‘Investing in our people is an investment in the future of our sector and our collective resilience to disasters.’

For professionals across the fire and emergency services sector, primacy of life is the major motivator in the actions we take and decisions we make. Saving the lives of the public, emergency staff and volunteers dominates all aspects of our business. In short, people are at the heart of what we do.

The AFAC Membership comprises of organisations spanning fire, emergency service and land management agencies who lead a workforce of more than 288,000 paid and volunteer staff across Australia and New Zealand. Each of these people contribute to the safety and resilience of their communities.

This commitment to community safety and protection of people demonstrated across the fire and emergency services must be reflected in the professional development pathways and recognition of the people within our sector. Continuing to innovate in the ways that we recruit, retain and develop the workforce is crucial to ensure we have the relevant skills and knowledge to meet the challenges of the future.

There is already a valuable breadth of skills demonstrated across the sector that play a role in managing incidents and building our resilience to disaster. One way we are recognising this is through the AFAC Emergency Management Professionalisation Scheme (EMPS) that credentials practitioners in emergency management and benchmarks individual skills against published professional standards. Through this, AFAC EMPS provides assurance to individuals, fire and emergency service agencies and the public that their qualifications and experience meet nationally agreed requirements.

As we trend toward a future of increasingly larger scale disaster events, we are also building our sector’s capability and interoperability to respond to them through the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System (AIIMS). By applying AIIMS in training, exercising and incident response, we reinforce the mutual confidence and trust that allows agencies to come together and resolve incidents through an integrated response. Having this commonality of language and practice is one of our strongest assets to work collaboratively and cohesively as a sector.

Navigating a changing disaster risk landscape requires strong leadership. AFAC is supporting current and emerging leaders of the fire and emergency services through initiatives such as the Senior Leaders Cohort that provides focused discussion on the challenges and capabilities of the future. Investing in professional development occurs at all levels of the sector, with a calendar of knowledge events, masterclasses, doctrine development and the flagship AFAC Conference and Exhibition focussed on improving our workforce capability.

Ensuring these opportunities are available to all members of the fire and emergency services opens pathways to leadership and supports our commitment to achieving greater representation and diversity through our ranks. When agencies reflect their communities, they are better placed to serve them. Through participation in the Champions of Change Coalition, AFAC is working with its members to progress more inclusive workplaces. This supports a cultural shift to attract a broader cross section of the population to consider positions within the fire and emergency services and bring with them a diversity of new experience and expertise.

By recognising the unique skills and qualities of each individual in our workforce and supporting their development, we allow our people to contribute in the most meaningful way possible. Investing in our people is an investment in the future of our sector and our collective resilience to disasters.

About the IFSJ Influencer

Commissioner Carlene York, leading NSW SES since 2019, manages storm, flood, and tsunami responses. A former NSW Police Assistant Commissioner with vast emergency management experience, York’s honored with the Australian Police Medal, the Audrey Fagan Memorial Award, and the 2017 Australian HR Director of the Year.

This article was originally published in the December 2023 issue of International Fire & Safety Journal. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.