Key members of CFA highlight the fundamental role of each individual committee within AFAC, and the benefits CFA receives from this representation.
Including:
Alan Chadwick, Chris Cowley, Jeff Green, Lisa Strurzenegger, Michael Wootton, Neil Bibby, Paul Garvey, John Grech, Russell Rees, Steven Warrington, Dr Noreen Krusel, Karen Enbom and Terry Hayes.
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NAME
Neil Bibby
CEO
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name and Purpose of AFAC Committee
- AFAC Council.
- Knowledge Management Committee.
- NAFC (National Aerial Fire Fighting Center).
- International Association of Fire Chiefs Asia as the Australian representative.
The AFAC Council is the executive committee of AFAC and reports through to the stakeholders. The AFAC Board includes representative from fire services around Australian and State Emergency Services.
The Knowledge Management Committee is responsible for ensuring appropriate information is collected to improve the decision making capacity within AFAC. Its other responsibility is to act as a knowledge broker across the Australia.
NAFC (National Aerial Fire Fighting Centre) is responsible for the leasing of the national fleet of aircraft to be used during the fire season and administering commonwealth funding that has been provided to enhance our aerial capacity.
International Association of Fire Chiefs Asia as the Australian representative. The position is to liaise with the Asian emergency management sector for the purpose of setting regional policy and the sharing of information.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
To ensure CFA has a high profile within the emergency management sector and benefit from the economies of scale of working across the nation. A more detailed understanding can be gained from reading the information around individual members of the committees set out below.
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NAME
Michael Wootten
Director Finance and Administration
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
Member of the AFAC Business Management Group.
Purpose of the Committee
The purpose of the Committee is to share issues and experiences from all members in relation to general business-related issues related to financial management.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
CFA benefits from this representation by being exposed to alternative approaches and ideas across the country, and by being able to collaborate with other agencies in relation to issues of national concern.
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NAME
Mark Tarbett
Acting Manager
CFA Protective Equipment Department
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
AFAC National Personal Protective Clothing and Equipment Standards Committee.
Purpose of the Committee
This group undertake specific PPE related projects whilst acting as an advisory body in the best interests of all AFAC member agencies through specialist input into the development and review of relevant Australian and International Standards, inter agency information sharing, identification and development of collaborative purchasing opportunities and a reference point for member agencies and suppliers. This forum is typically responsible for planning, designing, specifying, acquiring and maintaining PPE.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
Active representation enables CFA to fully understand and consider implications of existing performance based PPE standards and contribute to the development and review of new and amended specifications which may directly impact the considerable business and operational safety requirements of our organisation. This work ensures an ongoing positive contribution can be made to the strategic positioning efforts of CFA regarding PPE selection and implementation.
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NAME
Paul Garvey
Director Human Resources (Acting)
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
Volunteer & Employee Management Group.
Purpose of the Committee
It has three purposes:
- The Volunteer and Employee Management Group's mission is to ensure that human resource management activities and information of Australasian relevance can be addressed in a consistent, integrated and co-ordinated manner;
- To provide guidance and advice to AFAC regarding strategic human resource issues impacting on the fire services;
- Oversees and sets the direction for three other sub groups reporting in to it. They are the Employee Management group, OH&S group and Volunteer Management group.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
Benefits include:
- The opportunity to build strong networks with counterparts throughout Australia;
- Pooling of resources and knowledge across Services;
- Development of managers through interaction with other agencies; and
- Influence direction taken by AFAC in respect of key critical issues.
NAME
Lisa Sturzenegger
Director Community Safety
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee Community Safety Group (CSG)
a) Community Education Sub-Group (CESG) – Chair
Purpose of the Committee
CSG: To advise AFAC on matters that relate to the cost effective management of risk to life, property and the environment from exposure to hazards that are the responsibility of its member agencies, and provide strategic leadership in relation to:
- reduction of community risk;
- readiness of the community for emergencies;
- response by the community to emergencies;
- recovery of the community from emergencies;
- research into the above, and
- measuring program effectiveness.
CESG: To advise CSG on ways of effectively working with the community to deal with fire and other emergencies in the natural, built and mobile environments, and will provide leadership and direction in relation to community education and community engagement.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
- Advocacy and influence over a range of national issues.
- Consistency in approach to working with communities.
- Sharing of best practice model, which improves service delivery to Victoria
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NAME
Jeff Green
Manager Occupational Health and Safety
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
Occupational Health & Safety Sub Group.
Purpose of the Committee
The OH&S group was established in early 1996 to improve the liaison between agency OHS specialists. The committee shares information on a range of OH&S issues to achieve consistent outcomes, avoid duplication of effort and facilitate improvements to “best practice”.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
CFA’s involvement on this committee has enabled fire services health and safety programs to be actively shared and this has led to savings in resources and funds. For example, the OHS Sub Group played a significant role in identifying appropriate research topics for the Bushfire Research Centre currently looking at a range of firefighter safety issues including effects of smoke, hydration and nutrition.
While this committee only meets twice a year the liaison between the relevant OHS specialists is maintained throughout the year through requests for information and sharing of new OHS initiatives.
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NAME
John Grech
Manager Strategic Sourcing Contracts and Procurement Department
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
Collaborative Purchasing Initiative (CPI).
Purpose of the Committee
To create and implement a collaborative purchasing process that provides tangible financial and other benefits (like commonality and interoperability between agencies) for AFAC member agencies.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
- In some cases, CFA leads other agencies in operational, community safety awareness, OH&S and technical matters, and therefore by its presence at AFAC meetings and participation in CPI indirectly promotes CFA on the platform as a leading organisation as perceived by other member agencies and world fire authorities.
- Benchmark processes against other member agencies.
- Assists in utilising other agencies standing contracts where applicable and when economic to do so (this may reduce the need to call tenders or raise a tender exemption request for unforeseen events).
- Raise the standard of equipment for all firefighters.
- Enable CFA to share reserves.
- Reduce duplication in the field of technical services.
- Save on the production of training material.
- Receive alternative ideas for discussion purposes that may prompt the generation of further ideas for consideration (continuous improvement).
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NAME
Terry Hayes
Executive Manager Fire Planning Systems
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
AS 1851- FP001-04 – fire ext and hose reels.
Purpose of the Committee
To maintain and provide advise on the Australian Standard 18151.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
To ensure building owners have well maintained 1st attack fire equipment.
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NAME
John Butler
Executive Manager Learning and Development
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
Learning and Development Group.
Purpose of the Committee
To provide leadership and demonstrate best practice in learning and development through sharing of experience, innovation, collaboration and ongoing commitment to professional development and life learning
Benefits to CFA from this representation
- Knowledge sharing and development of networks with other Emergency Services Organisations.
- Creation of partnerships and agreement on national standards applicable to our industry.
- Ability to leverage off the synergies within the membership and from AFAC-sponsored research.
- Ability to jointly research, discuss and develop a professional view of issues relating to learning and development within and across our organisations.
- Provides a forum to explore issues of mutual interest in L&D
NAME
Russell Rees
Chief Officer
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
- AFAC Environmental Management Working Group (EMWG) - Chair
- AFAC Operational Services Rural/Land Management Group
- Australasian Inter-service Incident Management Service (AIIMS) Steering Committee – Chair
Terms of Reference for the AFAC Environmental Management Working Group (EMWG) are to assist AFAC agencies to work towards best practice in environmental care in all aspects of their business (prevention, preparedness, response and recovery from emergencies, and in infrastructure and support).
The EMWG will achieve this through development and promotion of a strategic approach to environmental management and by gaining the support of the community and environmental regulators for AFAC agencies’ initiatives.
Terms of Reference for the Operational Services Rural/Land Management Group are to:
- Provide Council with knowledgeable operational and policy advice in relation to fire management in the natural and rural environments.
- Develop benchmarks for improved management of fire in the natural and rural environment.
- Foster and promote greater integration and sharing of information in support of evidenced based fire management within member agencies with fire responsibilities for natural and rural lands.
The strategic intent for the AIIMS Steering Committee is for all levels of government in Australia, and non-government organisations (NGO), to recognise and employ AIIMS (or its successor or derivatives) as the doctrine for the management of incidents and major events.
This will be achieved by:
- The AIIMS Steering Committee promoting the adoption of AIIMS by emergency service organisations and other agencies nationally as the standard means of managing events, incidents and disasters leading to improved interagency coordination and international consistency.
- This will require engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and recognition of varying agency needs, while promoting the core principles of AIIMS.
- The Steering Committee will provide guidance on the development of supporting materials to assist with the introduction and implementation of AIIMS, providing a governance role and advise the AFAC Council with regard to ongoing system development and innovation’.
As Chair of the AIIMS Steering Committee, for a period of two years, responsibilities include:
- Provision of strategic direction to the Steering Committee on matters relating to the implementation of AIIMS.
- Progressing the evolvement and further development of the AIIMS 3rd Edition.
- Preside as Chair at every meeting but, if unavailable, arrange for the Deputy Chair to perform the role and notify AFAC in advance of the meeting
- During meetings attempt to ensure that all interests and points of view are heard.
- Attempt to reach consensus on the matters under discussion in meetings. In the absence of consensus, the Chair may put a specific proposition to the meeting asking members who are entitled to vote if they agree with the proposition.
- Review and sign off Minutes of the AIIMS Steering Committee meetings prior to their release.
NAME
Executive Manager Human Resources
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
Volunteer Management Sub Group (VMSG)
Purpose of the Committee
The Volunteer Management Sub-Group has been established to provide a forum in which volunteer human resource management issues of national and international relevance can be discussed and addressed in a coordinated manner.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
Provides CFA the opportunity to promote and contribute to Volunteer initiatives of national importance.
CFA participates in coordinated research into Strategic Volunteer management issues and establish benchmarks to assist the performance of member agencies
Provides a forum for expanded information sharing to enhance sustainability of Volunteerism.
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NAME
Alan Chadwick
Executive Officer Employee Relations – Operations
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
Employee Management Sub-Group (EMSG)
Purpose of the Committee
The Employee Management Sub-group is a forum in which employee management activities of national importance can be addressed in a coordinated manner.
The Sub-group identifies areas of overlap, duplication and interdependence in employee relations matters between member agencies and examines ways in which the collective effort in addressing these matters can be maximised across the various agencies.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
It provides an invaluable networking forum to discuss issues with fellow fire service employee relations practitioners.
It is mechanism for CFA to be aware of employee relations issues relevant to fire services across Australasia and participate in discussions on these.
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NAME
Steven Warrington
Deputy Chief Officer
Manager State Operations
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of AFAC Committee
- Urban operations group
- Pacific Island Fire Services Association (PFISA)
Purpose of the Committee
The AFAC urban operations group has representation from all the urban based fire services affiliated with AFAC. It is through this forum that CFA works with the other member organisations to ensure we have a consistent and effective approach to the provisions of urban operations throughout Australasia. The urban operations group supports knowledge creation and evidence based decision making in the urban environment.
PFISA – CFA sponsor and support the National Fire Authority of Fiji. AFAC member agencies, such as CFA, have established partnerships with Pacific island nations to promote effective fire and emergency management throughout the Pacific. CFA have been actively involved in supporting Fiji with the provision of: people, technical support, strategic information and advice, and resources.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
Given that CFA is one of the largest urban fire services in Australasia, it is important that we are active participants in this environment. Many of the fire services in the urban environment are not faced with the time and space issues confronting a large geographically spread organisation such as CFA. As such it is important that CFA not only contribute but, lead the developments
that are occurring in this dynamic environment.
As one of many AFAC member agencies supporting a Pacific nation, CFA’s involvement with PFISA is to ensure the sharing of ideas with other member agencies to better support Fiji and through sharing our ideas with other agencies, to support other pacific island nations. CFA is seen as one of the leaders in this forum and is an active participant in the strategic direction of this group.
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NAME
Karen Enbom
CFA Revenue Investigation Officer
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of Committee
Unwanted False Alarm Reduction Committee
Purpose of Committee
Provides a base for the sharing of information relating to false alarm issues and allows us as a group to work in partnership with key stakeholders to minimise unwanted false alarms.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
Highlights the importance of reducing unwanted false alarms in CFA areas;
- false alarms currently make up 30% of CFA’s total attendances*
- false alarms pose an unnecessary danger to the community and CFA staff & volunteers, for example; trucks on the road ‘lights and sirens’
- they create a sense of complacency towards fire alarm systems
- disrupts business activities, for example; unnecessary building evacuations, and time lost by employers & volunteers leaving their workplace
- false alarms can result in fire appliances being delayed/prevented from responding to ‘real’ emergencies
- financial implications for CFA and the community
- increase in infrastructure & industry in ‘growth corridors’ + ageing buildings and fire protection systems = potential increased false alarms
CFA have been able to address these issues by;
- liaising with fire protection industries on new and current technology
- having discussions with fire maintenance/monitoring companies to develop relevant information for fire services
- facilitating and being part of research into false alarm prevention strategies
- reviewing emerging trends and creating procedures to minimise unwanted alarms
- contributing to statistical information and being part of a quantitative analysis of fire alarm activation data
- developing an effective charging process to provide financial disincentives to building owners/occupiers who have a blasé attitude towards management of alarm systems
- liaising with other committees and related forums to directly promote alarm reduction strategies
- creating manuals, standard letters and forms to assist CFA personnel record data and communicate with building owners/occupiers
NAME
Dr Noreen Krusel
Executive Manager Knowledge Management
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of Committee
Knowledge Management Group (KMG)
Purpose of Committee
To develop and drive strategies that will lead to greater integration and sharing of information to support the development of evidence-based decision making together with the development of a broader knowledge management capacity and culture within member agencies.
The KMG clearly supports the AFAC vision of "fire and emergency services strengthened through sharing, collaboration, and innovation".
Benefits to CFA from this representation
There are three key benefits to CFA being involved in this group:
- CFA itself has a need to strengthen its knowledge management and can learn from sharing experiences with other agencies
- CFA has the opportunity to demonstrate national leadership and promote the organisation
- CFA can gain the benefits of economies of scale by working at the national scale.
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Chris Cowley
Operations Officer
Manager Fire & Incident Reporting System
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NAME
Gwynne BrennanManager Community Development
AFAC COMMITTEE
Name of Committee
Community Education Sub Group
Purpose of Committee
The Community Education Sub-Group's mission, on behalf of the CSG, is to identify and analyse communities at risk and then prioritise, develop and promote policies, systems, and counter measures for treating those risks.
Benefits to CFA from this representation
Benefits to CFA from its involvement in this group:
- Building strong networks with other Fire Services nationally and internationally
- Sharing resources and knowledge across Fire Services
- Influence AFAC position on key issues around community safety
- Strength in unity with other Fire Services provides more influence to achieve regulatory change
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