The Problem
Staffordshire fire service has always required information when being sent on operations. The issue arises when this information has to be sent from the station to the team responding to the call. It is neither efficient nor practical for officers to waste time looking for a physical file which can potentially lead to casualties and fatalities as a result of the lost time. Following several tragic incidents in recent times and the subsequent findings, there were lessons to be learned. Staffordshire Fire Service undertook a review of what risk information was available and how it was provided to its crews on operations. A system which allows for the easy and efficient sharing of information from stations to operation teams became a necessity. That’s where WRM comes in.
The Solution
Staffordshire fire service contacted Lampada and asked us to produce software to facilitate the sharing of information between their teams. Lampada worked with the SFRS to create a program which fit their needs so well that it sparked the interest of other fire service teams around the country.
The result is a progressive web app, named Web Risk Management, which has become the service’s PORIS(Provision of Operational Risk Information System), used by its firefighters to record site specific risk information (SSRI) about non domestic properties and buildings across the county as well as other risk categories such as water risks, external storage/waste sites and wildfire/woodland risks. This information is then automatically available to crews via mobile data terminals (MDTs) on appliances as soon as they have submitted the survey, if they are then required to attend an incident at any of the properties entered onto the system. The type of information recorded includes storage of chemicals and explosives, building layouts and locations of hydrants/other water sources and is configurable to allow for local, regional and national trends and lessons learned to keep our firefighters as safe as possible.
Staffordshire FRS Watch Manager commented: “We’ve welcomed the app as it is a massive improvement on the previous system. The biggest advantage is that as soon as the data is submitted it is available in a draft version on the MDTs. Previously you had to wait for the information to be inputted electronically and then approved. Now though the information is immediately available and even in its draft formats it is more beneficial than going to an incident with outdated information or even none at all.
In the 4 years since the initial product launch there has been an increase from 23 risk management files to 6000+ currently in the system. The system saw rapid adoption by operational crews under the SFS umbrella, all 33 stations across the county use WRM with many praising its forward-thinking nature. During the recent HMICFRS inspections, users were able to give an extensive demo of the software to investigators with confidence with good feedback. As a replacement for the previous paper-based solution, WRM has undoubtedly increased the efficiency of operations at SFRS.
Gives immediate access to relevant information
“Web Risk Management gives immediate access to timely, accurate information and is an overall user friendly product.”