National review of community risk methodology across UK Fire and Rescue Service

Relevance

That the majority of FRSs currently use the toolkit infrequently (or not at all) and that they report that it has little usefulness suggests that it may not be suitable for current needs in risk management, even amongst those who can access it.

We suggest that in order for the toolkit to be used, it should be relevant to the various (and varying) needs of all the FRSs across the country, including (but not exclusive to) the requirements of English FRS’s IRMPs. This requires that a toolkit be kept up-to-date (this would preferably be self-updating), and that it adequately addresses FRS’s needs.

Tools will only be used where it is beneficial (or necessary) for FRSs to use it, so we would recommend that it is clear to FRSs how the toolkit will make their roles easier, and what it can contribute to the effectiveness of their practice.

Usability

The FSEC toolkit is not currently utilised extensively in community risk management. While the reasons for its lack of use across the UK is not entirely clear, the fact that it has never been used by some FRSs suggests that there may be some accessibility issues in the usability of the toolkit.

Evidence suggests that the FSEC is used at various stages in the community risk assessment process, which suggests that there are number of different people who need to be able to operate the toolkit. As there may be any number of people who are required to use a community risk assessment toolkit, we suggest that the development of a new toolkit includes the requirement that is user friendly (i.e. requires little training to become proficient) such that practitioners are able to understand and interpret all data analyses / outputs, and leads to effective and efficient assessment of priorities for community risk.

Exploring FRS requirements

There is a need to explore what FRSs would find useful in a toolkit, to ensure the development of a toolkit that meets FRSs needs. This research should consider current needs, as well as future-proofing needs where possible, in order to mitigate the risk that the toolkit becomes out-of-date.

We suggest conducting research to explore the reasons that FRSs do not currently use the toolkit, to explore the features that FRSs would find useful in a community risk assessment toolkit, and to conduct extensive user experience testing once a prototype has been developed, to ensure that the toolkit operates as expected with FRS personnel across the UK who will be responsible for community risk assessments.

Training requirements

We recommend that training for how to use the toolkit is readily available and unintimidating; training should ideally be available consistently, to ensure that those new to role can be trained as required (although note above that we recommend that this training be accessible and is not time intensive. This will ensure that role changes do not affect the use of the toolkit.