WA employers honoured for emergency services volunteer support

Four Western Australian businesses have been singled out at this year's Volunteer Employer Recognition Awards (VERA) for their outstanding support of their employees in their emergency services volunteer roles.

Kenwick industrial cloth supplier Clean Cloth Cotton Traders, naval specialist ASC, Tom Price Senior High School and machinery dealer WesTrac have been honoured with a Distinction for Outstanding Support after receiving their fourth VERA awards in the event's 12-year history.

They are among 68 small and large businesses, as well as self-employed volunteers, who received honours yesterday for enabling volunteers to attend emergency incidents and training that fall within work hours.

During a year of challenging economic conditions, many employers granted paid and extended leave for volunteers to assist at emergencies and provided additional resources such as machinery, tools and funds to assist operations.

Emergency services volunteers attended more than 12,500 incidents across the State in 2019-20, in addition to supporting Black Summer bushfire efforts on the east coast and COVID-19 operations.

A network of 26,000 highly trained and highly skilled volunteers make up more than 95 per cent of the State's emergency services personnel.

VERA recipients support volunteers from the State Emergency Service, Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service, Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services, Bush Fire Service, Marine Rescue WA and the State Wide Operations Responses Division.

For more information about VERA, visit https://www.dfes.wa.gov.au/newsandevents

As stated by Emergency Services Minister Francis Logan:

"These employers have led by example and continue to support those who keep our communities safe in the most difficult circumstances.

"The Volunteer Employer Recognition Awards provide us with an important opportunity to thank employers for releasing employees to attend incidents and training, which may mean they need to close their business or reschedule jobs.

"This is particularly challenging for volunteers who are self-employed, so their sacrifice to help their community can be two-fold.

"Without support from their employers, our volunteers would struggle to attend emergency incidents and protect their communities.

"On behalf of the State Government and communities throughout WA, I would like to thank the award winners for their valuable contribution and encourage other employers to consider offering similar supports for emergency services volunteers."