Australia's first nationally consistent bushfire safety learning experience specifically designed for people who live, work or travel in high-risk bushfire areas was launched at AFAC26 in Melbourne yesterday (19 August).
The new national eLearning module was produced to help workers make safer decisions before and during bushfires.
The module is designed for employers, work health and safety teams, government agencies and workers across sectors including health, aged care, disability and community services, education, local government, transport, utilities, agriculture, tourism, hospitality and emergency services.
CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan AFSM said workers are often on the road, visiting clients, maintaining essential infrastructure or operating in places they do not know well.
"This national module gives them practical, consistent information so they can recognise risk early and make safer decisions before a situation becomes an emergency," CO Heffernan said.
The learning is organised around four practical topics — RISK, PREPARE, TRAVEL and SURVIVE — and helps workers understand local bushfire risk, prepare before entering high-risk areas, make safer travel decisions and know what to do if conditions deteriorate or they encounter fire.
"The initiative strengthens employer duty of care by providing a ready-made learning resource that can be incorporated into induction, seasonal preparedness, travel safety and work health and safety programs," Jason said.
"It also supports broader community resilience because workers take this knowledge home and apply it when travelling with family and friends."
Developed by CFA with an Australian-wide AFAC working group, the National Bushfire Safety for Workers eLearning module fills a longstanding gap until now, with previously no nationally consistent bushfire safety training specifically designed for workers who may be exposed to bushfire risk while living, working or travelling.
The module builds on CFA's original Bushfire Safety for Workers course, first developed in 2018 and completed by more than 25,000 people. Feedback from those learners, together with expertise from fire and emergency service agencies across Australia, has informed a new mobile-friendly, accessible and scenario-based national learning experience.
Chief Executive Officer of AFAC Rob Webb said this initiative shows what national collaboration can achieve.
"By bringing agencies together around consistent advice and making it practical for workplaces, we can help more people act earlier and make safer choices wherever bushfire risk takes them," Mr Webb said.
The national rollout will begin with fire and emergency service agencies and expand through employers, industry bodies and workforce learning systems. The aim is to reach workers at scale before each bushfire season and reinforce the learning when risk is highest.
