknowledge that the service has a sound body of intelligence and good practice on which its activities are based.
4. For inspectorates, including His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and the Health and Safety Executive, to be able to base their expectations of the operational preparedness of the service on:
   1. adherence to the legislative requirements for operational preparedness; and
   2. how comprehensively the NFCC Operational Guidance and Fire Control Guidance has been considered and applied.
5. Continuous improvement of the quality of service provided to the public.

Fire and rescue services are responsible, under legislation and regulations, for developing policies and procedures and to provide information, instruction, training and supervision to their employees about foreseeable hazards and the control measures used to reduce the risks arising from those hazards.

It is recognised that fire and rescue services must comply with a broad list of legislation to undertake their duties. This Fire Standard reflects only the most appropriate legislation to this topic and should not be regarded as exhaustive.  Much of the legislation that relates to this Fire Standard can be found on the webpage that describes legislation which applies to all Fire Standards.

• Fire and Rescue Services Act
• Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations

Linked qualifications and accreditations

Operational Firefighter Apprenticeship

Fire Standards

• Code of Ethics
• Community Risk Management Planning
• Fire Control
• Operational Competence
• Operational Learning

• NFCC Operational Guidance and Fire Control Guidance frameworks, in particular:
  • The corporate guidance for operational activity
  • The strategic actions throughout the frameworks
  • The corresponding Training Specifications
  • Foundation material that supports comprehension of the Operational Guidance, Fire Control Guidance and Training Specifications
• The Operational Response implementation guide
• JESIP