CAQA Guardian Emergency Services
Guardian Emergency Services is a combined fire, rescue, state emergency and emergency management organisation serving a regional area of Victoria that stretches from the coast to the western volcanic plains. Its career and volunteer members respond to structure fires, grass and bush fires, road crash rescue, hazardous materials incidents, storm and flood damage, land and swiftwater search and rescue, and industrial and domestic rescues. The organisation also runs the regional emergency communications centre that takes emergency calls and dispatches appliances, delivers community safety and fire prevention programs, and leads regional emergency planning, exercises, evacuation and recovery work with councils and partner agencies.
The organisation is organised into six divisions under the Chief Officer. Fire and Rescue Operations runs 28 fire stations, eleven of them staffed around the clock by career crews on a rotating four platoon roster and the rest crewed by volunteers. State Emergency Service Operations runs fourteen volunteer units with a duty officer system. The communications centre operates 24 hours a day on a three shift pattern. Community Safety, Emergency Management and Recovery, and Corporate Services, Training and Safety work business hours from regional headquarters and the Ballan campus, and every division surges to a regional operations structure when a major incident is declared.
Guardian manages operational risk under the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System, with every incident controlled through a documented command structure, incident action plans and safety officers. Member safety is managed under a health and safety system that covers breathing apparatus, hazardous materials, working at height, swiftwater, driving under operational conditions, fatigue and mental health. Appliances, pumps, breathing apparatus and rescue equipment are tested and recorded on fixed schedules. Every member holds a competency profile in the training matrix and no one is dispatched to a role they are not recorded as competent to perform. Incidents, near misses and lessons are captured and reviewed after every significant event.