gmfrsGreater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service has become the first UK FRS to win be awarded the prestigious R4E (Recognised for Excellence) accreditation which recognises high levels of performance.

R4E is part of the EFQM Levels of Excellence,Europe's leading recognition programme for organisational performance, and provides independent evaluation by external assessors. The scheme is administered in the UK by the British Quality Foundation and North of England Excellence.

GMFRS Chief Fire Officer Steve McGuirk said he was delighted to receive the award and showed the tremendous hard work put in to deliver over £160m in efficiency savings despite a reduction in staff numbers by almost 300.

"We are committed to continuous improvement," he added. "The R4E accreditation is an ideal way for us to measure and benchmark our performance, as well as providing independent recognition of our achievements."

The service has achieved some major improvements in the past seven years including reducing fires by 42 per cent, fire-related casualties by 40 per cent, fire alarms by 56 per cent and road collisions by 38 per cent.

Dave Rusk of North of England Excellence also praised the Service for it's successes and said: "With public sector bodies under pressure to improve efficiency and reduce resources, the R4E provides an ideal way for them to measure and improve performance.

"It’s also a valuable source of external validation at a time when the Audit Commission which monitored their performance is being dismantled.”

Posted 14/01/2012 by richard.hook@pavpub.com