Diversity & Inclusion Correspondent Lorna King reports on the development of the Professional Fire Standard for Safeguarding and speaks to the driving force behind it – Donna Bentley MBE.

The position of trust that firefighters hold across the UK enables the fire sector to be in a prime position for safeguarding vulnerable adults and children in our communities, and was the inspiration for a safeguarding conference hosted by Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) in 2018. Donna Bentley was responsible for organising the conference and subsequently writing the NFCC Safeguarding Position Statement, both of which would prove to be the early stages of her extraordinary journey to developing the newly published NFCC Professional Fire Standard for Safeguarding.