The London Fire Brigade (LFB) must improve the way it responds to incidents and tackle “deeper-seated problems” such as bullying and discrimination, a watchdog has found.
The latest report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found that some responders were not trained on how to deal with terrorist incidents, while inspectors found that the Brigade’s values “are not displayed by all staff”.
While the report acknowledges that the LFB’s leadership “recognises the scale of its challenges and is determined to improve”, HMICFRS inspector Matt Parr said, “this has not yet been matched by wide scale improvements” and has not resulted in a better service for Londoners.
The LFB’s response to last week’s heatwave which saw fires rage throughout London was praised by the report, though Mr Parr said that “beneath the surface, deeper-seated problems remain”.
He said that staff had spoken of “discriminatory treatment” and that many were not confident of reporting concerns or challenging colleagues’ behaviour “for fear of detrimental treatment by others”.
The report also revealed that there had been “slow progress” on providing suitable facilities for women at fire stations.
Responding to the report, LFB Commissioner Andy Roe said the Brigade was “at the start of a very long journey” and that change in a large organisation such as the LFB “takes time”.
He said: “Change needs to start from within and it is my aim to ensure that staff feel comfortable and safe in their place of work. I will not tolerate any form of bullying or hostility towards anyone, it is my aim to eradicate this kind of behaviour from the Brigade.
“Our staff have been working tirelessly to improve our working practices and adopt new policies so that we can provide a better service to the communities of London.”
He added that Londoners “deserve to feel safe in their homes and places of work” and that “we owe it to them to improve our service and deliver what they need from us”.
Tam McFarlane, national officer for the Fire Brigades Union, said the report makes it “blatantly clear” that there are “serious issues when it comes to the management culture of fire and rescue services”.
The HMICFRS report said that senior leaders within the Brigade were “not always” found to be demonstrating the values and behaviours expected of them.
LFB has been asked to undertake a review of the processes designed to deal with bullying and discrimination and implement improvements by the end of August.
In addition to cultural issues within the Brigade, the HMICFRS report also concluded that LFB needed to improve the way it responds to fires and other emergencies.
In particular, the report found that home fire safety visits were not being prioritised by level of risk, while too much time and too many resources were being wasted responding to false alarms.
Of the 96,702 incidents responded to in 2020/21, almost half were false alarms, the majority of which were caused by automatic fire alarms.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The mayor welcomes the findings of the new HMICFRS report and is satisfied that the Brigade and Commissioner recognise the scale of the task at hand, are open to change and committed to delivering the improvements needed.”
