{"id":2500,"date":"2019-06-25T10:36:50","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T10:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthtechnology.co.uk\/?p=2500"},"modified":"2021-12-21T15:08:53","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T15:08:53","slug":"a-chief-fire-officers-experience-of-selecting-new-kit-from-the-collaborative-procurement-framework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/a-chief-fire-officers-experience-of-selecting-new-kit-from-the-collaborative-procurement-framework\/","title":{"rendered":"A Chief Fire Officer&#8217;s Experience of Selecting New Kit from the Collaborative Procurement Framework."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Jason Thelwell is Chief Executive and Chief Fire Officer with Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service. He started out as a firefighter in Cheshire 25 years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen I began my career as a firefighter a quarter of a\ncentury ago, the standard ensemble included rubber leggings and general purpose\ngardening gloves. Thankfully, firefighter PPE has progressed since those days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBucks recently became one of the first fire services to\nreceive brand new kit as part of the Collaborative Procurement Framework. Our\nPPE includes new gold-coloured structural coats and trousers and high-vis\nyellow rescue jackets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of the big changes is the clothing options firefighters\nnow have for different incidents. This has really helped. The other day, I\nnoticed firefighters on the training ground wearing their lighter RTC jackets\nwith their leggings and boots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have not heard a single complaint about the new kit since\nit was introduced. Firefighters seem genuinely pleased with the product\nincluding the colour, durability and greater flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur firefighters were involved in the trialling of the kit,\ngiving feedback to the manufacturers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe used to buy kit in and store it, whereas now the Fire\nAuthority has invested in a fully managed services contract which means Bristol\nUniforms is responsible for the cleaning, repair and maintenance of the kit for\nthe lifetime of the contract. Each firefighter has two sets of kit, meaning one\ncan be in use while the other set is being cleaned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe changing role of the firefighter has also been\nconsidered. While we still attend road traffic incidents and fires, we now\nprovide trauma care at medical emergencies alongside our colleagues from the\nambulance service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe therefore have to be fully prepared for the many\ndifferent scenarios in which we find ourselves and firefighters have to have\nthe confidence that their kit will do what they need it to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDespite budget challenges, we have invested in new PPE as\nwell as new fire engines and cutting gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur firefighters feel valued if they know they have the\nbest kit and equipment. My two biggest requirements are that my firefighters\nfeel safe and have total confidence in what they are wearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI make a lot of watch visits in my role as Chief Fire\nOfficer and I know how satisfied they are on both fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jason Thelwell is Chief Executive and Chief Fire Officer with Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service. He started out as a firefighter in Cheshire 25 years ago. \u201cWhen I began my career as a firefighter a quarter of a century ago, the standard ensemble included rubber leggings and general purpose gardening gloves. Thankfully, firefighter PPE has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,207],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2501,"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500\/revisions\/2501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hainsworthprotectives.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}