Workplace health and safety - a statement on research priorities for natural hazards emergency management in Australia

Throughout 2015-2017, emergency service agencies around Australia participated in workshops hosted by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC to consider the major issues in natural hazards emergency management.

This publication on workplace health and safety summarises the outcomes of one of these workshops and poses questions as a guide for a national research agenda in natural hazard emergency management.

Emergency management is premised on the principle of a comprehensive and integrated approach, commonly referred to as the ‘all hazards-all agencies’ model of emergency management. Based on this principle it is expected that the systems that have been developed within jurisdictions can be adapted to any incident confronting the community, regardless of its nature.

Work health and safety in the emergency services ensures resilience in the workforce is supported to conduct activities, before, during and after emergencies. This includes, identifying challenges and using work, health and safety legislation and regulation and process to create safe workplaces and actively encouraging diversity in the workforce.

A changing climate has brought changes to the frequency, duration and intensity of bushfires, cyclones and floods, as well as other severe impact weather events such as heatwaves and storms. Traditional models of response may eventually be unsustainable to protect the emergency service worker in this new environment.