Operational
More than just a rescue challenge
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In anticipation of this year’s UK Rescue Organisation challenge, hosted by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, FIRE talks to UKRO Chair Steve Apter who reflects on the organisation’s achievements so far and shares his strategy for its future direction
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UKFRO Chair Steve Apter
“UKRO has grown
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26 | July/August 2016 | www.fire–magazine.com
realised that the UKRO approach and experience can help them. This is why UKRO created the International Development Programme. It engages with governments and other organisations to work out what is required and establish a working relationship that sees costs covered and skills shared across the world. UKRO has grown organically and is a place where those who are passionate about the world of combined rescue and medical care can get together to share, learn and develop. However, if it does want to be more than just an organisation that puts on challenges to serve the needs of those specialists working in the field, a rethink is required. Part of that rethink has been a change in the way that the organisation is structured. Previously, UKRO was a company limited by guarantee. It served its purpose in that it allowed the organisation to receive money, buy services and limit the liabilities of those involved. After considerable discussion within the leadership of UKRO, it has now taken on charitable status and will wind up the limited company.
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he organisation behind the rescue challenge is changing. “The challenge is a vehicle by which we can do other things,” says Steve, who is now back at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service after his secondment to East Sussex. He heads up UKRO in a voluntary capacity and has been involved in UKRO and its predecessor for over 20 years. UKRO, the UK Rescue Organisation, has been around a long time. Steve talks about the 1980s when there was no statutory duty to rescue people from road traffic accidents and there was certainly no kit around to do this kind of work. The World Rescue Organisation (WRO) was formed in the late 1990s with the first rescue challenges run by teams of enthusiasts from around the world. The first official World Rescue Challenge was held in Scotland in 2000. UKRO was one of the four founder members of the WRO. Dave Webb, retired Chief Fire Officer of Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, was the first chair of UKRO, which was established in 1999. It started off with a focus on extrication then adding in trauma challenge and more recently line rescue, USAR and water rescue. The intention behind UKRO was to provide opportunities for emergency personnel to test their skills and learn new ones. Inevitably this involves equipment and manufacturers found a source of keen interest in using their equipment in real-life simulations that in turn assist their own product development. It is a win-win in many ways. It is clearly a good way to exercise teams in anticipation of real-life response situations for individual fire and rescue services. The opportunity to work with other organisations as if in the live incident environment is invaluable. Standards are an important aspect of UKRO’s work and these have been developed over many years. The Institution of Fire Engineers accredits assessors and volunteers and validates the continuing professional development activities provided by UKRO. Steve says: “Involvement in UKRO activities offers participants the opportunity to advance their own professional skills”. And it is not just UK fire and rescue services that are benefitting here, other countries have
organically and is a place where those who are passionate about the world of combined rescue and medical care can get together to share, learn and develop”
Charitable Status “Being a registered charity fits far better with the values of UKRO, which are to advance professional rescue,” says Steve. Moving to charitable status has provided the opportunity to recast what UKRO is all about. The Charity Commission requires all charities to set down a series of charitable objects and for UKRO they have come up with an interesting mix of professional awareness, training and best practice with an outward look at the education of the public. The board of trustees is being formed and will include representation from many fire and rescue services across the UK. Underneath the board is a management team chaired by Steve Apter and assisted by a small number of director posts covering education, international development, organisational development, marketing, communications, media, the rescue challenges, finance and legal. Currently, UKRO does not have full-time staff, but running an organisation on volunteers is hard work so part of Steve’s ambition for UKRO