The SES is the most versitile and widely used of all the emergency services. It is the combat agency for floods and storms which are the two major natural hazards faced by the community of New South Wales.
The Service provides by far the largest number of first response rescue Units of all the emergency services and Units carry out the majority of searches for persons lost on land and on inland waters. In addition, the SES provides trained rescuers to support the full-time emergency services in the event of a major disaster.
Our Charter
The SES is dedicated to providing immediate assistance to the community in times of natural or humanly created incidents or emergencies.
The legislation under which the SES operates is the State Emergency Services Act, 1989 and the State Emergency Service Regulation, 2001.
Our Functions
The SES has the following functions:
(i) to act as the combat agency for dealing with floods (including the establishment of flood warning systems) and to co-ordinate the evacuation and welfare of affected communities,
(ii) to act as the combat agency for damage control for storms and tempests and to co-ordinate the evacuation and welfare of affected communities,
(iii) as directed by the State Emergency Operations Controller, to act as the primary agency for civil defence planning and as an agencyfor the conduct of civil defence operations,
(iv) as directed by the State Emergency Operations Controller, to deal with an emergency where no other agency has lawful authority to assume command of the emergency operation,
(v) to carry out, by accredited SES units, rescue operations allocated by the State Rescue Board,
(vi) to assist the State Emergency Operations Controller to carry out emergency management functions relating to the prevention of, preparation for, response to, and recovery from emergencies in accordance with the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989,
(vii) to assist, at their request, members of the Police Force, Fire Brigades, Bush Fire Brigades or Ambulance Service in dealing with any incident or emergency,
(viii) to maintain effective liaison with all emergency services organisations,
(ix) to carry out such other functions as may be assigned to it by or under the State Emergency Service Act or any other Act, or by the State Emergency Operations Controller or the Minister
The functions ot the SES are to be exercised in accordance with the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 and, in particular, with the requirements under Displan or any state of emergency under that Act.
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