By KATH GANNAWAY
NEITHER the CFA nor the SES has a clear understanding of the number of volunteers they have available, according to a report tabled in State Parliament last week.
The Auditor General’s ‘Managing Emergency Services Volunteers Report’ put the effective management by the Country Fire Authority and State Emergency Services under the microscope with some damning findings including overestimating their emergency response capabilities.
A statement released by the Auditor-General’s office on 5 February said while CFA and SES’s volunteers were around 57,500 and 5000 respectively, and despite the significant reliance on volunteers, neither had a sound understanding of the total number of volunteers needed to fulfil their operational requirements.
The report found the CFA did not know how many volunteers it needs, and SES data on how many volunteers it had was unreliable.
The report was critical of the organisations’ decentralised approaches to recruitment, training and deployment of volunteers which it said meant neither agency could be assured they were effectively addressing workforce needs.
“The CFA is in the process of implementing programs that aim to address these concerns, however, SES attempts to resolve these issues are presently inadequate,” the statement said.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services Kim Wells said on 5 February that the government and the CFA and SES welcomed the report.
He said both agencies were already in the process of implementing the recommendations.
“I am assured by both agencies that these issues are being addressed, with processes in place even before the Auditor-General’s audit was released, he said.
The recommendations include both organisations evaluate volunteer support systems and processes and explore further opportunities to collaborate with each other, the CFA develop exit surveys to find out why volunteers leave and improve brigade operational skills profiles to reflect volunteer activity and availability, and for the SES to improve Emergency Response Activity Standards – enhanced (ERAS-e) profiles to reflect volunteer activity and availability and align them with its planning cycle.
