Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service is working to support people with disabilities, both in the workplace and in the communities we serve.
We define disability as: “A physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities.” The Service understands that disabilities can affect many people and covers a wide range of conditions of which some are not visible. In the workplace, the Service has committed to making reasonable adjustments to support employees with disabilities, making sure that individuals are not seriously disadvantaged when doing their jobs. Reasonable adjustments can include:
- making physical changes e.g. installing a ramp for a wheelchair user or an audio-visual fire alarm for a deaf person
- letting a person with disabilities work somewhere else e.g. on the ground floor for a wheelchair user
- changing their equipment e.g. providing a special keyboard if they have arthritis
- allowing employees who become disabled to make a phased return to work e.g. working flexible hours or part-time
- offering employees training opportunities, recreation and refreshment facilities
Disability and the Workforce
Disability Profile of Employees | |||
Staff Group | Declared a Disability | Declared No Disability | Not Stated |
Operational | 18 | 407 | 126 |
Control | 1 | 23 | 2 |
Support | 15 | 86 | 22 |
Totals | 34 | 516 | 150 |
The disability profile of the workforce has increased slightly over the last four years. In 2015 the disability profile was 3.4% across the Service, 1.8% for operational staff and 10.5% for support staff. There has also been an improvement in the proportion of staff who have declared their disability status. The proportion of the “Not Stated” category has dropped from 26.9% the previous year to 21.4% this year. This is due to the good declaration rates for those joining the Service together with the number of staff, leaving the Service, who have never stated the disability status.
Disability Access and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service Estates
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service undertook a Disability Access Audit in 2008. The access audit took into account all the Services premises, including rented facilities. Since then, the Service has incorporated the audit findings into all its new building works as well as any building refurbishing works. To view the Disability Access Report, see the link below:
Supporting People with Specific Needs
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service offers support not only to meet the needs of its employees, but also individuals within our communities with specific language and cultural needs. This is provided through a dedicated team of Community Safety Educators with specific language and cultural skills. These include:
- British Sign Language
- Punjabi
- Urda
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Gujarati
- Punjab
- Cantonese
- Haika
The Service will also consider individual requests for information in braille, large print and other formats. Please submit your requests through our Information Management team by emailing info@lfrs.org.
Fire Safety for People with Specific Needs at Home
As well as the community safety support service we provide, we also offer two booklets to accompany our fire safety education prevention work:
A supplementary guide, Means of Escape for Disabled People, has been produced by HM Government and should be read alongside other guides in the Fire Safety Risk Assessment series. It provides additional information on accessibility and means of escape for disabled people.
Useful Links and Information
Deaf and Hearing Impairment
Below you will find links to useful information and advice for people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment:
Blind and Visual Impairment
Below you will find links to useful information and advice for people who are blind or have a visual impairment: