Fire service to maximise the number of fire and rescue vehicles at key times 
Kent Fire and Rescue Services have selected the Kronos solution
Kent Fire and Rescue Service has selected Kronos to improve the management and utilisation of 2,000 staff across all 70 of its locations, including fire stations and community safety offices. The Kronos solution will enable Kent Fire and Rescue to plan staff availability, track attendance and allocate staff to duties.
The employee scheduling application within the Kronos Workforce Central suite will enable Kent Fire and Rescue Service to ensure that appropriate personnel are available to perform key duties as required and, through the Kent Fire and Rescue Control Centre (999 call centre), maximise the number of fire engines available at priority times.
The Kronos solution will be used to schedule operational and business support staff across the entire Kent Fire and Rescue Service including fire fighters with complex shift patterns and part-time retained staff. The Kronos solution was selected after a rigorous tender process and Kronos demonstrated its ability to satisfy the complex scheduling needs of the service.
The implementation will assist with the reduction of the administrative burden on managers at Kent Fire and Rescue and the new system will support the Service's commitment to Smarter Working, an initiative that has been running for the past 9 months.
The Kronos solution will integrate with Kent Fire and Rescue's HR database, Snowdrop. The project team is also considering plans to integrate with the payroll system.
Steve Griffiths, Assistant Director Community Safety at Kent Fire & Rescue Service commented: "It is crucial for Kent Fire and Rescue to maximise the number of fire engines on the road at high risk times. The Kronos solution will allow us to plan effectively for the coming weeks and months to ensure that we have the optimum number of operational staff available from our pool of fire fighters and that key roles in the team are fulfilled."
"An additional benefit is that the Kronos solution will reduce the amount of administration currently being carried out by our managers. I thought it would be difficult to find a system that met our complex needs but the team at Kronos has demonstrated that all our requirements can be satisfied."
