Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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254. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will commit to undertaking a risk assessment in relation to the Keeping Communities Safe document and the impact these changes will have on the safety of firefighters and other persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9707/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Keeping Communities Safe (KCS), was published as national policy in February 2013, and is intended to keep fire safety and fire services in Ireland in line with international best practice. KCS sets down national norms and standards against which local authorities can benchmark their fire services. KCS underpins current good practice in relation to both fire-fighter and public safety, with a view to achieving consistent, quality and effective services.

If a fire service intends to introduce any significant change which could impact on employee safety, under Section 19 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work legislation, they are required as employers to carry out risk assessments of changes to work activities.

Managing worker safety is integrated into activity of all kinds in fire services, from the standards and processes used in recruitment, the initial training given, the kind of special appliances and equipment used, the personal protective equipment, the on-going training, the instructions, supervision and reviews carried out. Maintenance, as well as auditing and inspection of activity, are also key factors in ensuring that fire services comply consistently with statutory duties.

Guidance on relevant aspects of risk assessment for fire services has been issued by my Department to fire authorities to assist them in meeting the legislative requirement. The Fire Services Ancillary Safety Statement, issued in 2007, provided guidance on preparing risk assessments, and meeting the legislative requirement for normal workplaces. The National Incident Command System set out guidance for incident commanders on use of Dynamic Risk Assessment (DRA) at fire service operations. Standard Operational Guidance (SOG), which forms the basis for preparing for specified operational incident types, was issued to fire services in a number of tranches between 2010 to 2012. Each of the 47 SOGs issued contained a risk assessment summary, related to the topic of the specific SOG. More recently, the 2014 guidance, Managing Safety in Fire Services, was issued to align safety, health and welfare in fire services with general local government safety management systems.

All of these documents are available for downloading on my Department’s website: -