Joining the SES
The SES - Always There Always Aware
The State Emergency Service (SES) is a volunteer organisation, established by an Act of Parliament in 1975. Under the Act,
every local authority in Queensland is responsible for maintaining SES Units within their communities. The SES Units are made
up of local people who have volunteered to prepare themselves and their communities to minimise the effects of a disaster.
SES volunteers to not receive payment.
Under the motto, "Be Aware", the basic concept of the SES is to encourage self-help and mutual assistance within each community.
The SES Units support the statutory services (Police, Fire and Ambulance) where an emergency or disaster is beyond the resources
of those services.
If I joined the SES, what types of things would I be asked to do?
It depends where you live, how much time you can offer, and how much training you are prepared to undertake.
SES volunteers are called out to a wide range of activations.
You could be involved in:
- Assisting police in the search for a missing person
- Performing a vertical rescue of a bushwalker fallen over a cliff or a worker trapped up a silo
- Conducting a road accident rescue in rural areas or assisting the Fire Service in urban area
- Providing traffic control, lighting, communications support to other services at a major accident or event such as bushfires
or a mining accident
- Going out in a floodboat to rescue a marooned person or to drop supplies to people cut of in the Wet Season
- Putting tarpaulins on houses unroofed by severe storms or cyclones
- Removing fallen trees and cleaning up debris after a severe storm or cyclone
- Conducting a public education display at your local show or in your local shopping centre
- Providing emergency lighting for aero-medical activities
- Conducting fundraising events for your Unit
- You will never be compelled to take part in an activation or to undergo training in something of which you are afraid
or dislike.
Who can join the SES?
Any Queenslander aged over 16 years can become an SES Volunteer. There is a role for everyone - young people, older adults,
men and women, people who are super-fit, people of average health and people with disabilities. Everyone can learn new skills
and make their own unique contribution. Emergency Services Cadet Units have been established in a number of communities for
young people at high school.
What could I expect to learn with the SES?
- First Aid
- Map reading and navigation
- How to operate a two-way radio
- Basic rescue
- Rescue form Heights and Depths
- Road accident rescue
- Floodboat rescue
- Welfare
- Emergency operations management
- Storm damage response
- Land search techniques
- Leadership and team-building
- Instructional techniques (training others)
- Local SES Units conduct training programs in their own communities with support provided at the district and state level.
How much will it cost me to be in the SES?
Cash? Zero. Commitment? Plenty!
All Volunteers are provided with complete protective clothing. There are no joining fees. All education and training programs
are provided free of charge. Equipment is provided.
If you are injured in any way whilst on an SES activation or at training, you will be fully covered by Workers Compensation.
Where can I get more information?
Contact the SES Unit in your area for further information.
