Emergency Services Research Program
The Emergency Services Research (ESR) team touches on each of MUARC’s research areas to guide emergency service organisations towards the safest possible conditions for those who are called upon during times of need, and community members who are affected.
Our collaborations
The MUARC Emergency Services Research team collaborates with a diverse range of partners to enhance safety and efficiency in emergency services.
Our ongoing projects include collaborations with NSW Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW, AFAC, and CFA, where we're currently evaluating the Fire Medical Response program. We've also conducted a vehicle safety study for DEECA.
Our strong relationships extend to Ambulance Victoria, Eastlink for incident response, and various police services both nationally and internationally.
To foster knowledge sharing and address challenges in emergency vehicle safety, we established the Emergency Vehicle Special Interest Group, providing a collaborative platform for researchers and practitioners in the field.
Collaborating with CFA
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is Victoria’s fire suppression and fire prevention agency for peri-urban and rural Victoria, with over 59,000 volunteers and 1,800 professional firefighters and community educators. In response to the devastating bushfires of 2009, CFA became interested in better understanding the safety science and public health approaches for prevention.
A collaborative research program with CFA has been designed to develop a greater understanding of the social, economic, and environmental risk and protective factors relating to fires, as well as overcome organisational and cultural barriers that impact effective fire and safety management.
This collaboration has formed into an ongoing partnership with CFA, with a mix of applied, policy-action projects funded to address specific issues and a ‘baseline’ research program for more strategic projects.
Outputs from this collaboration have contributed to a number of changes at CFA, including the way in which the organisation targets prevention programs, and measures community safety performance.
Examples of research produced through the CFA collaboration:
- Establishing a methodology to estimate the cost of residential fires in Victoria.
- Analysing CFA fire incident data to establish factors affecting both the risk of residential fire occurrence and the severity of outcomes. Outcomes of this project have been integrated into a CFA-developed mapping tool to identify high prevalence zones for identified risk factors. The mapping tool is being used to more precisely and effectively target prevention initiatives.
- Analysis of fire incident data to better understand the incidence of non-residential structure fires.
- A study investigating the factors influencing crash involvement of CFA vehicles leading to recommendations on strategies to reduce crash risk among the CFA fleet, including fire-fighting appliances as well as corporate fleet vehicles.
- A data linkage study (in partnership with Ambulance Victoria and the Department of Epidemiology at Monash University) to better understand the incidence and impact of injuries to the community at CFA-attended incidents.
Police safety
Our emergency services research has also focused on creating a safer workplace for police. We have worked with Victoria Police to identify the causes of workplace incidents and the most effective ways to respond.
In collaboration with colleagues from the Monash Faculty of Medicine, we conducted a police (physical) injury study, which analysed injury claims over time, and a mental health prevalence study involving an organisation-wide survey of both operational police and public service employees.
Incident responder safety
Our work has also focused on the safety of incident responders and emergency service workers when responding to unplanned events on high speed roads.
Study with us – potential graduate research topics
If you have a passion for solving problems, enjoy discovering new things and are inspired by working with experts to undertake research that benefits society, then a PhD at MUARC is for you. Please find below two potential graduate research topics that you may nominate as part of your application.
Fleet safety in the emergency services
The emergency services play an integral role in public health and safety. The operation of a motor vehicle is a key activity in the job role tasks of emergency service staff. Given the specific demands of driving during emergency situations, these drivers are likely to experience a greater level of risk associated with their driving.
Occupational safety in the emergency services
The nature of Police and Emergency Service work means that first responders are regularly exposed to potentially traumatic events, putting them at risk of physical injury and may impact their mental health.
Reiterated by past and recent bushfire inquiries, emergency services agencies are increasingly investing in prevention and preparedness to mitigate risks and consequences of disasters.
Contact
For any enquiries relating to our emergency services research program, please contact:
Associate Professor Carlyn Muir
carlyn.muir@monash.edu
Associate Professor Carlyn Muir is team leader of our Emergency Services Research (ESR) team. With qualifications in psychology and public health, she has a particular interest in safety governance and culture across a diverse range of injury prevention topics. She has experience in research, policy and evaluation in road safety and occupational safety, both nationally and internationally. Carlyn has managed a number of large scale safety projects, with a focus on the prevention and management of injury among high risk groups (for example, emergency services and work-related drivers). This involves the application of psychological and health theory to understand and influence behaviour within complex systems. A strong focus of this research is to develop policy recommendations that are evidence-based, practical and achievable. Carlyn also co-ordinates MUARC’s activities as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Violence and Injury Prevention, which focuses on research, advocacy and capacity building in the Western Pacific Region.
Dr Jason Kearney
jason.kearney@monash.edu
Jason is a Research Fellow at MUARC and a qualified Advanced Life Support Paramedic.
With further qualifications in health, biomedical science, and education, Jason has a particular interest in safety outcomes and training within complex organisations, such as the emergency services. Jason has worked on a number of large-scale safety projects, with a focus on the surveillance and prevention of injury within complex systems and has well established relationships with emergency services around Australia.
Jason’s educational background has provided him with skills in analysing, interpreting, and applying educational theories, pedagogies, and principles of evidence-based practice in various educational contexts, including understanding the cultural and social forces that shape the learning needs of adults.
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