Humberside Fire and Police team up to work smarter in 2017
A fire engine and police bikes in the workshop.
HUMBERSIDE Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) has developed a system to give their staff an opportunity to suggest ways in which the organisation can improve, become more efficient and innovative.
Based on a traditional ‘suggestion box’, staff can submit ideas for consideration to a new group called the What If? Innovation Forum.
However, rather than posting ideas in a box never to be seen again, staff from all roles and ranks, operational and support, were asked to form the What If? Forum and external partners from Humberside Police were also invited to join. The first meeting saw ten suggestions being made by Fire Service 
staff. It quickly became apparent that having members of the Police on the Innovation Forum highlighted the numerous ways in which the two organisations could work more closely together and deliver solutions to benefit both. Previous collaborations have included the bringing together of police and fire vehicle workshops under a new company known as Emergency Services Fleet Management Limited. The brand new state of the art facility outside Hull has already realised savings of around £300K. Whilst not all ideas will deliver this level of efficiency, the What If? Forum is encouraging its members to 'think big' and that no idea is a bad idea.
The What If? Innovation Forum receives ideas via email, submitted suggestions on the What If? internal intranet page or by direct presentation from the member of staff at a forum meeting.
In addition to suggestions, the What If? Forum host collaboration events twice a year. The event is arranged to get front line staff together to discuss joint-working opportunities. The first collaboration event saw 80 staff from police and fire attend a workshop session with the most high demand problems for both organisations being presented and discussed. The most popular and innovative ideas from the day which had the potential to solve the high demand problems, were reported back to both organisations for possible implementation.
As a result of its success, Humberside Police have now adopted the What If? Innovation Forum process and has implemented similar methods for submitting ideas. The HFRS What If? branding and logo was designed by a firefighter on the Innovation Forum and a version is now being used by Humberside Police in their corporate blue.
A number of positive projects have already come out of the What If? Innovation Forum. A joint initiative to eradicate arson and breaking and entering into derelict properties has been set up, as well as the submission of a joint bid for a shared project team to solve the barriers to intelligence sharing at operational level. There are more ideas for ways to work collaboratively in the What If? pipe-line and innovative suggestions continue to be encouraged in Humberside.
