Fire service: 43 proposals for the future of volunteering

Hearings with numerous stakeholders from the civil protection and civic engagement sectors, as well as a direct consultation with volunteer firefighters – which yielded nearly 23,700 responses – provided valuable input for the task force’s work.

Gérard Collomb has therefore tasked the Director-General of Civil Protection and Crisis Management (DGSCGC), Prefect Jacques Witkowski, the task of drawing up an action plan to be presented at the national fire service congress, which is due to take place in Bourg-en-Bresse this coming September.

The list of 43 proposals

1. To solemnly reaffirm volunteering as an altruistic commitment
2. Reject the move towards professionalising voluntary work on a part-time basis.
3. Call on the Government to take the initiative with the European Union to exempt voluntary work from the scope of the Working Time Directive.
4. To commit wholeheartedly to the goal of increasing staff numbers.
5. To recognise, and to act upon this recognition at government level, the role of the fire service as the primary local emergency response force across the country.
6. To reduce the burden on the SPVs for non-urgent rescue operations by putting in place appropriate responses
7. Firefighting should remain a core function of the SPV, but it should no longer be a prerequisite for recruitment (fire safety training)
8. In the field of roadside assistance, register the SPV as an emergency responder and for the rescue of road accident victims
9. Create a recruitment drive by structuring recruitment over the first three years around emergency assistance to individuals (SUAP). (9-1: SUAP for 3 years; 9.2: possibility of local exemptions; 9.3: JSP on all missions; 9.4: Allow all volunteer firefighters access to ranks higher than that of sergeant, regardless of the nature of the missions carried out.)
10. Take decisive action to increase the proportion of women in the workforce.
    1. Implement the 2016 action plan to increase the proportion of women in the workforce
    2. Changing behaviour: breaking down stereotypes, combating any inappropriate comments or behaviour, including sexist or misogynistic harassment, protecting victims of such behaviour, adapting equipment and premises, ending the rule of suspension of employment during maternity leave, and promoting women’s access to positions of responsibility.
11. Step up recruitment efforts in the priority neighbourhoods identified under the urban policy
    1. Involving a firefighter in the citizens’ councils of priority neighbourhoods under the urban policy
    2. Involve the sub-prefects responsible for urban policy in neighbourhoods as ambassadors for volunteering
    3. Launch pilot schemes at SDIS fire stations located in priority neighbourhoods
    4. Mobilise the network of prefects’ representatives to carry out awareness-raising activities in schools
    5. Using the local media network to raise awareness among young people
    6. To promote the civic service programme for firefighters in these neighbourhoods
    7. Establish links with the Ministries of Employment and Overseas Territories to turn EPIDE and RSAM into a source of SPV staff
12. To carry out, in the same way as other organisations involved in community engagement (e.g. the civic service scheme) and citizen-led national security initiatives, regular and ambitious communication campaigns (on television, online and on social media) to promote the recruitment of volunteer firefighters, by pooling resources from the State and the SDIS
13. To engage more closely with potential audiences through initiatives aimed at raising public awareness and educating citizens about risks (in particular, ‘life-saving first aid’ campaigns).
14. To use the future universal national service as a means of promoting engagement and diversifying the recruitment of voluntary service personnel to include under-represented groups.
15. To provide the National Council for Voluntary Firefighters with the statistical and sociological tools it needs to analyse trends in volunteer firefighter engagement, with a view to adapting recruitment policies.
16. To allow the SIS to fund barracks under the Rural Areas Equipment Grant (DETR) scheme
17. Grant SPVs the same incentives as those offered to National Guard reservists (contribution towards the cost of a driving licence, study grant, loyalty bonus, etc.).
18. Take strong measures to encourage public and private sector employers to recruit SPVs, to ensure they are available during working hours, and to promote them
    1. Introduce a more attractive tax or cost-reimbursement scheme extended to all employers, whether in the private, public or voluntary sectors
    2. Increase budgetary allocations and/or reduce contributions to the SDIS from public authorities that have SPV staff among their employees
    3. To extend the provision by the SIS of social security cover for SPVs employed in the civil service in the event of an accident occurring or an illness contracted whilst on duty
    4. Establish schemes to provide financial support, particularly for employees of micro-enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), craftspeople, self-employed workers, professionals, farmers, etc., to cover business losses in the event of an accident or illness sustained whilst on official duty
    5. To protect SPVs who are themselves business owners or self-employed individuals in the sectors mentioned above
    6. Encourage the inclusion of measures to promote the availability of SPVs in collective agreements and sectoral agreements
    7. Arrange an annual meeting between the SIS and each employer of SPV staff who benefit from availability arrangements during their working hours
    8. Extend the scope of the fitness assessments carried out by fire service doctors to benefit the business sector or other relevant areas (to enable reductions in administrative burdens, occupational health, sporting activities, etc.)
    9. To incorporate, as part of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR), a criterion relating to commitment to supporting voluntary fire services, to be taken into account by rating agencies or when awarding public contracts
    10. To streamline, expand and promote all schemes aimed at public and private sector employers: agreements, sponsorship, quality labels and reductions in fire insurance premiums.
19. Establish, within the National Council for Social Services, a body comprising representatives of private-sector employers, tasked with evaluating, promoting and adapting the national policy on service provision agreements and the incentives aimed at promoting employment and the availability of social services
20. Reverse the current approach by taking into account the individual skills of the SPV (recognition of prior learning, etc.) before imposing any training requirements.
21. As part of the reform of the Personal Training Account (CPF), reinstate the recognition of SPV training courses as continuing vocational training under the Labour Code.
22. Grant pension point bonuses to SPVs who have served for more than 15 years.
23. Speed up the integration of SPVs (including in the event of a transfer between SDIS), by organising recruitment drives throughout the year, simplifying recruitment procedures and taking into account, from the outset, the training and skills candidates have already acquired
24. Streamline fitness-for-duty assessment procedures by making the transfer of medical records standard practice where a volunteer firefighter (SPV) holds dual appointments (SPP/SPV, military firefighter/SPV, and SPV in two local fire and rescue services (SDIS)), in order to avoid the need for repeat medical examinations
25. Promoting the JSP pathway as a preferred route to SPV service
    1. Refocusing the initiatives launched under the national partnership agreement concluded on 18 June 2015 between the Ministries of the Interior and National Education on the JSPs, with a view to promoting civic engagement among young people
    2. Widespread adoption of joint training between the SDIS and the UDSP/ADJSP, in order to support the delivery of initiatives and increase the proportion of JSPs who go on to become SPVs.
    3. A push to promote the use of national recognition schemes (recognition of training equivalence to maintain existing qualifications for JSP facilitators, and recognition of equivalence between the role of facilitator and that of community support worker, created as part of the new train-the-trainer programme).
    4. Recognition measures for the JSP: recognition as equivalent to universal national service, and inclusion in support missions carried out by the citizen fire service reserves; inclusion in the calculation of length of service for the Fire Service Medal of Honour and the award of a one-year flat-rate bonus upon obtaining the national JSP certificate; participation in the Republic’s official ceremonies, such as the 14 July parade on the Champs-Élysées
26. Recognise the commitment of JSP youth workers in terms of their role within the fire station and/or through the reimbursement of expenses
27. Increase the use of SPV experts (based on age and aptitude), facilitate their deployment and give them a clearer status (rank insignia) within the departmental police forces
28. Expanding the recruitment of SSSM volunteer staff and broadening their roles
    1. Add to the list of healthcare professionals who may be appointed as SPVs in their professional capacity rather than as experts (psychologists, physiotherapists, etc.)
    2. To promote greater recognition of the added value of being a volunteer firefighter (training and skills maintenance in the field of emergency response; developing recognition of firefighter training in the civilian sector: ECTS, accreditation of prior learning, continuous professional development, and assessment of professional practice).
    3. Enter into agreements with the deans of the faculties of medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacy and psychology, and with nursing training institutes, to systematically present the SSSM’s remit at these institutions, introduce incentives to encourage recruitment, and ensure that the SDIS can serve as a placement venue for trainee doctors (minimum commitment of six months as an SPV doctor or SPV pharmacist at the rank of lieutenant, as provided for by the relevant legislation) in general practice, occupational medicine (fitness for work and preventive medicine), emergency medicine (AMU and medical support for operations) or in hospital pharmacy (in accordance with the decree on in-house pharmacists currently being drafted at the time of submission of this report
    4. Offer to cover (all or part of) the cost of professional registration for doctors, pharmacists, vets or nurses
    5. To make volunteering within the SSSM more attractive compared to the corresponding roles of doctor or nurse within the SAMU and as a reservist within the Armed Forces Health Service (SSA) or the Centre for Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies (EPRUS, part of the Santé publique France agency
    6. To foster the involvement of Armed Forces Health Service personnel as voluntary support staff by implementing the civil-defence agreement planned for 2014
    7. Ensure that the Ministries of the Interior and Solidarity and of Health swiftly finalise (i) the national framework agreement, implemented at regional level between the SIS and the ARS) and/or hospital centres, designed to promote the commitment and availability of hospital staff as volunteer first-aiders (SPV), as provided for in the 2008 SAMU-SIS guidelines, and (ii) to run a targeted communication campaign
    8. In resource-constrained areas, enable ISPVs, following appropriate training, to carry out tasks other than those of the SUAP
    9. Develop practices relating to emergency nursing care protocols (PISU) in order to strengthen this operational response and make the role more attractive to SPV nurses by offering them a more operational role
    10. To enhance the operational appeal of SPV doctors as part of a complementary local response, and to encourage the SDIS to adapt their operational organisation and allow the operational use of personal vehicles (with sirens) within an appropriate legal framework?
29. Ensure the long-term viability of the CPI’s non-integrated Special Purpose Units by adapting their operational commitment, equipment, training and management to the realities of their missions
30. Publish the announced decree authorising firefighters to drive vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes on a Category B driving licence
31. To assist SPVs in their job search, establish or strengthen equivalences between SP training programmes and existing qualifications, and register these programmes in the National Register of Vocational Training Programmes (RNCP)
32. To ensure the equivalence of training programmes in the event of intra- or inter-departmental mobility (single training record).
33. Strengthen training in volunteer management at ENSOSP and across all departmental schools
34. to facilitate access for volunteer firefighters to the chain of command (access for volunteer firefighters to senior officer ranks and the inclusion of one of their own in the SDIS management team)
35. Clearly identify service as a member of the Special Police Unit (SPV) as a priority criterion for access to social housing near the officer’s assigned barracks
36. Strengthen social protection for special police officers by improving cover for accidents whilst on duty
    1. To ensure that social security cover for public service workers is genuinely free of charge and to provide compensation for any losses suffered in the event of an accident or illness whilst on duty
    2. Improving the administrative handling of accidents and illnesses recognised as having occurred whilst on duty. Information campaigns and support provided by the SIS to SPV staff who are disabled or have lost their jobs before their condition has stabilised.
37. Provide financial support and preferential rates to public service organisations (housing, nurseries, school canteens, transport, cultural and sports facilities).
38. To recognise the SPVs in accordance with the extent of their commitment within the framework of national and ministerial orders, on an equal footing with the other internal security forces.
39. To instruct the CNSPV to organise, in the near future, two consultation processes: one aimed at reviewing and harmonising the compensation for on-call duty, and the other at introducing a fixed compensation scheme for on-duty personnel stationed at barracks and on preventive duty
40. Ensure the effective implementation of measures to cap the annual number of hourly allowances received by a SPV
41. To put an end to the procedural irregularities observed in the management of dual roles (‘PRO/VOL’), by henceforth prohibiting an SPP from carrying out SPV duties within their assigned CIS, thereby terminating their entitlement to the PFR.
42. To establish, on a voluntary basis, a reserve fire service responsible for providing logistical support to the public service both on a day-to-day basis and in times of crisis, for public education on prevention and raising awareness of life-saving techniques, and to support the organisation of internal events within the fire service community.
43. To elevate support for voluntary firefighting to the status of a national public policy.