Avon Fire & Rescue Service

Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AF&RS) serves the communities of the Avon area and has 21 fire stations across the region. Like all the fire and rescue services in the UK, the service responds to emergency incidents such as fires, road traffic collisions, floods, and severe weather events, as well as promoting fire safety and prevention within the community.

Background

The AF&RS Vulnerable Adults Team supports members of the public by providing a service aimed at proactively preventing fires from occurring in people’s homes. The dedicated team handles outbound and inbound queries and bookings for home fire safety visits.

Due to the nature of the team’s hugely important work, most of the conversations they have are with individuals who are vulnerable in some way. As a result, the team must carefully navigate the difficult task of managing the many challenges vulnerability brings, while still delivering an excellent service.

The escalating cost of living crisis and other post-pandemic realities of life have increased the number and frequency of high-emotion and challenging interactions for the team. Because of this, the need for specialised training in Vulnerability Customer Care was identified to help them better support their customers and look after themselves.

Solution

AF&RS approached BPA to devise a customised one-day workshop to meet these needs.

With a suite of well-established and highly effective training solutions, BPA was quickly able to develop an action-centred workshop on vulnerability, fully tailored to AF&RS’s specific setting and needs. The workshop drew on the team’s existing high levels of expertise to explore the many ways vulnerability can present. BPA’s trainers then assessed what could be done to tailor assistance to each individual, to help those at risk of impact from their vulnerable circumstances, while consistently delivering the best possible service.

The face-to-face course was delivered at AF&RS’s dedicated training centre in Avonmouth.

Result

The workshop was extremely well-received by those that attended, and a sample of feedback includes:

• “Firstly, would like to say that Helen and Sophia were incredible facilitators. They were both knowledgeable about the subject and kept the course going at a good rate with plenty of opportunities for us all to participate in exercises and give examples to the group. Secondly, the course was really good and pitched just right to keep my attention all the time as I normally hate learning through PowerPoint courses!! I definitely came away with a lot of food for thought going forward into my new role within the Service and with outside contact! Thank you.”
• “I felt the facilitation of the course was really good, and I enjoyed it. Learnt a lot and the facilitators adapted for our knowledge base.”
• “Excellent workshop – thank you!”

Emma Williams, Vulnerable Adults Team Leader, Service Delivery Prevention, AF&RS, said, “It is essential that our team responds effectively and empathetically to the more vulnerable member of our community and ensure that they can remain safe in their homes, particularly in this challenging climate.

“This training was vital for us in achieving the best possible service for those we serve. The team really enjoyed the workshop, with one even saying it was the best training they had ever been on. They especially liked the fact that the training wasn’t purely focussed on the vulnerable customers but also made us think about our own wellbeing. I would readily recommend this training for others in similar roles.”