Bullying found in fire service during inspection

Peter Rickard, chief fire officer at Cleveland Fire Brigade, said he could not give an assurance bullying had been rooted out

Bullying and micromanaging have been flagged during an inspection of a fire service.

However, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found that progress had been made at Cleveland Fire Brigade (CFB) since its last inspection in 2022.

Senior leaders encouraged feedback and challenge from all parts of the workforce but there were examples of "bullying, micromanaging and abuse of authority", its report said.

The fire service has "welcomed" the findings of the report and thanked the inspectorate service for its visit.

CFB was inspected on its performance across 11 areas by HMICFRS.

A report, published on Wednesday, rated the service as "requires improvement" in three areas, "good" in four and "adequate" in four.

Inspector Michelle Skeer said: "Overall, there is a clear commitment from staff, including senior leaders, to improve.

"We recognise the brigade is going through significant changes, which are affecting some areas of work.

"I encourage it to continue to improve in the areas we have highlighted."

Work needed

The report said 16% of staff responded to a survey saying they had been subject to bullying or harassment over the last 12 months.

Inspectors did find examples of bullying at a senior manager level but most staff said they had not found any inappropriate behaviour and felt confident they would be able to challenge it if they did.

HMICFRS said work was needed to improve referrals for vulnerable people to partner organisations.

Cleveland Fire Brigade has three areas which require improvement in its latest inspection

Despite the areas of concern, the report stated the service was good at responding to major fires and understanding risk.

HMICFRS said it was "effectively prepared" for responding to major and multi-agency incidents, ready to respond to tall building fires and worked well with other fire and rescue services.

Inspectors found examples of vulnerable people waiting for further help that never came.

Ms Skeer said CFB also needed to "make sure that risk information is accurate and up to date".

She added: "We were pleased to see that the brigade has made progress since our 2022 inspection.

"For example, the brigade has taken steps to better monitor, review and evaluate the benefits of collaborative activity."

'Learn from it'

Asked whether he had rooted out bullying in the service, Cleveland's chief fire officer, Peter Rickard, told the BBC: "I have personally not witnessed it.

"I cannot give you that assurance [it has been]. What I can assure you is if things are highlighted we will address them, we will deal with it and learn from it."

Davy Howe, Fire Brigades Union secretary for Cleveland, said he had doubts steps would be taken.

He said: "I've been a trade union representative for over 20 years and a lot of that time has been spent representing members who have been subjected to bullying and harassment.

"Our major concern is that, in our view, over a number of years nothing has been done to improve the situation."

A CFB spokesperson said it "welcomed the findings of its latest inspection" by HMICFRS.

"The service wishes to thank HMICFRS for their report and all their staff who have contributed and supported the inspection process," they added.