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June 2020

North Yorkshire FRS Wholetime Firefighter Transferees 2020

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Wholetime Firefighter Transferees

ANNUAL SALARY: £31,144

BASE LOCATION: Various locations throughout North Yorkshire and City of York

DUTY SYSTEM: Shift, Day crewing and Self roster

CLOSING DATE: 21 June 2020

The transfer of governance to North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in November 2018 ushered in great and exciting change for the Service. We are looking for outward focussed individuals who value change and innovation to help us bring our Ambition 2025 to life. Our strategic vision is to be an exemplary local service and we will achieve this through four key priorities: Caring for the vulnerable, Ambitious collaboration, Realising our potential and Effective engagement. To be eligible to transfer, applicants will be current substantive wholetime or on-call firefighters who are able to demonstrate competence through an externally accredited process. This must be via either an NVQ Level 3 (Emergency Fire Services Operations in the Community) or Operational Firefighter Apprenticeship scheme. We are currently only accepting transfers for Firefighters and, if successful, appointments to role may be staggered for vacancies which arise over the next eighteen months. Are you interested in supporting the communities of North Yorkshire and the City of York to Be Safe and Feel Safe? If yes, we would really like to hear from you. Essential criteria:

• Current substantive wholetime or on call Firefighter

• Completed Firefighter NVQ level 3 (Emergency Fire Services Operations in the Community) or Operational Firefighter Apprenticeship scheme

• In date for all Operational training in line with your current Service training policy

• Prepared to accept a contract to work on a Day crewed, Self Roster or Shift duty system or, alternatively, join us as part of our Operational Staffing Reserve team

• Have a satisfactory Personal Development Review, Appraisal or equivalent within the last year

• Not be in possession of any formal disciplinary sanctions at the point of application

• Not be subject to any formal development plans within current role at point of application

• Receipt of two acceptable references, one from current Fire and Rescue Service and one external

• Be medically fit to undertake the role of Operational Firefighter

• Willing to undertake an enhanced (DBS) check

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What we offer in return:

• An opportunity to work in the picturesque county of North Yorkshire which stretches from the North Sea to beyond the Pennine watershed and boasts two of England’s National Parks, a stunning coastline, phenomenal heritage and the City of York with all that it offers.

• A wonderful and safe place to live with great schools and employment opportunities.

• To be integral to our five year transformation programme tailoring services to meet risk, establishing sustainable budgets and modernising the Service.

• Access to range of development and career opportunities

• Family friendly polices

• Fantastic employee benefits with discounts and salary sacrifice schemes including childcare vouchers, cycle to work, home technology and green car lease

• Employee Assistance programme

To apply visit our website www.northyorksfire.gov.uk

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RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Stage 1. Candidate registration, realistic job preview & eligibility tests

The online registration process will open week commencing 08th June you should allow

approximately 30 minutes to complete the below three elements. Application closes at 23:59 on

21st June 2020

Within the online registration process, you will be required to complete:

• Candidate Registration, where you register your details

• Realistic Job Preview, here you are presented with 11 scenarios about the role

• Eligibility Screen, here you must answer basic questions to see whether you are eligible

to apply.

The first element of the online process is to register some basic personal details about yourself

before you progress to the realistic job preview.

PLEASE NOTE: You will need to have your National Insurance number available to be able to

register as well as your correct e-mail address. It is important you check that you input your

correct e-mail address, as the system will communicate with you using the e-mail address that you

provide during the registration. If you provide an incorrect e-mail address, the system will be

unable to provide you with relevant information regarding your application.

If you do not complete the Online Registration, you will not be able to access the subsequent

stages and progress with the selection process. You will only be able to register with us once

during this recruitment campaign so please ensure the details you give are correct as you will be

unable to amend them after they have been submitted and your application would be terminated at

this point. If you have been invited to complete any of the below assessments, it must be done

within the deadline given, or your application will not be considered any further.

The realistic job preview is a questionnaire, which presents you with information about the various

demands and challenges you may be faced with as a firefighter. The realistic job preview will give

you a score based on your response to these questions that indicates how likely you would be

suited to the role of firefighter.

After completing the realistic job preview you will be asked if you wish to proceed to complete the

eligibility questions.

• Whether you are over the age of 17 years and six months

• Whether you have the right to work in the UK

• Whether you have any unspent convictions that may temporarily preclude you from working as a firefighter (all unspent and pending convictions must be declared, failure to do so will result in your application being automatically withdrawn)

If you meet the eligibility requirements you will be invited to complete Stage 2 of the selection

process.

Once you have completed the online registration and eligibility screen, you will receive an

e-mail from our online system advising you of how you can log back into the system when you

are invited to complete the online assessments. Please check your inbox and Junk Mailbox for

emails from Apollo Online Assessment.

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Stage 2. Behavioural Styles Questionnaire

The next stage of the process is the Behavioural Styles Questionnaire (BSQ) and should you be

eligible with your application, you will be invited to complete this during week commencing the 22nd

June. Please note the deadline to complete this assessment will be the 28th June. If you are

unable to complete this assessment within this time, we will not be able to consider your

application any further. This assessment is not timed, you should allow approximately 15-20

minutes to complete this in a quiet location. This assessment explores your preferred behaviours

in a working environment. No revision or additional study is required for this element.

Candidates that pass the Behavioural Styles Questionnaire will be invited to proceed to complete

the Situational Judgement Test from the 06th July.

Stage 3. Situational Judgement Test

Should you successfully pass the Behavioural Styles Questionnaire (BSQ) you will be invited to

complete the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) during week commencing the 06th July. The

deadline to complete this online assessment will be the 12th July. If you are unable to complete

this assessment within this time, we will not be able to consider your application any further. This

assessment is not timed. You should allow approximately 30 minutes to complete this assessment

in a quiet location. The Situational Judgement Test measures your judgement and decision

making skills in situations that are typical in the Fire and Rescue Service. No knowledge or

experience as a Firefighter is required to complete this test and no prior revision is needed.

Stage 4. Skills Assessment

Candidates successful at the SJT stage will be invited to attend a Basic Firefighter skills assessment

day. We anticipate this stage will commence on the 20th July. Those successful at stage 3 will be

contacted with further details.

Stage 5. Interview

Subject to being able to demonstrate the required skills assessed at stage 4, candidates will be

invited to attend an interview. The interview process will be commencing week commencing the

14th September.

Stage 6. Medical and Fitness Test

Candidates successful at interview will be invited to stage 7 which is the completion of medicals and

an in-depth fitness assessment V̇O2Max . These will be completed from week commencing the 19th

October.

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Prior to the medical you will be sent a Certificate of Visual Acuity Form which you must take to an

Optician to complete to check your eyesight. Please note that we do not reimburse any expenses

incurred in connection with the completion of this form. You will also be required to undertake a full

medical examination by the Service’s Occupational Health Advisor. Each candidate will be

expected to supply a urine sample at the Medical, this will be sent to an accredited laboratory for

substance misuse testing.

Please be aware that should your eyesight or medical examination not meet the required standard

your application will not proceed any further.

An applicant must satisfy the Service’s Occupational Health Advisor at a medical examination that

he/she is:

• Fit to undertake firefighting duties.

• Has no physical abnormality or any disease which would incapacitate him/her temporarily or permanently from performing firefighting duties. Certain medical standards have been set.

• Has a satisfactory lung function, assessed by the measurement of the forced expiratory volume in one second and the forced vital capacity.

• Has a high standard of physical fitness, strength, and stamina.

• The visual acuity and fields of vision of each candidate will be assessed on an individual basis to determine if the candidate is safe to undertake firefighting duties, given the risks involved. Eyesight will be tested thoroughly by a separate eyesight examination undertaken by a qualified optometrist. Any costs incurred for these tests will be paid for by the candidate.

• Has good unaided hearing. Hearing will be tested.

• Each candidate will be expected to submit a urine sample at the Medical, this will be sent to laboratory to be tested.

• Candidates will be expected to complete a consent form in order to obtain information from your GP. Confirming that your declared past medical history is correct, until this info is secured a decision will not be made on the proceeding of the application

All medicals will be reviewed by the Occupational Health Advisor and the Service Medical

Advisor. Following receipt of the medical information supplied by your GP you will be advised if

any further examinations or tests are required in order to progress your application.

Direct gas analysis (Breath by Breath) V̇O2Max

Direct gas analysis (Breath by Breath) incremental test protocols are widely regarded as the superior

method of electing V̇O2Max in an individual. Incremental protocols usually create an increase in work

rate by increasing either speed incline or both on a treadmill or on a cycling ergometer by increasing

the resistance at set intervals referred to as stages. These allow the body to reach V02max by the

systematic increase in work rate until the individual can no longer obtain the desired power or work

rate output, which then concludes the test protocol. Using direct gas analysis to obtain V02max

volumes is the most accurate form of physiological testing. However, these need to be conducted

by a trained professional to ensure client safety and accuracy in the interpretation of results.

What you do?

You will be required to run on a treadmill following a set incremental protocol which is designed to

elicit maximal values of aerobic capacity (V̇O2Max). You will be fitted with a heart rate monitor, and

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face fitted monitoring equipment and asked to follow the protocol which increases in speed and

gradient over 8-14 minutes.

Why?

Studies comparing firefighting tasks in both laboratory and gym environments have been used to

predict and establish the cardiorespiratory minimal operational value of maximal oxygen

consumption (VO2max) 42.3ml/kg/min-1 that is required to perform the most arduous tasks a

firefighter may be required to carry out (e.g. Compartment fires).

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ABOUT

NORTH YORKSHIRE,

NORTH YORKSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

• North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service serves the communities of North Yorkshire and the City of York. The population of 819,800 is spread across isolated rural settlements and farms, market towns and larger urban areas such as York, Harrogate and Scarborough.

• North Yorkshire is England’s largest county, covering an area of almost 3,212 square miles. It stretches from the North Sea in the east to beyond the Pennine watershed in the west and from the Tees in the north to the Ouse and beyond in the south. This provides challenges associated with rurality and travel distances.

• The county has two of England’s ten national parks, three designated areas of outstanding natural beauty, over 200 sites of special scientific interest and over 12,000 listed buildings.

• The A1M and M62 motorways, the A66, A59 and A64 major roads and the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh run through the county.

• North Yorkshire contains several important waterways including the River Ouse – the third busiest river in England.

• The county also contains a number of military establishments including Catterick Garrison, the largest military garrison in Western Europe.

• North Yorkshire, with its national parks and over 800 tourist attractions, receives more than 20 million visitors each year.

• Agriculture is the main industry outside of the main towns.

• The City of York is home to over 21,000 students, with two universities, drawing students from all over the world. Significant employers in this area include companies in IT, financial, transport infrastructure and manufacturing.

• North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is organised into four service delivery groups based upon pairs of the seven district councils and City of York areas.

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Our more urban areas have shift stations, larger market towns have day crewed stations and

smaller towns/rural villages have on-call.

There are 38 Fire Stations in North Yorkshire:

• 5 wholetime shift stations (crewed 24 hours a day) - Acomb, Harrogate, Huntington, Scarborough, and York

• 5 day crewed stations (crewed from 0800 to 18:00 each day by firefighters who are also on call outside these hours) - Malton, Ripon, Selby, Tadcaster and Whitby

• 2 Self Roster stations – Northallerton and Richmond

• 24 retained stations (crewed by on call firefighters)

• 2 volunteer stations (crewed by volunteers).

Our Training Centre at Easingwold provides initial recruit courses and continuation courses to all

staff. Our Headquarters and Control Centre are based in Northallerton

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Appointment The appointment will be made on a conditional basis subject to references and appropriate medical clearance. The offer will be also be subject to Enhanced Disclosure Barring Service

Location

You will be based at any one of our Shift, Day crewed or Self Roster station.

Rates of pay for operational wholetime firefighters (as at July 2019)

Firefighter Annual salary:

Competent rate of pay £31,144

Duty systems

Day Crewed and Self Roster stations operate a duty system where firefighters work shifts of 8am-6pm and then remain on call overnight to respond to incidents as required. As such, Firefighters appointed to these stations must reside within four minutes of their station, during on duty periods, in order to meet their on-call responsibilities.

Additional allowance are payable in respect of the on call requirements as follows:

• Annual retaining fee equivalent 5% of annual basic salary • Day crewing allowance £1183.00 per annum regardless of annual basic pay rate • Disturbance allowance and Turn out will also be payable during the on call duty period.

The Day Crewed pattern is four days on duty and then four days off with an average of 42 working hours per week.

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The Self Roster shift pattern requires the same number of average hours and shifts to be worked but there is no set pattern of shifts. Additional allowances payable for this duty system ranges from 23.5% to 24.9% of annual basic pay depending on which station you are appointed to.

Shift stations are crewed 24/7 by firefighters who work shifts of 8am-6pm and 6pm-8am. The shift pattern is two day shifts, two night shifts and then four days off.

Annual leave entitlements

The leave year runs from 1st January to 31 December.

The full annual leave entitlement for full time firefighters is 23 days. Additionally, after 5 year’s

continuous service, employees are entitled to an additional 3 day Long Service Leave.

All leave is planned, the authorisation of which shall be subject to the exigencies of the Service.

Public holiday leave

In addition to the above annual leave entitlement employees will be granted 8 days leave in

respect of public holidays and these will be allocated to you.

Good Friday Late Summer Holiday Easter Monday Christmas Day

Spring Bank Holiday Boxing Day First Monday in May New Year’s Day

Pension Scheme

The details of the relevant Firefighter’s Pension Scheme are available on our Pensions

Administrators website: www.wypf.org.uk/firefighters/. There are different pension schemes for

firefighters, with the date of joining the Service dictating which scheme is relevant. Recruits that

join from 1 April 2015 are admitted to the 2015 scheme (FPS 2015).

Selecting that scheme will provide you with details of how the pension is calculated, how you can

increase your benefits, as well as the benefits for your loved ones in the event of your death (along

with links to the relevant forms).

Further information on scheme benefits, can be obtained by contacting David Hood Pensions

Administrator/Manager via email David.Hood@northyorksfire.gov.uk

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Firefighter duties and responsibilities

Reports to Crew Manager

Role Map

• Inform and educate your community to improve awareness of safety matters

• Take responsibility for effective performance

• Save and preserve endangered life

• Resolve operational incidents

• Protect the environment from the effects of hazardous materials

• Support effectiveness of operational response

• Support development of colleagues in the workplace

• Contribute to fire safety solutions to minimise risk to your community

• Drive, manoeuvre and redeploy fire service vehicles

Personal Qualities and Attributes (PQA’S)

Personal Style

• Understands and respects diversity and adopts a fair and ethical approach to others

• Is open to change and actively seeks to support it

• Maintains a confident and resilient attitude in highly challenging situations

Interpersonal Skills

• Works effectively with others both within the F&R service and in the community

• Communicates effectively both orally and in writing

• Committed and able to develop self and others

Working with Information

• Understands, recalls, applies, and adapts relevant information in an organised, safe and systematic way

• Maintains an active awareness of the environment to promote safe and effective working

Organisational Effectiveness

Adopts a conscientious and proactive approach to work to achieve and maintain excellent standards

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Further Information and FAQ’s

Covid-19 Government guidelines

We are constantly reviewing national guidelines in relation to Covid-19. Any required changes to

the selection process will be communicated at the relevant stage.

Age and height requirements

There are no height limits within the fire service. However, applicants must be 18 years of age or

over at the commencement of training. You may apply to be a firefighter if you are aged between

17 years 6 months and 18 years old as long as you are 18 years old once you commence training.

Your date of birth is verified as part of the application process.

Health and Safety

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Service as an employer, has a duty to ensure

the health, safety, and welfare at work of its employees. Employees have a duty of care for their

own health and safety and that of others who could be affected by their acts of negligence.

In addition, they are required to co-operate with their employer to carry out or comply with any duty

imposed under statutory provisions. The Service endeavours to fulfil its obligations under the Act

and it expects its employees to do likewise.

When can I apply?

When the registration opens on 08th June 2020.

Is there a limit to the number of applications you are taking?

No, there is no limit to how many applications we will accept.

I have missed the deadline to register and apply, can I have an extension?

Unfortunately not, the campaign is strictly timetabled.

Do I need to have a full driving licence?

There is no requirement for candidates to have a driving licence on entry to the Service however

you must commit to acquiring the skills to fulfil the full role map of a Firefighter (includes FF9 -

Drive, manoeuvre and redeploy fire service vehicles ), and be able to effectively commute around

North Yorkshire Fire Service for training and detachment purposes.

I have unspent convictions, do I need to disclose these?

Yes, all unspent convictions must be declared. If you are successful and offered a job, you will

need an enhanced DBS check.

I have a driving offence, do I have to inform you?

Yes, you must inform us if your licence is endorsed, giving details about the nature of the offence,

offence code and give details of the penalty. If you had to attend court, you will need to give details

of the outcome.

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I have a hidden disability?

As part of the application process, you will be given the opportunity to specify your disability. Fire

and Rescue Authorities are required to assess each applicant on an individual basis, regarding

their suitability to perform the role of a firefighter, in accordance with the Equality Act legislation.

This means we will consider what reasonable adjustments could be made to enable you to

proceed with your application provided any such adjustments do not contravene Health and Safety

legislation.

I have tattoos can I still apply? Yes, you can apply, staff are permitted to have tattoos. However, tattoos that are visible which may be considered to be offensive in nature are not permitted.

Do I need to live in North Yorkshire to apply? No, you do not have to live in North Yorkshire to apply. However, firefighters appointed to our day crewed and self roster stations must reside within four minutes of their station, during on duty periods, in order to meet their on-call responsibilities.

I live abroad or have lived abroad can I still? Yes, however you must satisfy the Service duty under the Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. The law prevents illegal working as set out in section 15 to 25 of the Act. The Service will request relevant documentation from all those offered employment in order to satisfy its obligation. If I work away or have prearranged commitments, is there any flexibility for attending physical testing and interviews? We are adhering to a strict timetabled process. Where possible we may be able to offer flexibility, but this cannot be guaranteed.

Eyesight, colour blindness etc. Candidates will be assessed on an individual basis to determine if the candidate is safe to undertake firefighting duties, given the risks involved. Hearing? Candidates must have good unaided hearing.

I am asthmatic, can I still apply?

Yes, you are required to declare if you are asthmatic or have in the past used an inhaler. This will

be assessed during the selection process.

Good luck with your application!

Contacts

Email – Recruitment@northyorksfire.gov.uk

Facebook – northyorksfire

Twitter - @northyorksfire / @NyfrsR