Improving Well-Being at London Fire Brigade

Abstract

OverviewThe London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the largest fire and rescue service in the United Kingdom. It exists to make London a safer city. The organization’s vision is to be a world-class fire and rescue service for London, Londoners and visitors. LFB employs approximately 7000 staff, of which 5800 are operational fire fighters and officers. It is part of a group of organizations under the “umbrella” of the Greater London Authority (GLA) and is the third largest fire-fighting organization in the world: protecting people and property from fire within the 1587 square kilometres of Greater London. Providing Londoners with 24/7 coverage, the LFB has 113 fire stations, plus the river station, which are crewed by four different watches, operating on a two-two-four watch system (two days on, two nights on, four days off). In meeting the needs of London, LFB is the only UK fire service to have a predominantly whole time (full-time) work force. Other brigades across the United Kingdom use a combination of full- and part-time staff, and “retained” fire fighters who carry out fire-fighting duties in addition to their usual employment.