Drop jargon and speak in language we understand! (From Worcester News)

Drop jargon and speak in language we understand!

11:10pm Friday 23rd July 2010 in

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THE county’s fire service needs to stop using “corporate speech” and “jargon” to allow members of the public to understand their plans, a union has said.

We previously reported in your Worcester News how the Hereford and Worcester Fire Service has produced a draft of its integrated risk management plan (IRMP) for 2011/12 which is open for public consultation until September.

The plan, which the service states is their “set of strategic objectives to realign our resources to the areas of greatest risk within our community”, includes a review of the recent changes in technology and looking at the need for a third engine at Worcester, Hereford and Redditch.

Peter Hope, of Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigades Union, said some of the language used in in the IRMP is deliberately confusing and has urged people to tell the service which recomendations they do not understand.

He said: “The fire service today lives in a world of ‘blue horizon scanning’, ‘windows of opportunities’, and ‘mission critical tasking’ – a world where all of us are told ‘you’re not qualified to have an opinion, you must leave it to the experts’.

“The starting point is to recognise knowledge frees you and that is very, very important, the second is realising the techniques used to control you.

“They’re very simple – to frighten you, to divide you, then to demoralise you.”

It was announced on Tuesday the fire service in Warwickshire will be closing three stations – in Warwick, Brinklow and Studley – despite more than 50,000 objections from members of the public.

Mr Hope said the IRMP proposals could see a similar course of action in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. He said: “Although the Hereford and Worcester IRMP does not recommend fire stations closures, it does recommend that a review is taken into our fire cover and response arrangements.

“It is clear that members of the public do not comprehend the meaning of this recommendation and others. It could mean the loss of three pumps.

“We would urge residents of Hereford and Worcester to obtain a copy of the consultation document, fill them in and return them.

“For those who do not understand it, then simply put that.”

Brigadier Peter Jones, chairman of the fire authority, said: “These are only draft proposals at this stage and it’s vital that we gauge people’s opinions.” A copy of the IRMP consultation document can be found online at hwfire.org.uk.