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Building foundations for respectful and safe workplace culture in Emergency Services
Workplace culture underpins workforce wellbeing, operational effectiveness, and public trust in emergency services. In 2024, an independent culture review (the Review) was undertaken on the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) and State Emergency Service (SES) to understand the lived experiences of staff and volunteers and to examine systemic factors influencing behaviour, leadership, and workplace safety. The Review’s findings highlighted the importance of strengthening organisational conditions that support respectful behaviours, psychological safety, and positive workplace experiences across both volunteer and staff workforces.
Following the Review, the Respect 360 Program was established as a structured, long-term program of work to help build the foundations for safer and more respectful workplace environments. The program recognises that creating cultural settings where people feel welcomed, respected, supported, and safe, requires more than awareness initiatives. It requires sustained alignment of behavioural expectations, leadership practice, and organisational systems.
This work is unfolding within a complex operational environment and a period of organisational change. As with many cultural initiatives, progress is incremental and requires consistent leadership attention, system reinforcement, and workforce engagement over time. Early efforts have focused on clarifying standards of behaviour, strengthening leadership capability, and embedding cultural considerations into governance and workplace mechanisms in ways intended to support long-term, sustainable change.
Presented by the Tasmania Fire and Emergency Services (TFES) Commissioner as the Respect 360 Program Sponsor, this session will share reflections from the early stages of the journey, including the practical challenges of building momentum, maintaining leadership ownership, and supporting respectful workplace environments across diverse workforce groups. The session speaks to sector priorities around workforce trust, belonging, and leadership responsibility for safe and respectful organisational cultures, offering insights relevant to emergency service organisations navigating the complexity of cultural change alongside operational demands.
Following the Review, the Respect 360 Program was established as a structured, long-term program of work to help build the foundations for safer and more respectful workplace environments. The program recognises that creating cultural settings where people feel welcomed, respected, supported, and safe, requires more than awareness initiatives. It requires sustained alignment of behavioural expectations, leadership practice, and organisational systems.
This work is unfolding within a complex operational environment and a period of organisational change. As with many cultural initiatives, progress is incremental and requires consistent leadership attention, system reinforcement, and workforce engagement over time. Early efforts have focused on clarifying standards of behaviour, strengthening leadership capability, and embedding cultural considerations into governance and workplace mechanisms in ways intended to support long-term, sustainable change.
Presented by the Tasmania Fire and Emergency Services (TFES) Commissioner as the Respect 360 Program Sponsor, this session will share reflections from the early stages of the journey, including the practical challenges of building momentum, maintaining leadership ownership, and supporting respectful workplace environments across diverse workforce groups. The session speaks to sector priorities around workforce trust, belonging, and leadership responsibility for safe and respectful organisational cultures, offering insights relevant to emergency service organisations navigating the complexity of cultural change alongside operational demands.
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