Recent events such as the 2019-20 bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the sector’s reliance on critical employees to support emergency management operations and ability to surge workforce resources as needed in the event of a prolonged disruption or emergency incident.

Examples of past reviews examining human resource capabilities and capacity to support emergency management operations include, Managing Emergency Services Volunteers and Review of incident management teams: accreditation and rostering.

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Publish year Assurance activity Summary Organisation
2014 Managing Emergency Services Volunteers (External link) An examination of the adequacy of strategic and operational planning within CFA and SES to identify and address volunteer workforce capacity and requirements, including recruitment, retention and support. The report found that addressing these issues is critical to the long-term sustainability of these emergency services agencies. Victorian Auditor-General's Office
2013 Management of Unplanned Leave in Emergency Services (External link) An assessment of whether AV, MFESB and VicPol were effectively and efficiently managing unplanned leave. The audit provided recommendations to all three agencies separately based on its findings. Victorian Auditor-General's Office