blank space Fire Marshal's Communiqué Fire Marshal's Communiqué

July 2, 2003

Document Number 2003-17

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE:
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

(External Distribution)

The Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project is continuing to move closer toward project deliverables that will assist Ontario’s fire departments provide their communities with the best services possible. These deliverables, developed by the fire service for the fire service, will also help fire departments to objectively identify their local needs and circumstances and to communicate these in a transparent manner to their respective stakeholders.

Communiqués 2003-04, 2003-06, and 2003-13, issued earlier this year, described the purpose and benefits of the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project, and the activities of the Project team. The present communiqué provides an update on the most recent progress of the Project team.

After having developed a list of fourteen fire protection outcomes , the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project team faced the task of producing a short list of critical outcomes, and subsequently identifying a set of key performance indicators to correspond with each of these outcomes.

Using assessment criteria and a scoring system it had previously developed, the Project team selected from the original list of fourteen outcomes the following six critical outcomes:

The Project team then proceeded to identify key performance indicators to correspond with each of the six outcomes. A performance indicator can be defined as an action or activity performed in order to achieve desired outcomes. Performance indicators are used to form judgments about the extent to which these outcomes have been achieved. In the context of this project, performance indicators are activities or services that fire departments need to perform very well.

The Project team chose fourteen key performance indicators. These are outlined below, along with the corresponding critical outcome(s). Some of the indicators may appear more than once because they may apply to more than one critical outcome.
 

Critical Outcomes
(short list)		 Performance Indicators
Risk assessment
  • Nature, impact and probability of fire risks are identified.
  • Extent to which identified risks have been acted upon in fire services operations and community education
  • Number and impact of fires in a community
  • Extent of fire related injury and loss of life in a community
Community takes action to prevent fire
&
Community takes action to reduce injury and death
  • Nature, impact and probability of fire risks are identified.
  • Extent to which identified risks have been acted upon in fire services operations and community education
  • Number and impact of fires in a community
  • Extent of fire related injury and loss of life in a community
Fire safe operation and maintenance of property
(Fire Code compliance)
  • Presence of smoke alarms in households
  • Presence of updated fire safety plans in place
  • Number, type, quality and outcome of inspections completed
  • Number, type and outcome of Fire Code compliance complaints
  • Number and impact of fires in a community
  • Extent of fire related injury and loss of life in a community
Timeliness of response
&
Fire ground effectiveness
  • Time elapsed between receipt of initial emergency call and arrival of first response team at scene of fire
  • Effectiveness of rescues
  • Effectiveness of Incident Management Systems (IMS)
  • Containment of fire spread
  • Number and impact of fires in a community
  • Extent of fire related injury and loss of life in a community

Like the fire protection outcomes, the performance indicators incorporate the three lines of defence, that is, public education and prevention, fire safety standards and enforcement, and emergency response.

The Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project team is currently working on the next steps in the process, which include identifying performance measures for each of the performance indicators.

The attached sheet contains questions and answers providing additional information about performance outcomes and performance indicators.

To obtain further information on the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project, including a list of participants and the project charter, please visit the Web site Benchmarking.
 

Attachment (PDF)