The Rural Volunteer Attendance Line (previously known as the 1800 Reporting Line) is now available 24/7 to better support volunteers to report their attendance at incidents and other activities.
As you may be aware, the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 (also referred to as ‘Presumptive Legislation’) was passed by Parliament on 17 September 2015 and introduced new provisions that deem certain latent onset diseases developed by firefighters to be work-related for the purposes of claiming workers’ compensation benefits.
This has emphasised the need to maintain accurate records of personnel attendance at incidents and other relevant activities, which provide evidence in the event of a compensation claim.
RFSQ can accurately store, maintain and retrieve information on electronic records in the event of a compensation claim, but this relies on the information you provide about attendance at incidents.
To assist us in capturing essential information:
- Provide as much information as possible about the incident to Firecom at the time of the incident. Be aware that the Firecom operator may not be able to capture the names of everyone in attendance during busy periods or if there is a large number of personnel in attendance.
- As soon as practical afterwards either submit a copy of the Additional Incident Information form (OBM 082) to record volunteer names and any other information you wish to add. This can be sent via email, fax or post.
OR
- Call 1800 062 632 (free call) to provide information about the incident over the phone.
- This service is available 24 hours 7 days a week.
- Business Rule RFBM D1.5 Incident and Hazard Reduction Burn Reporting has been updated and is available on the Volunteer Portal.
Historical Records
As RFSQ prepares for the development of a new Volunteer Information Portal which will provide individuals the ability to view their own records, we are endeavouring to bring your records as up to date as possible. Brigades that have retained their own records of previous incidents, particularly where those records capture the names of those in attendance, are invited to provide a copy to RFSQ for updating into the central database.
Information can be submitted in hard copy (such as a photocopy of handwritten logs) or electronic format (such as spreadsheets or PDF documents).
Records will require endorsement of the First Officer or Secretary before submission. Hard copy records can be sent to:
Attn: Executive Manager
Rural Fire Service Queensland
Incident Attendance Records
GPO Box 1425
Brisbane, QLD, 4001
Electronic records can be sent to: rfs@qfes.qld.gov.au.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your area office or email rfs@qfes.qld.gov.au.