Further evidence that corporate responsibility is no longer the
preserve of commercial enterprises has emerged with the news that a
fire brigade in the UK is appointing a CSR officer.
Cheshire Fire Service, based in Winsford, expects the new manager to
begin work this month. It said corporate responsibility was becoming a
hot topic among fire services across the UK as they were increasingly
being asked to take more account of their environmental impacts,
procurement practices and community involvement. ‘This is filtering
into every fire service,’ it said.
The Cheshire brigade, which has 1000 staff, volunteers and cadets, says
that the new officer, who will be paid £24,000 ($48,000) a year in the
full-time post, will develop a ‘comprehensive and co-ordinated’
environmental strategy and integrate CSR ‘into all of our procedures
and policies’, in particular in the area of procurement.
This is thought to be the first such appointment within the fire
services, although others have been active. Humberside Fire and Rescue
Service recently issued a corporate social responsibility statement
that committed it to ‘ethical behaviour, highest regard for employee
health and safety, care for the environment and extensive community
involvement’, and London Fire Brigade has set up the UK’s first
solar-powered fire station.
