South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

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Fire service proposes digital efficiencies to free up time for firefighters

Paper-based processes will be ditched and technology used more widely in a bid to free up time for firefighters and fire safety officers, a report will recommend.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue will ask its governing Fire Authority to approve recommendations to modernise many of its systems and processes, including the use of one-off reserve funding to fast-track some of the key changes.

The report proposes committing around £680,000 in reserve funding, which has already been committed to support investments which will save the service time and money in the future.

More than half of the money will be used to create more robust back up arrangements for its systems- better safeguarding against cyber attacks which remain one of the biggest national security threats.

Other improvements include digitising the way water hydrants used by firefighters to tackle fires are checked and monitored, an electronic system for recording and maintaining equipment on fire engines and using new data sharing tools to better prioritise safe and well checks for the vulnerable.

Work has already taken place to update the recording of staff sickness, stopping firefighters from having to complete multiple paper forms.

Director of Support Services Stuart Booth, said: “Our firefighters and fire safety officers deliver some brilliant work, but often they are working with old fashioned, paper based systems. We desperately want to modernize and make greater use of technology, to make their lives easier and create more time for them to do what they do best- making local people safer.

“Whilst we can feel safe in the knowledge that our systems and equipment are as safe as they can be, the nature of cyber threats mean that they are constantly changing and evolving, which is why we’re also proposing to boost our back up arrangements so we can seamlessly recover in the event of an attack of this nature.”

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) criticised some fire and rescue services for being slow to modernise their systems and processes, in a report released last year.

South Yorkshire became one of the first fire services in the country to achieve Cyber Essential Plus accreditation last year, further illustrating the measures it has taken to keep its systems and information secure.

The ‘Digital Transformation Roadmap’ will be debated at the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority meeting on Monday 11 February.

This content was last updated on February 01st, 2019