Prevention

A fire and rescue service must:

1. identify those who are most at risk in its community and target prevention activities in an inclusive way, through its community risk management planning;
2. adopt a person-centred approach that places the individual and the community it serves at the core of its prevention activity;
3. develop a prevention strategy and plan with the flexibility to proactively respond and adapt to the changing needs of its community, and for this to be supported by a named lead for prevention from within the service;
4. recruit, train, and develop employees and volunteers, working with others where relevant, to establish and maintain a competent and professional prevention workforce. This includes being qualified in accordance with relevant legislation and requirements for example safeguarding;
5. optimise resources to proactively engage and educate the community it serves, working collaboratively with others as and when appropriate;
6. demonstrate inclusivity by recognising the diversity of its community and providing equality of access;
7. utilise and share accurate and consistent data and intelligence, from a variety of sources to support evidence-based decision making and the deployment of appropriate resources for prevention activities;
8. demonstrate how it monitors and evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of its prevention activity;
9. generate a culture which embraces national and organisational learning allowing it to identify and capture feedback from a range of sources; evaluate, share and act upon it to drive innovation and continuous improvement and enhance future performance.

Where Fire Investigation is managed within a fire and rescue service’s prevention function, a fire and rescue service must:

10. investigate, report on and learn from the cause and behaviour of fires, working with others when appropriate.

To support this Fire Standard, a fire and rescue service should:

11. contribute to the continual improvement of prevention activities coordinated through the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) network; and
12. contribute and support national campaigns, where appropriate and where resources are available.

1. Improved safety, health and wellbeing of communities leading to a reduction in incidents, injuries, serious injuries and fatalities.
2. Improved competency in the prevention workforce, including an increase in the number of employees and volunteers trained.
3. Improved evaluation to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of prevention activities.

This Fire Standard reflects only the most appropriate legislation to this topic. We recognise that fire and rescue services must comply with a broader list of legislation to undertake their duties, which would be applicable to all standards. View the legislation which applies to all Fire Standards.

• The Road Traffic Act, Section 39
• Home Safety Act
• Housing Act
• Children’s Act
• Working Together to Safeguard Children
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act and the Protection of Freedoms Act
• United Nations Human Rights Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act
• Police & Crime Act
• Modern Slavery Act
• Crime and Disorder Act
• Counter Terrorism and Security Act
• The Care Act
• Homelessness Reduction Act
• Anti-social Behaviour Crime & Policing Act

• StayWise
• NFCC Children and Young People Guidance
• NFCC Person Centred Framework
• Standard Data Requirement Person Centred Framework