CRITICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE CHALLENGES IN RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND PLACEMENT OF WORKERS IN NATIONAL FIRE SERVICE
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CRITICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE CHALLENGES IN RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND PLACEMENT OF WORKERS IN NATIONAL FIRE SERVICE
CHAPITRE ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The importance of institutions that provide fire prevention and suppression services cannot be overstated in today’s development mindset. These services are necessary to protect property and save lives. However, in developing countries such as Ghana, these services are grossly inadequate.
Such institutions are ill-equipped in developing countries to provide the requisite fire prevention and suppression services mandated by the legislation that established them.
This situation, along with inadequate service conditions, makes it impossible for these institutions to attract the human resources required for successful service delivery. As a result, they regularly disappoint the public.
There were places with privately owned fire departments prior to Ghana’s independence on March 6, 1957. These were as follows:
Railways and Harbours Fire Service Civil Aviation and Rescue Tema Local Council Fire Service Accra City Fire Station Kumasi City Fire Department
The Ghanaian government was advised by Sekondi/Takoradi Fire Service Armed Forces Fire Service G.S Leader, a British Fire Service Officer.
The National Fire Service (GNFS) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1963. (Act 219). The Act ordered all other fire departments to consolidate, with the exception of the Armed Forces Fire Brigade, which remained autonomous for security reasons (A day in the life of a fireman, Mirror) (1999, February). Act 219 of 1963 required the following activities to be completed:
Public Education on Fire Control Investigation of a Fire
Help in an Emergency Fire Safety Examination
Medical Assistance in an Emergency
The GNFS was re-established in 1997 by an Act of Parliament, Act 537 of 1997, to prevent and manage undesirable fires (Government of Ghana, 1997). The Act further says that the Service will consist of individuals who were enlisted in the GNFS immediately before to the Act’s enactment as well as other personnel who may be enlisted in the Service.
The Service has a number of obligations under Act 537 of 1997 in order to achieve its goals of avoiding and reducing undesirable fires. The Act gives the GNFS the authority to carry out the following duties:
Organise public fire education campaigns to raise and retain public knowledge of the dangers of fire, as well as to emphasise the individual’s involvement in fire protection.
Provide technical advise on machinery and structural layouts for building plans in order to ease escape from fire rescue operations and fire management.
Inspect and provide technical advice on fire extinguishers; Coordinate and advise on personnel training in the fire fighting departments of institutions around the country;
Train and organise community volunteer fire departments;
Provide rescue and evacuation services to people who are caught in fires or other emergency circumstances; and
Perform any other duties that are incidental to the service’s goal.
The value of the fire department to the socioeconomic development of the country cannot be emphasised. Not only can the service respond to emergency situations such as fires, but it can also save lives and property during floods.
Achimota, where a drowned man was discovered after three days of persistent searching after a torrential downpour in 2006, was one of the most significant rescue missions in recent memory.
When a fire occurs, it is not only financially disastrous to humanity, but it is also extremely harmful to the human environment. According to the CFO Guidelines for 2007, there were a total of 1986 fire outbreaks in 2006, totaling GH 2,204,096.86,
compared to 2,683 fires and a total loss of GH 5,361,557.41 the previous year. This disclosure suggests that the GNFS still has a lot of work to do in terms of human resource management and development.
The Ghana Fire Academy and Training School (FATS) is the principal basic training centre for the GNFS, where officers and men are trained to take on critical tasks within the organisation. The fire academy trains cadet officers, who are made up of meritocratic station officers.
Furthermore, only a tiny proportion of university degree holders in the fire service are selected for six months of training before being commissioned as Assistant Divisional Officers (ADO). Non-degree holders must also be willing to undergo six months of basic firefighting skills training before graduating as recruited firemen and women.
These professionals are allocated to mainstream fire service departments such as operations, administration and finance, safety, and rural fire departments in various stations across the country.
According to Armstrong (2006), every organisation manages its people resources, which are classified as the organization’s most important assets, utilising both strategic and cohesive techniques.
The ability of GNFS employees to fight undesirable fires, which is dependent on the quality and quantity of workers in the service, is critical to the development of the nation. Harbison (1973, p. 1), cited by Arkoh (2004, p. 17), observes this.
Human resources are the ultimate source of wealth for a country. Both capital and natural resources are examples of passive production inputs. Humans are active players who gain money.
Use natural resources to build social, economic, and political organisations for national development.
The activities of the GNFS required the usage of qualified and trained personnel to carry out the various tasks.
According to Boachie-Mensah (2006), the fundamental purpose of recruitment activities is to create a pool of job candidates in accordance with the organization’s human resource plan. Furthermore, he described selection as the process of selecting who from a pool of qualified candidates is the greatest fit for the job.
Folkes and Linenash (1982; cited in Koranteng, 2005, p. 2) reported Wriston as saying, “I feel the only game in town is the personnel game.” at my opinion, if you have the right person at the right place, you don’t need to do anything else. If you employ the wrong individual for the job, there is no management method known to man that can save you.
According to anecdotal evidence, the Ghana National Fire Service is understaffed in both quantity and quality. As a result, many stations in Ghana are understaffed and unable to carry out their duties correctly and efficiently.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), like any other security service in Ghana, has experienced issues and obstacles in terms of recruiting, selection, and deployment.
Since the establishment of the Ghana National Assembly in 1963, the Fire Service has encountered various challenges, including an insufficient number and quality of employees to carry out its mission.
The service, in particular, and the government as a whole are concerned about the recruitment, selection, and placement of qualified persons, because these difficulties jeopardise the GNFS’s ability to offer efficient and effective public service.
The service’s present workforce of 6,020 employees is insufficient to deal with the country’s frequent fires. As a result, there is a mismatch between the service’s people demands and the resources available to train and hire new employees. Almost all of the country’s fire stations are severely understaffed.
When there is a recruiting, passed-out recruits are occasionally rejected from being sent to specific areas of the country. Furthermore, due to a lack of staff, the recruited personnel are not distributed equitably across the fire stations.
There is also a perception of political influence, family pressure on recruitment professionals, and links between old acquaintances and schoolmates that appear to contaminate army recruitment.
According to Anyima-Ackah (2002), skilled and competent individuals are vital to the efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation. While the GNFS trains its fire departments, the question of whether the trained personnel are qualified and competent to deal with modern fire service emergency scenarios remains unaddressed.
Given the vast amount of work that the GNFS is tasked with, it is vital that the right individuals are hired. Given the foregoing, one would be tempted to ask a few key questions, the answers to which are essential for the GNFS to function successfully. What are the GNFS staff qualifications in the Central Region, for example?
Are their qualifications adequate for their position? Do individuals have the technical skills required by their current job descriptions? Above all, are employees happy with their current position given their qualifications? This study will look into recruiting, selection, and placement concerns in order to understand the GNFS’s present level of performance.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The general purpose of the research is to critically analyse the problems in recruiting, selecting, and placing workers in the national fire service in Ghana’s Central Region.
Check to see if employees’ qualifications fit the standards.
Examine the elements that influence employee selection, recruitment, and placement.
Determine the service’s personnel selection, recruitment, and placement problems.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions guide the study’s objective:
Do employees’ qualifications fit the requirements?
Examine the elements that influence employee selection, recruitment, and placement.
Determine the service’s personnel selection, recruitment, and placement problems.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Despite the fact that it will be difficult to analyse due to its sensitive nature, this study will try to evaluate other variables that are likely to influence selection, recruitment, and placement in the Ghana National Fire Service, using the Central Region.
As a result, the study will serve as a source of literature for future research in addition to providing some insight into the difficulties at hand. The study will help the Ghana National Fire Service’s Central Regional Command identify recruitment, selection, and placement issues in the region. This is due to the decentralisation of the recruitment process from the national headquarters to the regional level.
As a result, the investigation will reveal flaws in the Central Region’s Ghana National Fire Service selection, recruiting, and placement. The recommendations from the study will benefit Ghana’s National Fire Service.
This service’s goal is to assist with some of the challenges associated with selection, recruitment, and placement.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The research sites are the several fire stations located throughout the Central Region. With the exception of the headquarters, UCC, and Breman Essiam, the rest of the stations are in municipal and district capitals with sizable populations. These district capitals are settlements within which development activities are focused.
Economic activities in these villages are similar to those of similar-status Ghanaian settlements. Despite the fact that the vast majority of the people works in the government, farming and fishing are the predominant occupations in many of these villages.
The study is also limited to issues concerning the recruiting, selection, and placement process in Ghana’s Central Region.
1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The investigation was constrained due to the short time span, low money, and inability to cover staff’s refusal to respond swiftly.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Recruitment is a good process of seeking out new employees and encouraging them to apply for positions inside the business.
The activity or event of carefully selecting someone or something as the best or most suitable.
Placement: the temporary placement of someone in a workplace to get work experience.
National fire department Ghana: The Ghana National Fire and Rescue Service (GNFRS) is a government institution that serves as the country’s national fire service.
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