South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

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Home 2023 September

Month: September 2023

Life changing opportunity for young people in South Yorkshire

Posted on by Gregory Mattock-Evans

Young people across South Yorkshire are being given the opportunity to change their lives thanks to the county’s police and fire services.

South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue will once again be teaming up to deliver the ‘life-changing’ Prince’s Trust Team Programme course later this month (September 2023) and will also run in January and March next year.

This is a course for people who are between 16 and 25-years-old and not currently in work or full-time education.

Lasting 12 weeks in total, the programme gives young people the chance to meet new friends, gain personal confidence and develop a wide range of life-skills.

Importantly, it involves work placements that give the youngsters valuable experience and contacts – with lots of previous participants landing meaningful work afterwards.

Rhian Oxley,  currently team leader for the South Yorkshire Prince’s Trust Programme, said: “Over the years these courses have changed hundreds of young lives. There is so much to gain from it in terms of news skills, new friends and vital work experience.

“On top of all that – it’s a lot of fun!”

The Team Programme is full-time, 9:30am – 3:30pm, Monday – Friday at Barnsley Fire Station, and is completely free and will not affect any benefits.

Feel inspired? You can register your interest here

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue urge businesses to make fire safety a priority

Posted on by Gregory Mattock-Evans

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue will be offering small and medium sized businesses a range of advice during the National Fire Chiefs Council’s (NFCC’s) Business Safety Week, which runs from 11th – 17th September.

The week aims to help businesses understand their fire safety responsibilities so they remain safe, legal, and compliant. Many fires in the workplace are preventable and some businesses never recover after a fire. Helping businesses to manage their fire risks and hazards, and potentially to save lives and safeguard their businesses against financial and commercial loss is of key importance.

Simple measures to reduce risks of a fire starting and ensuring staff know how to respond in the right way can help to keep people safe and makes business sense. At this time of year many businesses will be preparing for the Christmas period and may also be impacted by the cost of living crisis. It’s important that businesses consider the risk of fire in any changes they make and ensure all staff are aware of fire safety in the workplace.

From 1st October new fire safety legislation comes into effect in England and Wales. This will mean that many businesses and building owners need to check if and how this affects them to ensure they are complying with the regulations. The main changes are:

  • All businesses will need to record a fire risk assessment and fire safety arrangements in full – regardless of the number of employees, and size or type of business.
  • There are increased requirements for cooperation and coordination between Responsible Persons in multi occupied buildings or those where the occupier and owner are not the same person.
  • In residential buildings with two or more domestic premises residents must be provided with information on the risks from fire and the fire safety measures provided to keep them safe.

The campaign week will highlight these changes and highlight the advice that name of FRS can provide to ensure they remain complaint with the law.

There’s plenty of advice and support for businesses from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service so we encourage anyone that has questions or may not be sure about fire safety to contact us so we can help.

Gavin Tomlinson, NFCC’s Protection and Business Safety Committee Chair, said: “Fire and rescue services are committed to helping all types of businesses reduce the risk of fire in the workplace and be compliant with fire safety law. We don’t expect businesses to be experts that’s’ why we are here to provide help and advice. We encourage any business to work with their fire service to help prevent fires to help them remain productive, safe and legal.”