Globalisation and Ethics
Introduction
Fire and rescue services in England and Wales have undergone a series of legal amendments to match the changing domestic and global legal environments. The Fire and Rescue Services Act of 2004 was created to replace Fire Services Act 1947 (UK Legislation, 2004). Globalisation has improved the quality of fire and rescue services due to introduction of new technologies, international laws, and collaboration among nations to solve problems that affect people in the world relating to fire accidents and emergencies. In the recent past, Haiti was affected by earthquake tragedy and this called for global cooperation to rescue victims of the accidents and to help families affected. In this paper an assessment has been done about law in England and Wales concerning how law operates internationally in the fire and rescue service industry. An analysis has been done about the role of globalisation in affecting the legislative and substantive work of those in the fire and rescue service. In addition, ethical considerations have been explained how they are dealt with in the fire and rescue services. The changing world environment about fire and rescue services has been summarized. The laws have been explained with focus on the case of Haiti earthquake experience which affected many people in the country and in the world. To explain how globalisation has affected fire and rescue services, the Haiti earthquake incidence provides a good example about how different governments are concerned about the welfare of affected countries.
Laws in fire and rescue services
According to Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, the government has the mandate of ensuring there are good fire safety standards in the country. The Act requires that a fire and rescue authority be established to promote fire safety in the country. It is important noting that the fire and rescue authority should provide information to the public about preventing disasters related to fire. Fire and rescue authority in England and Wales has the duty to educate and encourage people about preventive measures in case fire accidents occur, ways of reducing deaths from fire accidents and how to handle casualties from such accidents. Laws in England and Wales require the fire and rescue authority to give advice upon request to individuals about how to prevent fires and restricting spread of fires to buildings as well as to other properties which are risk of destruction by fire. In addition, the authority is required to provide information about the means of escaping from buildings and other premises when fire accidents occur. Fire safety is a major priority that the authority should handle with care since many people are not aware of the best safety measures to take when fire accidents occur. Since panic is a common thing when fire accidents occur, the Act requires that the authority to train the public about responding quickly without fear to fire accidents (UK Legislation, 2004).
Fire-fighting skills are also trained to individuals to equip them adequately in case fire accidents occur. To achieve this goal, the Act requires that the authority to educate people about how to extinguish fires and how to protect life as well as properties in cases of fire accidents. To implement the provisions of this Act it is important that the authority provide staff, services and apparatus for educating the public about fire safety and fire-fighting mechanisms. It is required of the authority to train all personnel involved in the activities of educating the public on fire safety and fire fighting methods. To ensure the personnel involved in the activities of fire and rescue authority are well equipped with skills, adequate training is done. The personnel must be able to handle calls for help in case fire accidents occur within their areas of jurisdiction. It is important that each personnel should have good skills of responding to calls for help by summoning all other personnel and informing them about fire accidents so that action can be taken before severe accidents are experienced. The Act has created the need for the authority to obtain enough information for handling fire safety in different scenarios. Research in modern methods of dealing with fire accidents is required of the authority by the Act to ensure up-to-date information is available. Use of modern fire fighting technologies should be researched on by the authority to provide better methods of preventing and fighting fire in case of accidents (UK Legislation, 2004).
England and Wales have established other laws that relate to fire services to cover road accident accidents. In this case the fire and rescue authority has the mandate of rescuing people in case of road accidents as well as training people how to handle casualties during accidents. In addition to handling cases related to fires and traffic accidents, the law also requires the fire and rescue authority to take responsibility of handling emergencies. As such, the authority has the duty to train personnel, equip and carry out operations during emergencies. The authority has other functions that relate to directions of acting upon particular fires and emergencies. In addition, the authority has the duty of responding to environmental safety as well as responding to fire accidents and emergencies at the global level (UK Legislation, 2004).
Laws to insure government assets have been established in different countries to ensure that important national assets are covered from risks. Insuring national properties is a culture which has been adopted by many statutory bodies in the world to protect property from calamities. Insuring physical assets owned by the government provides security and ensures that reimbursement is available in case disasters occur. As a safety measure, governments have adopted international insurance strategies to transfer risks in case risks happen. Self-insurance is another strategy that governments use to protect their properties from loss in case of risks occurring (Smith, 2007).
Globalisation and fire and rescue service
Globalisation has been affected by fire and rescue services in that many countries have collaborated in solving problems affecting each country in the world. Globalisation has been a common thing since the history of man. Migration and movement of people from one region to another has been experienced since man started living on planet earth. Globalisation has been promoted through migration, colonization, war and conquest, religious conversions, literacy and the invention of the printing press, disease and its prevention as well as introduction of new tools and agricultural techniques. The rate of globalisation has increased in the recent past. This has been facilitated by adoption of technologies such as computers, cell phones, the internet, movies, electronic banking, television, efficient communications, and modern modes of transport among others. There are different forms of globalisation such as economic, political, military, cultural, technological and humanitarian activities (Blanpain, Tiraboschi, & Ortiz, 2008).
Fire and rescue service has added to globalisation through collaboration of different governments, organizations, leaders and other stakeholders in solving problems related to fire accidents all over the world. For example, Haiti earthquake incidence explains how different government leaders as well as many stakeholders in the global scene responded to the problem. Different fire-fighting organizations were involved in rescuing people affected by the earthquakes. Two hundred UN workers were involved in the rescue process during the Haiti disaster. United Kingdom sent out a team of experts to assess the disaster area after its occurrence to carry out post crisis analysis. The international community sent help to victims of Haiti earthquake to show support to them. This is one of the ways that globalisation has been practiced in effort to carry out the activities of fire and rescue services (Public Service.co.uk. 2010).
Technology in fire and rescue activities has been of great importance by creating opportunities for responding to fire accidents, emergencies, and other related scenarios at local and global levels. There are many people affected by a crisis in a particular county. It is not only the citizens of the country who are affected but also the international communities. It is estimated that approximately half a million people died in the Haiti incidence and among them ten were Britons. This shows that all governments are affected by the occurrence of any crisis. The crisis of Haiti was worsened by lack of adequate medicine, equipment and staff (Public Service.co.uk. 2010). Incorporating both public and private sectors in disaster management and rescue activities is important to ensure an integrated system is achieved. In addition, voluntary and scientific organizations should be given the opportunity to participate in managing disaster since this will create a pool of knowledge and experience in handling different crises. National development strategies should include the risk reduction measures to mitigate tragedies which may affect a country (Blanpain, Tiraboschi, & Ortiz, 2008).
Ethical considerations in fire and rescue services
Legal systems require ethics to be adhered to when carrying out rescue activities as well as when collaborating with other global fire and rescue authorities. Ethics in fire and rescue services require that activities of rescuing casualties during crises should be done quickly to reduce the number of deaths. During Haiti earthquake incidence, race against time was experienced since all people were caught unaware. This led to death of more than 10,000 people. Every hour matters during crisis and rescue teams should be on the ground as soon as the event occurs. Cooperation is required during when carrying out rescue activities so that all rescue teams do not turn up with similar tools (Public Service.co.uk. 2010).
Humanitarian activities are very important during rescue moments. Such activities include provision of food, shelter as well as sanitation. During Haiti earthquake crisis many people were in need of food, shelter and medicine and other basic needs. These were provided by the international rescue teams during the event and afterwards to ensure the people affected regained their normal lives. Coordinating international effort during crisis is very important since it ensure that all required equipments are assembled for action. During the Haiti earthquake crisis, 64 fire-fighters from Britain were contacted and had to be assisted by other rescue teams from other countries to save the lives of people affected by the accident (Public Service.co.uk. 2010). Practitioners in the country should have contacts of all global organizations involved in rescue activities. This will enhance proper communication during crisis. For example, during Haiti earthquake event fire-fighters from Britain, USA, UN and other governments and rescue organizations were contacted.
It is ethical that governments from different countries participate in rescue activities and donate towards the welfare of the affected people. Donations worth more than $10 millions were received in Haiti from different countries (Public Service.co.uk. 2010). Participating in rescue activities all over the world will provide good cooperation in case a country is in crisis. Haiti was in urgent need of help and this was provided due to good network of rescue activities with other countries
It is essential that rescue agents should be trained about protecting themselves from the disasters. Poor coordination during Haiti earthquake incidence caused the death of about 200 staff (Public Service.co.uk. 2010). This called for need to train rescue staff how protecting themselves when they are carrying out their activities. United Nations experienced the worst situation in history during the Haiti incidence since lack of coordination and death of rescue staff had a negative impact towards efforts to save the lives of the affected people.
Global leaders have the obligation of emphasizing support for people affected by crises. For example, President Barack Obama mobilized his people to support Haiti to ensure the lives of affected people were saved. Additionally, Hillary Clinton had to cancel her plans to travel so as to deal with the emergency (Public Service.co.uk. 2010). Global leaders have an ethical obligation to respond quickly to humanitarian emergencies during crisis. Poverty experienced in Haiti required global communities to support the country not only during the occurrence of the crisis but also in the long term until all people regained their normal lives.
Source: Public Service.co.uk. 2010
Role of the practitioners in a changing world environment
Fire and rescue services practitioners in England and Wales have a great role in changing world environment to make it better for human habitation. There are many world conflicts and disasters affecting many people in the world today. There is need to come up with better laws and policies to ensure appropriate actions are taken to protect the environment while maintaining a good environment for human survival. Disasters emanate from natural and artificial sources and there is need to join efforts to come up with a strong system of saving people affected while maintaining a healthy environment in the world. The likelihood of conflicts occurring in many countries is intensifying due to an increase in world population and resources continue to be strained by the growing number of people (UNEP, 2010).
According to UNEP, disasters and conflicts need to be addressed properly due to the increasing awareness all over the world about the extent to which crises can affect the development of a nation. To achieve this, UNEP assesses post-crises impacts on environment and comes up with policies to ensure recovery of environment from such crises. It is important that all concerned parties in England and Wales come up with decisions of cooperating in safeguarding the environment and building peace with other stakeholders in the world. All practitioners in the country should join their efforts with other global organizations to reduce risks on disasters that affect human race. There is need for practitioners working on conflict and disaster management to create better systems of collaborating during crises and afterwards. UNEP has collaborated with governments to identify needs regarding conserving the environment (UNEP, nd.).
Emergency response from practitioners in the country is required to ensure that disasters do not have adverse effects on the environment. There is need to create better technologies of dealing with crises to reduce their impacts in the event of their occurrence. Tailor-made approaches to different disasters should be developed to ensure every type of crisis is dealt with appropriately. This will require the practitioners to come up with approaches which match the geographical, political and security environments of any country. There is need to come up with disaster management strategies which can be applied not only in the country but also in other countries since globalisation has created the need for cooperation among countries when disasters occur (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee, 2006). As experienced during Haiti earthquake disasters, it is important for disaster management organizations to be prepared to handle disasters. The Haiti incidence shows that many countries are not prepared to handle crises.
In conclusion, the Haiti incidence has made fire and rescue services authorities all over the world to be alert on handling emergencies in different parts of the world. England and Wales have amended laws concerning fire and rescue services to accommodate the changing global environment. Efforts should be made to improve response to disasters at the global level. This will reduce the number of deaths occurring in any particular different accidents.
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