What we do

We are in the business of keeping people safe and believe that our long term success is founded on our ability to manage our risks. The way we do this is simple: we adopt a balanced approach of prevention, protection and emergency response.

Prevention

One of the biggest factors in the number of incidents that we attend is how people behave.  This includes people at home, at work, the elderly and the young. We believe that by influencing and changing behaviours the number of incidents can be reduced, along with the number of injuries and fatalities. That’s why we provide a range of activities to educate and advise our communities and help prevent incidents.

Protection

Our protection services are at the heart of improving business safety across Cleveland, and focus on delivering the Authority’s duty to enforce the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Through enforcement, risk management and arson reduction.

Emergency Response

No-one can predict when an emergency will happen and what type of incident will occur.  That’s why we are ready to respond to every situation and ensure the right number of trained firefighters, with the right equipment, is sent to effectively tackle the incident. Making sure there is the lowest possible risk to lives, businesses and property.  We deal with a wide range of emergencies e.g.  fires, road traffic collisions, water rescue and rescues at height.

When emergency incidents do occur, we respond to them with well trained staff, using modern methods and equipment.  We provide a truly professional and integrated service for all our communities across Cleveland.

Statutory Functions

Our statutory functions come from three main pieces of legislation:

  • The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004: the promotion of fire safety; preparation for fire-fighting; protecting people and property from fires, rescuing people from road traffic collisions; and dealing with other emergencies such as flooding or terrorist attack.
  • The Civil Contingencies Act 2004: working with others to develop and implement emergency and business continuity Plans.
  • The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005: places the responsibility for Fire Safety in commercial premises with the owner/occupier and makes it a duty for them to carry out a fire risk assessment. The Authority is responsible for enforcement of the Order via its risk based inspection programme.

The Secretary of States’ blueprint of priorities and objectives for fire and rescue services is set out in its document the ‘Fire and rescue national framework for England’.

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