The demand for fire and emergency services will never be constant or predictable, and is further pressured by the Government's modernisation agenda and provision of improved services. The key is the people – and how best to deploy and retain them.

As part of the BT Consortium bid for FiRE Control and used by a number of Regional Fire Authorities, SMART's solution for Fire and Emergency automates and streamlines rostering and time and attendance management to meet service and regulatory commitments whilst providing a more flexible, family-friendly working environment to improve staff retention.

The challenge

• Traditional "static" approaches to managing personnel can impair cost efficiency, service and staff retention.
• Legislation and national T&C compliance
• Visibility of staff operations across multiple sites

The SMART solution

• Enables a range of shift patterns for staff that fit the need for cover, based on local risk assessments
• Accurately collects attendance and overtime data to feed directly to payroll and human resources systems without error
• Ensures the right number of fire-fighters, staff and skills are deployed at all times to maximise appliance availability against the Integrated Risk Management Plan
• Automated staff management and administration
• Flexible rostering

The benefits

• Up to 5% reduction in gross labour costs
• A more family-friendly environment, reduced staff turnover and absenteeism
• Controlled management of overtime and temporary staff costs
• Effective management of staff skills among retained fire fighters
• Effortless compliance with Working Time Regulations and local terms and conditions
• Streamlined processes and reduced administrative costs

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