Death In The Workplace Guidance

This page offers guidance and resources to help fire and rescue services understand the actions they should take following the death of a member of fire and rescue service personnel whilst at work.  

A death in the workplace has a devastating impact on that person’s family, friends and colleagues, as well as on the whole of the fire and rescue service. When a death occurs, the fire and rescue service or services involved must manage a wide range of responsibilities and actions.

NFCC Death in the workplace guidance

NFCC Death in the workplace (May 2020) is NFCC’s current guidance for fire and rescue services on how to respond to, manage and investigate a death in the workplace. It covers all actions fire and rescue services should take immediately after the death, in the first few hours and days, and longer term. (This guidance is currently under review).

Additional guidance

Guidance for the Investigation of Firefighter Fatalities arising from Work Activities (April 2015) was produced by the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) (now NFCC), Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2015. Its focus is the investigation of the deaths of fire and rescue personnel whilst at work, including inter-agency liaison. 

Health and Safety Executive – Fire and rescue
These products explain the health and safety duties of fire and rescue services. They include guidance on heroism and how to strike a balance between operational and health and safety duties. 

Investigations into work-related fatal incidents should always be conducted in accordance with the HSE’s Work-related Death Protocol (WRDP) (England and Wales). The protocol clarifies interaction processes should a death occur in premises where the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order applies.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (Scotland): Work-related deaths: A protocol for liaison
Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland: Enforcement Guidelines for Health and Safety at Work in Northern Ireland: Death at Work

Other resources

FirePro’s toolkit Death and Serious Injury in the Workplace: Toolkit for Fire and Rescue Service Communication Teams provides guidance and useful resources for fire and rescue service communications professionals responding to a death in the workplace.