Hertfordshire firefighter felt punished for exposing failures

Tim Deegan was disciplined by Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service after exposing flaws in an IT system

A former firefighter said he was punished for exposing failures in an IT system which he claimed was putting lives at risk.

Tim Deegan was disciplined by Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service after flagging faults to a union colleague.

He accused the service of a "backlash" and an employment tribunal found he was treated unlawfully.

A spokesman for the service said it recognised the tribunal decision.

The employment tribunal in January centred around the Vision 4 system - at the time operated by Capita - used in control rooms for taking 999 calls and mobilising fire appliances.

Mr Deegan, who was the health and safety union representative based in Hitchin, sought assurances that problems faced by another fire brigade had been resolved before the system went live in Hertfordshire.

But the system was "crashing, left, right and centre" as soon as it went live in November 2017, he said, with "hundreds of failures" which led him to issue a safety critical notice to his managers.

Tim Deegan was formerly based at Hitchin

In January 2020, Mr Deegan said there was a "complete communications failure" in Hertfordshire and Humberside, where the system had also been set up.

There were "basically no phones, no computers, no radios" and failures were putting lives at risk, he said.

At this point, he sought advice via email from his union line manager, based in the neighbouring Bedfordshire service.

Hertfordshire's then chief fire officer, Darryl Keen, sent a letter in February 2020 expressing "disappointment" about the timing of him putting in a second safety critical notice.

In March 2020, gross misconduct disciplinary proceedings began against Mr Deegan, alleging that he shared documents and breached data protection rules.

Mr Deegan was warned he could lose his job, and despite downgrading the sanction to a written warning, an employment tribunal found "the decision to class the alleged misconduct as gross misconduct was without justification".

Vision 4 is used in control rooms for taking 999 calls and mobilising fire appliances

He was "treated unlawfully in relation to an important role that he plainly took very seriously", the tribunal concluded, awarding him £6,000.

"The warning undermined him in that important role and we accept the claimant's evidence that he was very upset to be punished for what he believed to be the performance of his duties as a health and safety representative," it added.

Mr Deegan said the system was "putting people at risk, both firefighters and the public and it was putting members of control under a huge amount of stress having to deal with this".

"I think it was a bit childish and it was a backlash. They didn't like the fact that I had basically done my job and exposed this," he added.

A spokesman for Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "We recognise the decision of the tribunal and will be working with colleagues to ensure that any future disciplinary processes do not fall short of the standards expected as they did in this specific case.

"There is no doubt there were challenges with Vision 4 when it was placed live, but the system now is much more stable and has performed well during, for example, the busiest period in [our] history last summer when we dealt with hundreds of grass and wildfires."

Mr Keen said he accepted the tribunal's findings, adding: "My priority at all times was to ensure the best outcomes for residents and staff.

"I was aware of the issues with Vision 4 which is why I was leading the project as the service's most senior officer and working to resolve them."

Capita said it was unable to comment on the employment tribunal and it sold the Vision 4 programme in 2021.