Equipment
Theme 8
Equipment
Last updated: 08 July 2021
Recommendation
33.21a
That the London Fire Brigade urgently take steps to obtain equipment that enables firefighters wearing helmets and breathing apparatus to communicate with the bridgehead effectively, including when operating in high-rise buildings.
Progress date:
November 2023
Responsible for completion:
- London Fire Brigade
Progress
Status
The LFB has reported that this recommendation is in progress.
The LFB is working on four workstreams to improve radio communications between the breathing apparatus crews and the bridgehead, including when operating in high rise buildings. These four are: the Radio Replacement Workstream, Radio Repeaters Replacement Workstream, Training Workstream and Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) Replacement Workstream.
The previously forecasted completion date was January 2024. However, in addition to delays in equipment delivery, a number of quality assurance issues have arisen at a late stage within the Breathing Apparatus equipment stocks which the supplier has accepted full responsibility for. Whilst the supplier has moved quickly to rectify these issues, as a consequence of the issues experienced over the course of delivery of the equipment, some frontline operational staff have voiced concerns about confidence in this risk critical equipment. This has also been raised formally by the London Region of the Fire Brigades Union. LFB is continuing to work through the identified quality assurance issues to ensure that all components are replaced under warranty by the supplier in accordance with contractual arrangements.
As a consequence, the London Fire Commissioner has taken a decision to roll back the “Go live” date, to ensure that Firefighter safety is not compromised, to allow additional time for the consolidation of training, and to increase the confidence of Firefighters. The rolled back Go Live date will be on or before 24th March 2024. This situation will be kept under review.
Recommendation
33.21b
That urgent steps be taken to ensure that the command support system is fully operative on all command units and that crews are trained in its use.
Responsible for completion:
- London Fire Brigade
Progress
Status
London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed.
The London Fire Brigade has installed new hardware servers on all its Command Units, and 4G connectivity has provided enhanced functionality and reliability of the command support system. The Command Units are also each provided with two 4G enabled laptops to provide resilience and support more flexible access to the command support system remote from the Command Unit.
All Command Unit staff have undertaken refresher training.