Item - 2020.EC15.5

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1. City Council direct the Fire Chief and General Manager, Toronto Fire Services to report back to City Council through the Economic and Community Development Committee in advance of the commencement of the 2022 budget process with recommendations for further Inspection and/or Quality Assurance Inspection Review Audit service level enhancements.

This report responds to City Council direction related to the Auditor General's 2018 report AU13.11 "Raising the Alarm: Fraud Investigation of a Vendor Providing Life Safety Inspection Services to the City of Toronto."

In response to this report, the Audit Committee, at its meeting of July 13, 2018, requested the Fire Chief and General Manager, Toronto Fire Services, to outline operational and financial implications for options related to the assessment of fire safety and compliance with the Ontario Fire Code in buildings within Toronto. Toronto Fire Services provided three options designed to enhance annual inspection services. At its meeting of July 23, 2018, City Council endorsed Option 1 which included the assignment of 11 Full Time Employees to the Toronto Fire Services Fire Safety Quality Assurance section effective September 1, 2018.

City Council further requested the Fire Chief and General Manager, Toronto Fire Services to report back to City Council in advance of the 2020 budget process with respect to outcomes and analysis of the enhanced service levels.

With the addition of 11 Full Time Employees assigned to the Toronto Fire Services Fire Safety Quality Assurance section, Toronto Fire Services estimated the completion of 80 Quality Assurance Inspection Review Audits in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 325 Quality Assurance Inspection Reviews in 2019 and annually thereafter. Quality Assurance Inspection Review Audits involve a systematic and comprehensive review of all aspects of Ontario Fire Code compliance for a given building, including the associated processes completed by third-party contractors.

Toronto Fire Services investigative work on the Auditor General's 2018 report, "Raising the Alarm: Fraud Investigation of a Vendor Providing Life Safety Inspection Services to the City of Toronto," continued after the publishing of the report in the form of follow-up activities that were required to complete the overall inspection review audits. This follow-up activity resulted in unanticipated workloads impacting Toronto Fire Services' total number of originally estimated Quality Assurance Inspection Review Audits for 2019.   

Further, with the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic in March 2020, work related to the advancement of the Quality Assurance Inspection Review Audits was placed on hold in accordance with the COVID-19 emergency declaration in Toronto.

The impact of unanticipated circumstances and events in 2019 and 2020 have resulted in Toronto Fire Services having insufficient data to produce the evidence-based outcomes required to adequately analyze and make recommendations on enhanced service levels. Toronto Fire Services will continue to build a comprehensive data set and to analyze the data arising from the current service levels, to determine what, if any, further enhancements would be appropriate. City Council will be provided a complete and thorough analysis of the enhanced service levels and recommendation prior to the 2022 budget process.