Highways Agency

• Traffic Incident Management Bulletin

April 2008

In order for incident management to be effective there needs to be agreed working practices between incident responders. Additionally, all responders need to be fully aware of each of their counterparts roles during the management of an incident. If this is the case, it provides a solid platform for incident management to be successful. 

There are many cases of inter-agency development going on across the network, for example, 'good practice: the importance of working together' featured in January’s edition of the Bulletin. This article focuses on an initiative currently taking place between the Highways Agency and the West Midlands Fire Service. We feature where the group originated and the opportunities for joint-working which have since been identified.

Fire Service Engine

Exchanging intelligence

The Highways Agency has recently held discussions with members of West Midlands Fire Service's Risk Management Team to assist with the following aims: 

• Increase awareness within the Fire Service of the role of the Traffic Officer Service.
• How the Traffic Officer Service can support the Fire Service when dealing with incidents on the network.

Through the original discussions it became evident that both organisations could assist each other through exchanging their own operational intelligence.

First on the agenda was a discussion about 'incident trends/hotspots' and incident response times.

The Fire Service now plans to use the intelligence gathered from the Highways Agency and other data sources to inform their risk management plan.

Further development for the upcoming year

In order to increase the understanding of the Fire Service's roles and responsibilities and be more pro active with joint initiatives, both organisations plan to organise a number of awareness days.

Putting car fire out on the network

This will involve Traffic Officers attending local fire stations, having a tour of their facilities and observing their briefings.

It is anticipated that these sessions will help increase each other's awareness of their incident management processes and also provide a chance to view, at close quarters, the types of specialist equipment they use.

Preliminary discussions have taken place with the West Midlands Fire Service and it is anticipated that this initiative will be formalised in the near future. Likewise, the West Midlands Traffic Officer Service is keen to forge other 'excellent' relationships with their other fire service counterparts covering their network. This will include:

• Staffordshire
• Warwickshire
• Leicestershire
• Hereford and Worcester

The Bulletin will keep you updated with the group's progress and any good practice that originates from it.

Summary

Strong awareness of other incident responders operations and those within your supply chain is critical to successful multi-agency incident management. Through developing working relationships - awareness and operational integration will come naturally and have an instant impact when incident scene operations commence.

This is collaborated further by David Page, West Midlands Service Development Manager:

"The relationship building process between the Traffic Officer Service and West Midlands Fire Service is essential so that both parties remain fully aware of each others domain. In turn this develops working relationships on road and helps us strive towards incident management excellence, and delivering best value to our customers."

Are you or your organisation involved in a similar group? If so, why not share your experiences with the TIM Bulletin and any innovative best practice which may have arisen as a result. Please e-mail TIMbulletin@highways.gsi.gov.uk with your ideas.

Many thanks to the following for their input to this article:

• Chris Rushton, Highways Agency, Regional Intelligence Unit
• David Page, Highways Agency, Service Development Manager
• Vikki Sharpe, West Midlands Fire Service