Expanding the emergency management sector's national registration scheme
In 2015, the AFAC launched the Emergency Management Professionalisation Scheme (EMPS) with the aim of creating national professional standards for emergency managers in Australia and New Zealand. Last year, AFAC committed to investment in expanding the scheme and extending its scope and reach. A range of professional standards have been developed to support national certification and registration of incident management practitioners, and in mid-April EMPS launched a new website emps.org.au which carries information about how the scheme works and the standards it is based on.
The focus of EMPS up to now has been the development of national standards for incident management roles under AIIMS, as well as some specialist technical roles. Over time, EMPS intends to engage with colleagues in the broader emergency management sector to provide national recognition of people carrying out emergency management functions in government and the commercial sector, with the strategic aim being the recognition of emergency management as a profession encompassing the full range of activities currently undertaken before, during and after emergencies.