Re: Grant Funded Research
In line with NFCC vision to achieve more together, we have accessed grant funding through the Home Office to undertake a research project entitled the Future Firefighter. This research is focused on our station wear and personal protective equipment (structural firefighting garments) to ensure that these meet the needs of our ever widening field of operations, ensuring firefighter safety is maintained at the core of our requirement over the medium to long term.
The research which will be undertaken by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) will also look towards new innovative designs for a singular national uniform that within its design demonstrate our inclusivity, promoting recruitment and retention from our diverse communities.
This research will explore a multitude of issues, such as our diverse range of incident types and the concerns around fire contaminants; as well as looking to modern garment thinking, designs and technologies that could be utilised to make our station wear and PPE more functional for our day to day activities whilst promoting a National brand that delivers the expectations of our communities.
The research will seek to encompass the many experiences and thoughts from all interested parties; from our strategic teams through to our end users and members of the public. It is most likely that many of these conversations will be through remote webinars, but will equally include face to face meetings where practical. The co-ordination of these meetings will be undertaken in partnership with the NFCC PPE and Clothing committee who are leading on this research project on behalf of the sector.
The regional structure and membership of the NFCC PPE and Clothing committee, that includes accredited representatives and nationally recognised staff groups, will form the basis of the consultation process which will allow for a representation from every fire service in the UK. Equally there will also be opportunities for various NFCC committees to be involved.
In the coming weeks the project team will be circulating more information on the project and arranging the consultation webinars through the PPE and clothing committee structure. At this stage I urge you all to ensure your teams are engaged in this project and that the views of your services are clearly expressed.
Further details can be obtained from the vice-chair of the NFCC PPE and Clothing committee Brett Egan-Briers Brett.egan-briers@kent.fire-uk.org
Mark Hardingham QFSM
NFCC Chair