International audit company SIA "Ernst & Young Baltic" (hereinafter - EY Latvia) in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Latvia and the State Fire and Rescue Service (hereinafter - SFRS) has developed the final report on increasing efficiency of the fire safety supervision process, which emphasizes the need for further digitization of the business processes.
Minister for the Interior, Mr. Sandis Ģirgens admits that the digitization of the business processes of home affairs sector is an essential basis for improving work efficiency and reducing bureaucratic obstacles.
“Digitization is one of the strategic objectives of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Latvia and its subordinate institutions, and it is an absolute necessity in order to promote more efficient activities in public sector. Digitization of the SFRS fire safety supervision process will provide with significant benefits for both citizens and the SFRS staff in order to ensure better quality fire safety supervision, to strengthen internal communication between the employees the SFRS and to promote prevention of targeted and planned life-threatening risks to people,” Mr. Sandis Ģirgens emphasized.
“Latvia must reduce the risks related to fire safety by adapting best practices from other countries and by choosing proven solutions. It is important to use the potential of digitization for improving work efficiency in the public sector," emphasized EY Latvia Partner at Advisory services, Mr. Nauris Kļava.
According to the report, an essential prerequisite for increasing service efficiency is the digitization of business processes, which will reduce administrative burden for fire safety inspectors, improve cooperation with customers, as well as enhance involvement of society in fire safety supervision process. Currently analysis of fire safety condition and planning process is done in a partially digitalized way only by collecting some data in the system. The SFRS is currently under-exploiting the digitization potential of the business processes.
It is planned that in the future, the risk analysis will be used for the objects. Each object, for which information will be available, will have its own risk ratio, which will be defined using concrete methodology. For example, if an object would have not yet undergone a fire safety supervision test, for it the highest risk coefficient will be applied. It is also planned that in future, the SFRS action plans will be drawn upon the basis of the data generated by digitization.
Būtiskākie ieguvumi iedzīvotājiem no valsts ugunsdrošības uzraudzības procesa efektivizācijas un digitalizācijas būs interaktīva komunikācija ar VUGD, vienkāršota dokumentācijas apmaiņa e-vidē, būtisks ugunsdrošības riska samazinājums, kā arī izpratnes pieaugums par ugunsdrošības jautājumiem.
The most important benefits for citizens from efficiency and digitalization of fire safety supervision process will be interactive communication with the SFRS, simplified exchange of documentation electronically, a significant reduction in fire safety risks, as well as increased awareness of fire safety issues.
With the introduction of self-declaration system, it is planned to obtain information about wider range of objects, thus creating a more accurate assessment of fire safety situation across the country. It is foreseen that the self-declaration system will automatically generate an e-mail to the customer by requesting to self-declare. The self-declaration system will also have an interactive educational function, by providing information about fire safety and generating recommendations for risk mitigation. Self-declaration is currently optional.
Within the framework of improved fire safety supervision process, it is planned that there will be ensured data exchange between the state institutions and local municipalities, which will provide with more extensive data collection about the objects supervised by the SFRS.
In addition, it is planned that there will be internal communication portal within the SFRS created, which will become a common solution for the exchange of work-related information and serve as unified communication system.
According to cost estimates by SIA “Ernst & Young Baltic”, the planned investments for the implementation of all efficiency proposals which are described in the report, amount to EUR2.144 million, including EUR 1.28 million for the introduction of digitization solutions, as well as an average of EUR 152,000 per year for implementation and maintenance of solutions over the next five years.
DG-REFORM coordinates and provides tailored technical support to the countries of the European Union, in cooperation with the relevant services of the European Commission. The objective of the DG-REFORM is to help the countries of the European Union to establish more effective institutions and stronger governance systems and to strengthen their capacity to design and implement policies that contribute to job creation and sustainable growth.
Prepared by:
Alice Snegireva
Adviser to the Minister for the Interior
Communication issues
Tel: 28389017
E-mail: alise.snegireva@iem.gov.lv