Culture and identity in the Fire and Rescue Service: What’s changed in the last ten years?

In 2011, the Institution of Fire Engineers published my book Culture Identity and Change in the Fire and Rescue Service. Based on academic research at PhD level, this book reached a number of conclusions regarding the dominant organisational culture of the Service at that time, and made recommendations for leaders within the Service who wanted to build on, and improve, cultural identities within the Service.

In 2020, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services (HMCIFRS) published State of Fire and Rescue – The Annual Assessment of Fire and Rescue Services in England 2019, a landmark review for a number of reasons, not least because this was the first formal inspection of fire and rescue services ‘for more than a decade’. The report, among other things, specifically looks at the culture of the Fire and Rescue Service.

The publication of this report presents an ideal opportunity to re-examine the culture of the Fire and Rescue Service in order to see what, if anything, has changed in the past ten years or so.

Read the full article on our digital issue, pages 46-48.

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