Quantifying the benefits of Australian emergency services training

Abstract

There is greater competition for funding within the public sector and, combined with the increasing scope of high-risk hazards that emergency services personnel are responsible for is placing greater economic pressure on emergency services worldwide. With this pressure comes additional requirements to justify expenditure and effort across operational and corporate contexts, including the training of career and volunteer personnel to the necessary level of contemporary multi-hazard expertise. Within this context, Australasian fire and emergency services must submit formalised cases for funding through state or Commonwealth treasury departments, in most cases competing with other government departments for limited funding. These are usually assessed based on public and political value and benefit. The investment in new, high-fidelity practical and simulated training environments, let alone a new training academy or college, is expensive and has the potential to be one of the largest capital projects emergency services can undertake. Justifying the cost of new training environments is complex due to the difficulty of translating the technicalities of specialised emergency response into corporate language and because of the lack of data and literature on which to draw guidance. This paper bridges this knowledge gap by building on existing models and research to propose an Emergency Services Training Financial Rationalisation Model (EST-FRM) for the funding of emergency services academies in Australia. The model has potential application wherever financial rationalisation of emergency services facilities is required.