Performance Reporting

Core Business Area: Safety and Standards

Goal: Loss of life, injury and property damage are minimized in the built environment

The Office of the Fire Commissioner and the Safety Engineering Services Division contribute to the ministry's vision of communities that are safe, sustainable, liveable and healthy by reducing loss of life, injury and property damage in the built environment.

The Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) provides the legislative and policy framework for fire safety in British Columbia as well as major fire investigation, provincial response to major fire emergencies, advice to local fire departments on fire protection services, training and public fire safety education. By contrast, local fire departments are responsible for fire suppression and prevention activities within their jurisdictions. Consequently, the strategies and performance measures below focus on the legislative responsibilities of the OFC as well as its support of local fire departments.

Objectives and Strategies

Objective 1: Local governments are able to deliver effective fire prevention and safety services for their communities.

Key Strategies Undertaken:

• The Office of the Fire Commissioner assumed the role of Chief of the Provincial Fire Department to respond to the 2003 provincial wild land fire season, the worst season in 50 years.
• Local Assistants to the Fire Commissioner were provided with training and resources to enable them to undertake fire prevention and investigation activities.
• Policy analysis was undertaken regarding BC fire statistics and fire legislation.

Explanation of Variance:

Advanced training courses in fire investigation and fire inspections had to be cancelled during the firestorm response.

All targets were met for reducing loss of life and property due to fire, except property losses. The trend in fires, fatalities and injuries has steadily declined. In 2002, there were 5,827 fires, 17 fatalities and 270 injuries. Property losses increased this year, despite a previous downward trend with $199 million in 2002. This was largely due to heavy losses in the fires of the summer of 2003.

In 2003/04, much of the attention of the Office of the Fire Commissioner was diverted by the fires of August/September 2003, and the subsequent remediation activity in the Interior and southeast which resulted in significant losses. The office resourced fire apparatus from over 180 fire departments and safely evacuated over 50,000 residents. As a result of the time and resources consumed by this emergency effort, only 80 of 250 Local Assistants to the Fire Commissioner were trained as planned. The number of people trained is an estimate based on the number of courses provided, multiplied by the average number of participants.

The outcome measures regarding loss to property, life and limb are long-term indicators of the success of all components of the fire system, including the Office of the Fire Commissioner, local fire departments and many other influences beyond the control of the ministry. This information is collected through the fire information resource system. Although a downward trend in these indicators is desirable, the results tend to reflect stability over the last 10 years.

Safety Engineering Services

Over the past decades, the safety system has become fragmented. This is largely due to the proliferation of new safety-related materials, technologies and services. In 2003/04, the ministry moved to address this fragmentation through the completion of the Safety System Transformation Project, which consisted of three major components:

1. A new consolidated Safety Standards Act and regulations;

2. Replacement of information technology systems and updating of business processes, referred to as the Modernization Project; and

3. The transfer of delivery of safety engineering services from government to an independent Authority.

The objective of the Transformation Project is to ensure that public safety is promoted through the efficient, effective and appropriate delivery of safety services. The elements of the Transformation Project are based on extensive consultation with stakeholders and reflect the need for administratively streamlined, flexible and responsive approaches. The result will be more efficient safety services delivered in a way that meets the needs of industry, government and the general public.

Objective 2: Gas, electrical, railway, aerial tramway, elevating devices, and boilers and pressure vessels safety standards are set and met.

Key Strategies Undertaken:

• The Safety Engineering Services Division was transferred to the British Columbia Safety Authority, effective April 1, 2004.
• The Safety Standards Act was passed in 2003, consolidating and streamlining four existing pieces of legislation. Technical regulations under the Act were developed during the year. The Act and regulations were brought into force as of April 1, 2004.
• The Railway Safety Act was passed in March 2004. It harmonizes BC railway safety legislation with the rest of Canada.
• Safety Engineering Services continued to certify workers and contractors working with regulated products and processes, undertook inspections and monitored and responded to incidents or accidents related to regulated equipment during the year.

Explanation of Variance:

These targets are demand driven and are subject to year-to-year variance. All actuals fall within this normal range of variance.

The ministry worked to ensure safety in the regulated equipment area by certifying 72,220 workers responsible for working with regulated equipment. Additionally, inspections of 118,793 regulated processes and products were undertaken to verify that safety standards were being met. Over the long term, the number of incidents (accidents or breaches of standards) that occur as a result of failure or operator error with regulated equipment is expected to decline. The 981 incidents in 2003/04 do not provide sufficient information from which to derive a trend. It will be possible to compare safety system data to other jurisdictions in the future based on information from the BC Safety Authority's information system. Safety outcome data is a requirement of the Administrative Agreement between the ministry and BC Safety Authority Board.