Emergency Services Officer
An Emergency Services Officer responds to emergency calls and incidents across police, fire, ambulance, or disaster management services in Australia. They perform rapid assessment and intervention at scene, operate emergency communication systems, and coordinate with multi-agency responders to manage public safety.
What this job is
An Emergency Services Officer responds to emergency calls and incidents across police, fire, ambulance, or disaster management services in Australia. They perform rapid assessment and intervention at scene, operate emergency communication systems, and coordinate with multi-agency responders to manage public safety. The role requires adherence to state and federal legislation, agency protocols, and Safe Work Australia standards in high-risk, time-critical environments.
Are employers advertising this role?
Rising, up 74.5% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Receive and triage emergency calls via triple-zero (000) or dedicated emergency lines, recording caller information and incident details in computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems. Operate two-way radio communications to dispatch emergency vehicles and personnel, maintaining clear situational awareness across multiple concurrent incidents. Respond to emergency scenes and perform rapid scene assessment to identify hazards, locate casualties, and determine incident scope. Administer first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) according to Australian Resuscitation Council guidelines and agency training standards. Provide emergency patient care including airway management, haemorrhage control, and shock management in pre-hospital settings. Operate emergency response vehicles including ambulances, fire appliances, or police vehicles, navigating hazardous conditions and traffic. Manage crowd control and public safety at incident scenes, erecting cordons and directing bystanders away from hazards. Coordinate multi-agency response by communicating with police, fire services, ambulance, and council services to ensure integrated emergency management.
Who does this now
About 1,600 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3)
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. Ratings are not the same everywhere. NSW and SA were rated in shortage. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You'll face shift work including nights, weekends, and on-call rosters that mess with your sleep and family time. The emotional load is real: you'll see serious injuries, deaths, and trauma regularly, and there's genuine risk of PTSD. Pay ceilings are lower than you might expect for the stress involved. You also need multiple certifications (CPR, first aid, vehicle operation) that require ongoing renewal and retraining.
Where the jobs are
In reality, most positions are in capital cities and major regional centres where call volumes justify staffing. Rural and remote areas have fewer positions but higher competition for them. Shift work means these jobs don't suit remote work.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 4412, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Active Listeningcore
- Conflict De-escalationcore
- Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
- Escalation Managementcore
- Inbound Call Handlingcore
- Incident Reportingcore
- Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
- Problem Solvingcore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Trauma-Informed Communicationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Workflow Prioritisationcore
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Attention to Detail
- Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
- Multitasking
- Record Management
- Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
- Report Writing
- Service Navigation and Referral
- Stakeholder Communication
- Written Communication
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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