Humberside��moving forward with community safety: Humberside Fire Brigade has adopted a multi-faceted approach to community safety, including the use of advanced technology, strategic partnerships, community wardens and a brigade-wide equality awareness programme - Prevention Focus

Talking to Humberside's Fire Safety Team, it is obvious that the brigade is a forward-looking organisation, seeing community fire safety as "Too narrow a field in which to operate.... Accepting wholeheartedly the premise that prevention is better than cure.... we, as an organisation should be interested in community safety as a whole".

PARTNERSHIP

DCFO Frank Duffield believes that "Conventional Community Fire Safety activities are largely first aid measures .... we need to remove the opportunity for unsafe acts and begin to address the social problems that lead to accidental deaths and injuries". To this end, Humberside has "identified forums in which to operate" and networked with people who can influence change and be influenced by the brigade.

This approach is apparent in the brigade's involvement with the Safer Community Partnerships and the Local Strategic Partnerships run by the four unitary authorities which form the brigades operational area. There are several ways that the brigade's involvement in these partnerships contribute to community safety including:

* Student Placements for 15-17 year olds on work experience, that allow the brigade to provide experience of the Service; target under represented groups; raise awareness of community safety; and develop young people.

* Safe and Clean Team--originally known as neighbourhood wardens the team, funded by a grant through the SCP, identify homes at risk, report abandoned vehicles, damage and clean graffiti etc.

* Urban Renaissance--a long term plan, supported by the LSP and funded by the regional development agency Forward Yorkshire. The aim is to produce and implement a vision for regeneration of currently dilapidated areas.

* Vehicle Crime Task Group--this committee is chaired by the divisional commander for the specified area, where a long-term plan to reduce the cases of vehicle related crimes is being developed.

* Abandoned Vehicle Amnesty--a short term plan to reduce the number of abandoned, derelict, and arson related vehicles prior to the introduction of the End of Life Vehicle Directive. These initiatives give an insight into the brigade's short, medium and long term commitments to community safety.

TECHNOLOGY

Humberside is a forward looking brigade, employing many advanced pieces of technology in its community safety work. The brigade has an interactive fire safety site on Kingston Interactive Television (KIT).

The KIT platform is a national first in terms of combining interactive television and community fire safety. Not only is text and pictorial information available, but viewers can also play a brigade video clip which covers the work of the Service and the wide range of employment opportunities.

The KIT site's interactive features allow viewers to request fire safety advice, free home fire safety checks and recruitment and careers information direct from their television sets.

Launched n March of this year, the site is partly funded by Rixon Matthews and Appleyard of Kingston Upon Hull.

EQUALITY AND COMMUNITY SAFETY

The brigade's comprehensive equality strategy not only benefits brigade personnel by ensuring equality in the workplace, but also has benefits in aiding recruitment from minority communities, and communication with the local communities.

The brigade regularly arranges cultural and religious awareness courses, facilitated by specialists in this field (Apna Sahara). A wide range of personnel across the brigade have received this training, from the Chief to fire authority members to firefighters and everyone in between. The course was described as "very informative and enjoyable, allowing opportunities to fully debate racial and cultural issues".

The area of Scunthorpe has a relatively large ethnic minority population, and Apna Sahara trainers are currently delivering the awareness training to the four watches at Scunthorpe Fire Station. This will enhance their abilities to communicate community safety education effectively to the local population.

Following a major research study conducted on the brigade by a local university the brigade has adopted a zero tolerance approach to bullying. All Watch Officers have received specialist training on dealing with bullying scenarios, and all staff throughout the brigade has received equality training over the last year.

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