A Northumbria University academic is
collaborating with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service to investigate
attacks on fire service personnel by members of the public.
The research by Dr Colin Richardson,
from Northumbria’s Newcastle Business School, asks why there is a significant
increase of attacks on fire service personnel when attending incidents. Home
Office figures show there are currently around 1,000 attacks a year across the
UK – but this is continuing to grow at an alarming rate of approximately 12% a
year.
As part of Dr Richardson’s research, a
conference was held recently with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue
Service discussing emerging insights and to provide attendees with an action
plan to take away as an outcome of the findings. Opportunities to develop
further research collaboration and knowledge exchange in the areas of strategy,
policy and use of technology and dynamic risk management systems development
were also explored. In addition, fellow academic Dr Juliet Kele is also
investigating potential Equality Diversity Inclusion (EDI) implications, developing
alternative research as an outcome of this study.
Dr Richardson said: “This was a very
successful mini conference at the Radisson Blu in Durham, looking into attacks on fire service
personnel and hostile interactions while attending incidents.
The research aims to understand this peculiar phenomenon in greater detail, working
with the emergency services, highlighting opportunities to reduce risk through
identifying potential causes of hostility and educate through engagement with
local communities. These opportunities
include utilising rich data and innovative technologies such as Artificial
Intelligence (A1) and Machine Learning, to protect front line personnel from
hostile encounters while also reducing risks for the public.
“The outcomes of the day will further assist us to build on
existing knowledge, helping to establish novel and innovative techniques using technology
to drive data-driven decision making and dynamic risk assessment models in
real-time. A very big thank you to all that were involved with the day and
making it a success.”
Professor Robert MacIntosh, Pro Vice-Chancellor for the
Faculty of Business and Law at Northumbria, added: “Dr Richardson’s
collaboration with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service shows
the real breadth of the work that the Newcastle Business School does to
contribute to communities around the university. Our expertise and our
interests go far beyond big business and our approach across the public,
private and charitable sectors is to do research which has real impact and acts
as a force for good.”
As Chair of the Chartered Association of Business Schools,
Professor MacIntosh also points to a recent report on research funding for UK business schools and the contribution they make beyond just big
business.
