Community Risk Management Plan 2024 – 2028

• Avon’s population is now estimated at 1.2 million and growing, 51% Female, 49% Male¹
• Approximately 3% of the population is unemployed. This is below the national average.²
• The largest population group is 20-24 year olds¹
• One of the top 10 busiest airports in the UK, handling over 10 million passengers per year³
• 4 universities with over 100,000 students⁴
• Bristol is in the top ten most visited cities in the UK⁵
• Handles 26% of the South West’s economy and has the second highest growth of GDP per capita outside of London⁶
• 90% of the population is white, 9% Ethnic Minorities¹
• 39% Christian, 48% No religion, 3% Muslim¹
• 15% of homes are rented social housing and 64% owned outright¹
• More than 90 languages spoken across the area¹
• 88% Identify as Heterosexual, 2% as Bisexual, 1.7% as Gay or Lesbian, 93.56% of the population identify as the same sex that they were registered as at birth, 0.19% as Transgender, 0.13% as Non-Binary¹

We welcomed that LGBTQ+ population statistics were included in the Census for the first time in 2021, to help enrich our ongoing understanding of our communities and how best to meet their needs.

We recognise that the communities we serve are diverse and are keen to ensure Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is embedded in our organisational culture and at the heart of decision-making.

References

1. Office of National Statistics – Midyear population estimates
2. Office of National Statistics – National Employment and Labour Market Statistics 2023
3. Civil Aviation Authority – Airport Statistics 2018-21
4. UWE, Bristol University, Bath University and Bath Spa University – Student Population Webpages
5. Summary from Visit Britain, Original data from Office of National Statistics – Leisure and Tourism
6. Office of National Statistics Report on GDP Published May 2023.

Prevention is at the heart of what we do. We want to ensure the local community is as safe as possible by working with vulnerable adults within the community and those most at risk of fire, as well as children and young people.

We are passionate about enabling every child and young person to thrive and we will help adults live longer and healthier lives by improving their safety, health and wellbeing.

Our Prevention Strategy provides clear direction on how we will deliver our prevention services to the communities of Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. Our prevention department will lead and coordinate our activities utilising our Community Safety Workers, operational firefighters and through our partnerships and collaborative work with other emergency service partners and other agencies.

Our strategic priorities for Prevention are:

• We will continue to educate our communities with a focus on those at higher risk by reducing harm and enhancing safety and wellbeing.
• We will work collaboratively across the Service to engage with our communities, focusing on those most vulnerable to embed our key safety messages.
• We will continue to support local services to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities.
• We will increase our home fire safety activity by maximising resources available for home fire safety visits, prioritising those most vulnerable.
• We will embed and improve the training and effectiveness of safeguarding across all areas of our Service.

Find out more in the Appendix.

Target

Home Fire Safety visits targeting the most vulnerable in our communities and making every contact count.

Target visits 7000 per year.

Resources

• 606 Station-based establishment of wholetime and on-call staff who support the delivery of Prevention work
• 1 Vulnerable Adults Manager
• 1 Children and Young Persons Manager
• 21 Dedicated prevention staff at various locations across the Service

We have a statutory duty as part of our role under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and Building Safety Act 2022 to work with the business community under Protection to prevent fire from occurring across our business community.

The Service uses a Risk Based Inspection Programme to prioritise audit and inspection work towards the premises which present the highest risk to life. We will also provide support as part of our role with the Building Safety Regulator.

Our Protection Strategy provides clear direction on how we will deliver our protection activities to our communities.

Our strategic priorities for Protection are:

• We will continue to protect our communities and businesses, using data analysis to identify and protect high-risk premises, ensuring that specialist fire safety advice is available 24/7 to manage urgent risks.
• We will continue to develop an effective system to gather and record up-to-date risk information to help protect firefighters, the public and property during an emergency.
• We will engage with businesses to reduce the impact of false alarms, which will increase our ability to focus on more productive tasks.
• We will continue to meet our legislative duties by engaging with businesses, and creating an effective quality assurance process, to prevent or reduce the effects of fire.

Find out more in the Appendix.

Target

We anticipate delivering over 900 Fire Safety Audits, focusing on the very high-risk premises per year.

Resources

• 1 Business Fire Safety Manager
• 2 Business Fire Safety Team Leaders
• 25 Inspecting Officers located at Patchway, Bath, Yate, Bristol and Weston-super-Mare

This is our ability to respond and resolve fire and rescue emergencies that affect our communities 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the purposes of saving life, property and the environment.

Our Response Strategy provides clear direction on how we will deliver our response activities to our communities.

Our strategic priorities for Response are:

• We will continue to deploy our emergency resources effectively, and make improvements to our control capabilities, to meet our response standards.
• We will be well prepared and able to respond quickly and safely to emergencies, keeping our equipment, expertise, and skills up to date.
• We will plan our response to changes in our communities, including large-scale building developments, to ensure our resources can deliver the best possible service.

Find out more in the Appendix.

Resources

• 44 Control staff, working from our control room near Bath
• 40 Flexi Duty Officers
• 39 Frontline fire engines, including one heavy rescue vehicle
• 21 fire stations with an overall establishment of 398 wholetime firefighters and 208 on-call firefighters

Figures correct at time of production 09/02/2025

Avon Fire & Rescue Service is required as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act to ensure it is a resilient organisation.

We must be able to anticipate, plan, prepare and respond to the changing environment that we face.

Our strategic priorities for Resilience are:

• We will continue to ensure we have the plans and resources in place to provide the services you need, whatever challenges we face.
• We will create and maintain a comprehensive system for managing operational and community risk, so we can quickly access and share risk information.
• We will ensure all staff are continually trained in line with National Operational Guidance and best practice, to deliver the best possible service to our communities.

Find out more in the Appendix.

Resources

• 5 Operational Assurance Guidance staff          
• 7 Operational Assurance Learning staff           
• 3 Operational Risk, Business Continuity staff   
• 4 Operational Risk, Intelligence & Projects staff       
• 2 Community Risk Management Planning staff
• 15 Frontline National Resilience assets           

We continually seek more efficient and safe ways of working and facilitate continual improvement to realise the benefits from the Service investments, resources and technology to deliver better outcomes for our staff and communities.

Our strategic priorities for Improving our Service are:

• We will prioritise and accelerate progress to address recommendations from HMICFRS and meet national standards.
• We will make the most of our premises and resources so we can continue to deliver and improve the services we provide, in line with our Medium-Term Financial Plan to ensure financial sustainability and affordability.
• We will demonstrate our commitment to our staff and communities by ensuring our culture and core values align with the NFCC Core Code of Ethics.

Find out more in the Appendix.

Our staff are our biggest resource and we are committed to ensuring that they are prepared and resilient to deliver our key priorities.

By ensuring that our staff have the right skills, equipment and support, we maximise opportunities to deliver better outcomes for our communities.

Our strategic priorities for Investing in our Staff are:

• We will support our people to be the best they can be by providing excellent training and development opportunities during their career, ensuring capacity and capability to meet our strategic priorities.
• We will deliver a comprehensive range of activities to ensure we have a high level of health and safety compliance to keep our staff safe.

Find out more in the Appendix.

The Fire Authority carries out its duties through regular meetings and the following committees:

• The Audit, Governance and Oversight Committee – considers and reviews issues relating to audit, governance and risk management as well as the conduct of Members. Their work includes scrutinising and approving the Statement of Accounts, the Annual Governance Statement, Statement of Assurance, and the Corporate Risk Register. For more information, please see the Audit, Governance and Oversight Committee Terms of Reference.

• The Policy and Resources Committee – oversees the development of the Fire Authority’s strategic policy framework, including documents such as the Service Plan, public consultations, and key department Strategies. They also oversee the development of priority programmes such as His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Services (HMICFRS) Action Plan. For more information, please see the Policy and Resources Committee Terms of Reference.

• The Local Pension Board – assists the Fire Authority as Scheme Manager in administering the various Firefighters Pension Schemes, by providing governance and by scrutiny of policies, pension documents, decisions and outcomes. For more information, please see the Local Pension Board Terms of Reference.

These meetings are recorded and available to view via the Avon Fire Authority YouTube channel and further information about the Avon Fire Authority can be found their dedicated website.

The Service carries out its day-to-day responsibilities under the leadership of:

• The Service Leadership Board – responsible for considering strategic issues, finance and risk, setting the strategic direction for the Service and for overall management of the organisation.

• The Service Leadership Team – responsible for providing day-to-day leadership and management for the Service, overseeing a working environment which supports the effective achievement of goals and priorities.

• The Clerk (and Monitoring Officer) – responsible for overseeing and reporting on the lawfulness of decision-making and for advising upon and overseeing the governance arrangements for the Fire Authority.

• Statutory Finance Officer – provides independent professional advice and guidance to the Fire Authority to enable elected Members and the Service Leadership Board to effectively scrutinise financial information.

The Audit, Governance and Oversight Committee fully consider all internal and external audit reports.

• External Audit – in accordance with the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, a relevant authority must appoint an external auditor to audit its accounts.

• Internal Audit – an independent and objective assurance service to the Fire Authority which completes a programme of reviews throughout the year, to provide an opinion on the internal control, risk management and governance arrangements of the Fire Authority.

• His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) – independently assess the effectiveness and efficiency of fire and rescue services and all reports are considered by the Fire Authority.

Actions:

1. Carry out Children and Young Persons (CYP) training for operational crews so we can deliver training packages to our communities.
2. Produce new water safety and road safety plans and support our operational crews in the delivery of water and road safety interventions.
3. Develop evaluation and quality assurance procedures to align with national guidance.
4. Develop specialist education packages to support community engagement, safety campaigns, and Special Education Needs resources.
5. Continue to utilise our operational staff to deliver our Key Stage 1 and 2 schools education packages.
6. Carry out research to support adult fire setting interventions.
7. Continue our collaboration work with The Prince’s Trust, Violence Reduction Units, RNLI, and Road Safety Partners, utilising operational staff to support the delivery of education packages.

Actions:

1. Develop our prevention strategy and evaluate the effectiveness of our activities.
2. Introduce a work experience programme in the Service for young people.
3. Develop a Young Carers intervention programme and work with partners to support young carers and their families.
4. Develop and embed a communication strategy to promote home fire safety advice to our community.
5. Collaborate with the Diversity, Inclusion, Cohesion and Equality (DICE) team to increase engagement with our diverse communities and ensure we can target help to those most at risk.
6. Identify how we can use data to influence community safety activity and support our operational staff with their locally driven community safety activities.
7. Fully adopt a person-centred approach to Vulnerable Adults interventions and provide training and advice to our operational staff to deliver interventions.

Actions:

1. Utilise our specialist and operational staff to engage with our local communities by supporting focus groups, community meetings and partner events.
2. Identify trends in operational incidents to help develop relevant safety messages and fire safety interventions.
3. Develop activities which support our communities with non-fire incidents and support partner agencies in safety delivery.
4. Optimise and improve our onward referral process to ensure that members of the public receive the support they need.
5. Identify need and provide recommendations on assistive technology to allow members of the community to remain in their homes safely.

Actions:

1. Develop our home fire safety recording system to ensure it is fit for purpose and easy to use, maximising the available time of our operational and specialist staff.
2. Develop and implement an evaluation and quality assurance process for Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs).
3. Continue to deliver HFSVs utilising our operational and specialist prevention staff.
4. Improve the consistency and quality of data inputted into our Community Safety database by developing the system and delivering training to our operational and prevention staff.
5. Continue to support operational staff with changes and developments to HFSVs to help them deliver locally identified targeted safety activities.

Actions:

1. Embed learning from regional and local Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SAR), Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR), and Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPR) to ensure best practice.
2. Ensure all staff have completed the appropriate Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check across the Service.
3. Review the reporting system for internal Alerts for Concern.
4. Continue to provide training to all staff at every level on changing legislation and organisational requirements.

Actions:

1. Develop our protection strategy and evaluate the effectiveness of our activities.
2. Continue to carry out Fire Safety Inspections in line with our Risk Based Inspection Programme.
3. Ensure our protection activities meet the minimum requirements set out in the Protection Fire Standard.
4. Effectively respond to complaints to ensure safety issues are identified, advice is given, and enforcement activity is taken when appropriate.
5. Provide training to our workforce to upskill their fire safety knowledge so they can give advice and support to businesses.
6. Develop a robust quality assurance process to ensure our staff comply with the requirements of the Competency Framework and maintain their competence.
7. Work more closely with prevention staff to ensure those most vulnerable are protected through joint inspections of high-risk premises.

Actions:

1. Develop a site-specific risk information (SSRI) policy linked to Fire Standards and National Operational Guidance (NatOG).
2. Develop processes which support our SSRI policy to effectively and robustly deliver our plan to address the findings identified by HMICFRS.
3. Develop a culture of SSRI visits, data publication and quality assurance within the Service.
4. Enable effective sharing of data across multiple organisations and platforms.
5. Ensure that our response to emergency operations is as informed as possible, reducing risk to staff, members of the public, businesses, and the wider community.

Actions:

1. Review our Unwanted Fire Signals policy and monitor data to ensure we are responding in the most efficient and effective way.
2. Develop new education packages relating to the impact of Unwanted Fire Signals for businesses and support our operational staff in providing advice.
3. Deliver business engagement seminars on reducing Unwanted Fire Signals.
4. Develop and implement social media campaigns to raise awareness of the impact of Unwanted Fire Signals.
5. Provide training to our operational staff to give them the knowledge to discuss Unwanted Fire Signals post-incident and during fire safety checks.

Actions:

1. Review our primary authority partnerships and explore new opportunities for collaborative working.
2. Review how we respond to fire safety complaints outside of the normal working hours of our Business Fire Safety team.
3. Ensure protection staff have the necessary qualifications to respond to Building Regulations and Licensing consultations.
4. Continue to work as part of the multi-discipline team to carry out fire safety activities, including fire safety inspections, as part of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) role.
5. Explore alternative working methods with local authority partners to enforce legislation and support local businesses.
6. Provide training to our operational staff so they can carry out fire safety checks at business premises in the community.
7. Review existing prosecution policies to reflect legislation changes which may affect how we prosecute or take enforcement action.

Actions:

1. Develop our response strategy and evaluate the effectiveness of our activities.
2. Develop our medical response capabilities to deliver further life-saving interventions.
3. We will upgrade or replace our command and control system, including mobile data terminals on appliances, to improve the Service’s recording of information and mobilisation of resources.
4. Match our resources to risk and continue to deploy resources to emergencies in line with our mobilisation policy.
5. Implement our degradation plan when required to ensure our resources are strategically positioned to maintain response standards.
6. Ensure that we can efficiently and effectively respond to any number of calls, including when Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) is being given to multiple members of the public.
7. Facilitate the feedback and integration of local knowledge and risk information from operational crews into the Community Risk Management Planning (CRMP) process.
8. Regularly review incident data and risk information to ensure that specialist equipment is placed in the best location.
9. Ensure collaboration between our CRMP team and subject matter experts to annually review risk assessments and scoring hazards, to enhance our community risk register and management of risk.

Actions:

1. We will be ready and capable to respond quickly and safely to incidents by ensuring our resources, skills and competencies are maintained.
2. Our operational procedures and incident command training will evolve and reflect National Operational Guidance, ensuring a clear record of decision-making is captured during and after incidents.
3. Review our existing crewing models across wholetime and on-call stations.
4. Maintain national resilience assets and ensure crews receive specialist training to respond to emergencies locally, nationally, and internationally.
5. Regularly exercise our operational capability with partner agencies in our Service area and cross-border.
6. Review specialist roles held by our tactical officers to reflect emerging local and national issues and requirements.
7. Include prevention and protection teams in operational incident debriefs to ensure learnings are captured, improvements are made, and information feeds back into our CRMP process.
8. Continue to improve our systems and utilise technology to capture incident information and debriefs, to accelerate progress by monitoring incident outcomes.

Actions:

1. Collaborate with developers on any large-scale building developments in our area.
2. Evaluate the risk of increasing population across our Service area due to significant planned development and new infrastructure.
3. Continue to review risk intelligence data and changes in our community profiles so that we can adapt our response plans for the future.
4. Continue to meet our response standards, using risk and workload modelling to estimate response times to new developments.

Actions:

1. Ensure business continuity plans are in place to support the Service in maintaining our operational response, in the event of a significant incident.
2. Develop and deliver effective methods of communication which allow essential information to be shared quickly with all staff across the Service.
3. Embed business continuity planning best practice through Business Continuity Institute affiliation, strategic leadership, regular business continuity planning events and exercises.
4. Continue effective collaboration with local resilience forums, partner agencies, the NFCC, Fire Standards Board, Business Continuity Institute and other fire and rescue services.
5. Conduct an annual review of our Operational Plans and a four-yearly review of our Tactical Plans.

Actions:

1. Define a risk management process following the NFCC CRMP Strategic Framework to assess risk in our Service area.
2. Utilise technology, best practice, and national guidance to develop our Risk Management strategy, processes and procedures.
3. Develop a software solution to improve the collection, storage, analysis and sharing of risk information.
4. Improve Service-wide engagement in our CRMP process to access local knowledge and improve understanding of our communities.
5. Use data intelligence to match our resources to risk, ensuring the Service has appropriate appliances and equipment in the right locations, crewed by suitably trained staff, to meet operational demands.
6. Develop our systems and processes to improve the access and sharing of site-specific risk information and tactical plans in Control, on station, and on the incident ground.
7. Continue to collaborate with the NFCC, Fire Standards Board, other fire and rescue Services, and partner agencies to enhance our use and analysis of data.
8. Continue to support the Local Resilience Forum in establishing and maintaining multi-agency and cross-border plans and procedures, ensuring AF&RS plans are compatible.

Actions:

1. We will review our workforce planning processes alongside our employee life cycle, to attract and retain skills across the Service.
2. Improve our vacancy management across the Service, including profiling vacancies against skills for organisational resilience and corporate risk, considering flexible vacancy management.
3. Deliver operational training to the required professional and legal standards which aligns to National Operational Guidance and Fire Standards.
4. Increase resilience in our specialist technical and national resilience roles by reviewing our employment offer and how we recruit and transfer staff.
5. Employ and develop suitably skilled staff to undertake effective data modelling and analysis.
6. Maintain Service-wide training and professional competence in the use of essential software, tools, and systems.
7. Conduct a review of on-call contracts and policies to make the role more attractive and flexible for a more diverse group of applicants.

Actions:

1. We will accelerate progress to meet national standards and address HMICFRS recommendations, through regular monitoring, reporting and scrutiny.
2. We will work collaboratively with other organisations and Fire and Rescue Services to achieve the benefits of joint working and to improve public safety.
3. We will maintain effective governance arrangements including the monitoring, mitigation, and escalation of risks.
4. We will utilise national Fire Standards to support with addressing areas of improvement, continuous improvement, and to ensure best practice.
5. Respond to changes in guidance, legislation, and regulations, ensuring our staff are appropriately trained and resourced to meet requirements.
6. We will continue to consider best practice and report on the most important financial information to ensure informed decision-making.
7. We will review and respond to the outcomes of national inquiries including the Government’s white paper on Reforming Our Fire and Rescue Service.

Actions:

1. We will continue to improve our digital capability by focusing on our six core IT strategic themes to ensure our ICT systems are resilient, reliable, whilst continuing to deliver digital transformation projects, adopting a cloud-first approach wherever possible:
   • Infrastructure modernisation
   • Cyber security enhancements
   • Operational efficiency
   • Data-driven decision making
   • Financial Precision
   • User empowerment and experience
2. We will continue to review our Estates Strategy in line with our Service Plan priorities and our environmental ambitions to reflect changes in ways of working and the financial landscape.
3. We will plan to meet our future training needs and assess the potential benefits of bringing Service functions together in one location.
4. We will review our Fleet Strategy in line with our Service Plan, environmental priorities, and financial planning to make the most of the vehicles and assets we have.
5. We will enhance our performance information to efficiently and effectively allocate resources to meet our strategic priorities and objectives.
6. We will provide support and training to our staff to ensure contracts and suppliers are effectively managed.
7. We will implement more effective asset management to make the best use of the resources we have.

Actions:

1. Deliver our People Services Strategy with a commitment to foster insight, collaborative working, empower our staff and harness innovation.
2. Improve insight into our staff and use regular touchpoint surveys to inform our approach, our policies, and the services we provide.
3. Improve our community engagement with new partnerships targeting diverse communities.
4. Host regular service-wide events to bring the Service together.
5. Develop and deliver appropriate DICE training to support cultural change and embed the NFCC Core Code of Ethics to all our staff.
6. Review, update, and publish all people related policies and toolkits so that our staff have the resources they need and feel empowered to achieve our desired outcomes and foster a great work environment.
7. Continue to embed our core values and implement recommendations in the NFCC’s Culture Action Plan.
8. Carry out impact assessments and improve our equality data, to enhance understanding of our workforce and to ensure all staff understand the benefits of equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Actions:

1. Train our staff using an effective performance development review process, and provide career pathways for future leaders, to ensure the right people have the right skills.
2. Attract and retain a diverse and highly skilled workforce with the capability and capacity to meet the future needs of the Service.
3. Develop our talent and leadership pipeline and take a more collaborative approach to promotion, succession, and workforce planning.
4. Ensure our incident commanders receive the highest level of training and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in line with national standards.
5. Through the innovative use of data, we will improve insight into key HR trends and themes to facilitate conversations and drive tangible change.
6. Work more collaboratively and empower our leaders, with training and support from our People Services team, to improve how we support, communicate with, and performance manage, to help our staff be the best they can be.
7. Provide training and toolkits on our people management processes to give staff the confidence to challenge unacceptable behaviour, and to ensure issues are addressed early and consistently.
8. Review the use of Modified Duties to ensure meaningful work for staff and a supported return to the workplace.

Actions:

1. Ensure that our health and safety policies and procedures meet legislative requirements and are readily available to staff.
2. Carry out timely health and safety investigations and ensure learning outcomes are captured and communicated to reduce the chance of reoccurrence.
3. Continue our commitment to creating a proactive and preventative safety culture where all staff take ownership for health and safety within the workplace.
4. Review our Mental Health Action Plan and measure progress to ensure we meet the commitments made.
5. Monitor working hours to ensure our staff receive sufficient rest periods and can perform at their best.
6. Deliver our plan to address safety concerns around fire contaminants, using evidence-based research to understand potential risks and inform future guidance and recommendations.
7. Conduct a dignity review for staff on our on-call stations and address recommendations, to enhance arrangements in the workplace.
8. Continue to deliver training to firefighters on how to effectively manage fire contaminants.
9. Review agreed fitness standards and benchmark to other standards agreed nationally (NFCC) or undertaken by other Fire and Rescue Services.