An independent peer review of the island’s fire service has made 15 recommendations for improvements.

These are focused on improving and modernising the service in line with UK standards.

One of the biggest issues identified within the island service was resourcing, with officers on-island often having multiple roles or responsibilities given the nature of a smaller service.

As part of this, the review recommended looking at staff workloads, as well as providing greater stability to staff by ensuring the service does not have people in interim posts.

The government said: ‘Other recommendations included developing a risk management plan that reflects and responds to the island’s foreseeable risk, reviewing critical incident command roles to ensure staff aren’t overstretched, and working with the government to improve IT, HR and fleet services to ensure staff have the support to deliver essential services to the community.’

However, the peer review also praised staff for their passion and dedication to protecting our island community.

A group of senior fire and rescue officers from across the UK, led by an officer from the Local Government Association (LGA), visited the island in January 2023 to undertake the review.

The peer group found that the IOMFRS leadership was aware of the challenges faced in delivering a modern service on an island, geographically isolated in relation to other fire and rescue services.

The report highlighted the flexibility of the service with its ‘unique operating model’ where officers are responsible for delivering maintenance and engineering support for essential equipment.

The government explained the peer team were ‘pleased to hear’ about teams taking their own initiative in making improvements and following some UK practices.

This included the introduction of a dedicated prevention team to work with other safeguarding agencies to protect the island’s vulnerable.

They also highlighted the positive relationships and trust between front line and senior officers and the Department of Home Affairs.

Interim chief fire officer Mark Christian said: ‘I’m immensely pleased at the recognition our staff have received in this review by our UK counterparts.

‘We’re always striving to improve the service, to make sure that we’re keeping everyone on the island safe in the best way we can.

‘We are already working towards some of the recommendations that have been made, so it’s reassuring that we’re heading in the right direction.’

John Wannenburgh is a department member with delegated responsibility for Fire and Rescue Services.

He added: ‘This voluntary peer review process has been incredibly useful in highlighting where our island’s fire and rescue service is thriving, and for helping to identify some of the steps that we can take to make improvements.’

The full report is available to read on the government’s website, under ‘Fire and Rescue Service’.