Evaluation of Home Fire Safety Checks Program: Firefighter Perspectives: for Fire & Rescue New South Wales, Report 2

Research output: Book/Research ReportResearch report

Abstract

The Home Fire Safety Checks (HFSC) program entails the proactive delivery of home fire safety messages and products to households in their homes. The process involves fire fighters canvassing households directly in their homes by using a two-step approach: the delivery of postcards informing residents that they will be in the area within a short time and then door-knocking and offering the program. The HFSC program is still in its early stages of delivery in New South Wales. This evaluation has obtained feedback and input from frontline firefighters that have delivered the program and those that have not using an on-line survey of FRNSW’s firefighters. This is the fourth component of the evaluation with Report 1 submitted in June 2016 contained the findings from three of the four components of the evaluation: a literature and policy review, key stakeholder interviews, and focus group interviews with firefighters. This final report comprises the results of survey of firefighters undertaken between 16th of December 2016 to 5 February 2017. A total of 578 respondents completed the survey consisting of 60% firefighters or leading firefighters and 29% station commanders. They were predominantly male and aged on average 45 years. The survey asked a number of questions to obtain information on the different aspects of FRNSW jobs prior to questioning them on community safety activities and HFSC specifically. Respondents to the survey stated that all things considered, 81% were satisfied or most satisfied with their job. The work itself and what they did was what they were most content with. Education or training in community safety was undertaken as part of their job at FRNSW by 184 out of 559 respondents with another 51 answering “maybe” they did. In terms of involvement in community engagement programs within the last 12 months, almost all stated that they had participated in a number of activities with Smoke Alarm and Battery Replacement (SABRE) being the most undertaken. On average, 10% of paid time was spent by respondents directly on undertaking community safety activities. In terms of the HFSC program, 87% of survey respondents stated that they had heard of the program and another 5% said “maybe”. In terms of involvement, 187 out of 501 have been involved and another 27 were unsure or replied “maybe”. For 63 firefighters stated that their involvement was by being part of the team that undertook deployment of HFSC and 161 by attending training sessions. Another 25 stated that they have been involved by opposing the HFSC program. In reply to the question on their experience with the HFSC program, 102 stated that they believed that the program was well designed with 46 of them stating it works well and the other 56 stating that it needs improvement. The program was identified to have some benefits to recipients and was good use of funds by 70 respondents but 49 stated that it has some benefits but it is a waste of funds. Not all firefighters with FRNSW, permanent or retained, have been involved in the HFSC program. It was important to determine their views on the reasons for non-participation and overall opinion of the program. The primary reason given for non-involvement is not having received the training for the program followed by not having the equipment or material that is needed. For firefighters that stated that they have the training and equipment, fifty-five responses were that they didn’t personally support the program as it is not what they signed up for; it is too risky; or due to the union ban. A number of barriers for HFSC implementation were detailed by survey respondents. These are access to the required resources and training; attitudes and commitment to the program; language and cultural factors; lack of community awareness of the program; and perceived riskiness. A number of aspects were identified to be important enablers for the HFSC implementation. These were acceptance of community safety activities; HFSC being an extension of existing community safety programs such as SABRE; availability of online training; and increase in pre-incident planning to residential fires. Overall, the HFSC program is being viewed by firefighters as an extension to the existing and well-established SABRE, Home Fire Safety Audit (HFSA), and electronic Pre-Incident Planning System (ePIP). Over the time period of this evaluation from the initial stakeholder interviews to the survey, lessened resistant comments were noted and greater acceptance of the program and its intention.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationPenrith, N.S.W.
PublisherWestern Sydney University
Number of pages33
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • dwellings
  • fires and fire prevention

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