If you take care of a center or you have actually ever before put on a fire warden hat throughout an evacuation drill, you currently recognize that great intents do not move individuals unharmed. Tranquil framework does. In Australia, that structure comes from an Emergency Control Organisation, laid out under AS 3745, and both country wide recognized systems that bring it to life are PUAFER005 and PUAFER006. The first prepares wardens to operate as part of an emergency situation control organisation. The second prepares leaders to lead that organisation as chief warden or deputy. The training course codes appearance similar, however the expectations, obligations, and training outcomes are not the same.
I have sat in a lot of post-incident debriefs where complication concerning functions cost minutes. Those mins felt long. Choosing the right training shortens them.
The 2 systems at a glance
PUAFER005 Operate as component of an emergency situation control organisation is the standard fire warden course for many work environments. It focuses on what to do when the alarm goes, just how to sweep and clear locations, just how to interact with the chief warden, and how to relocate individuals to a setting up area. It develops muscle memory for wardens and flooring wardens.
PUAFER006 Lead an emergency situation control organisation is the chief warden course. It prepares you to take fee when things are unpleasant, coordinate wardens, liaise with emergency situation services, make emptying choices, and manage the case log and post-incident activities. If you use the white safety helmet, or you may be handed that obligation, you require PUAFER006.
The simplest method to think of the difference is this: PUAFER005 has to do with carrying out a strategy, PUAFER006 has to do with directing the plan and adjusting it under pressure.
Where these programs fit in the Australian framework
AS 3745, the essential criterion for planning for emergency situations in centers, establishes the Emergency situation Planning Committee and the Emergency Situation Control Organisation. The EPC writes and keeps the emergency plan. The ECO, led by the chief warden, activates that strategy throughout an incident. A lot of facilities select a chief emergency warden, deputies, and location or floor wardens. That pecking order has useful significance when a genuine event unfolds, whether it is a fire alarm, a chemical spill, a medical emergency situation, or a bomb threat.
PUAFER005 maps to the warden duties. It stresses functional evacuation jobs, interaction procedures, and security checks. PUAFER006 maps to the chief warden and deputy duties. It stresses management, decision production, and coordination, including when the plan is incomplete or the situation alters mid-evacuation.
Not every office will run a discharge monthly, however every office that brings the general public or groups right into a structure has obligations under WHS laws to handle emergency dangers. Component of those duties is ensuring your wardens and primary wardens obtain appropriate training. Many insurance firms anticipate it. Major websites audit it.
Who requires PUAFER005 Operate as component of an ECO
If you are selected as a fire warden, flooring warden, location warden, or you routinely help with evacuation drills, PUAFER005 is the right beginning factor. The system covers the nuts and screws of warden training, not just fire warden training. Reasonably, a lot of incidents are not fires, so the training course covers a wider set of situations: alarm systems and system faults, clinical occasions, power failures, small spills, and safety and security threats alongside fire response.
In a typical PUAFER005 course you can expect to exercise:
- Recognising alarm systems and emergency caution systems, using internal phones, radios, and warden intercom factors, and passing on clear messages to the principal warden. Performing a location move, consisting of examining areas, closing doors, managing mobility-impaired owners, utilizing search markers, and reporting an all-clear. Operating as a group, remaining within the hierarchy, and complying with the emergency situation plan while utilizing situational judgment when the plan does not fit the moment.
You will certainly not be asked to play hero. PUAFER005 does not show you to combat fires beyond the basic use of a portable extinguisher when safe to do so, and many service providers treat extinguisher use as a separate, add-on component. The program focuses on risk-free, organized evacuation and liability for people. That is the significance of a fire warden course.
A quick note on usefulness. Fire warden training requirements differ by constructing threat profile, yet an usual cadence is to refresh PUAFER005 every two years, with shorter internal refresher courses in between. If you have high turn over or you run public events, yearly refresher courses are smarter.
Who needs PUAFER006 Lead an ECO
If the title on your door reads centers supervisor, building supervisor, site manager, health and wellness manager, or you are the individual everybody anticipates to take fee throughout a discharge, your training course is PUAFER006 Lead an emergency control organisation. The difference turns up the very first time the alarm panel presents 2 contending zones or smoke in the packing dock triggers a 2nd discharge mid-event.
PUAFER006 develops expertise in:
- Leading an ECO under reasonable time pressure, including assigning wardens, setting priorities, and switching techniques when brand-new info arrives. Making evacuation decisions. Complete evacuations are not always the front runner. Partial emptyings or defend-in-place methods can be much safer in some facilities. PUAFER006 educates when and exactly how to apply them. Liaising with emergency situation solutions, providing succinct situational updates, handing over the event log, and following their directions without losing control of your website responsibilities. Managing post-incident actions: debriefing the team, taping lessons discovered, upgrading the emergency situation strategy and layouts, and advising changes to the EPC.
Chief warden obligations extend past the day of the occurrence. An excellent chief fire warden shapes drills so the team learns instead of simply ticks a box. That includes intending a scenario that really examines the stairwell bottleneck you uncovered last time.
In several workplaces, the chief warden requirements consist of holding PUAFER006 plus previous or concurrent conclusion of PUAFER005. Some training suppliers pack both so you can step up or down as needed.
What each training course gets out of you
PUAFER005 assumes you can comply with directions, chief fire warden headgear colour connect clearly, and relocate safely around your location. It matches team across all divisions. If you work part time, it still makes good sense because emergencies do not keep office hours.
PUAFER006 thinks you can maintain an awesome head while three discussions occur simultaneously. You will manage radio web traffic, alarm system panel codes, warden reports, and owner practices. Educating situations usually replicate synchronised concerns: an obstructed departure, a person that refuses to leave, a lift that quits between floorings, a service provider unaccounted for. If the weight of that seems acquainted from your day job, this program fits you.
Both training courses are nationally recognized and provided by signed up training organisations. Analysis commonly consists of written concerns and practical circumstances. Fitness instructors worth their charge will certainly adapt those situations to your site design and risks instead of run common drills.
Fire warden demands in the workplace
Every office should have a documented emergency situation strategy, evacuation representations, and an ECO sized to the building. For a multi-storey workplace, a functional guideline is one warden per tenancy flooring, with deputies to cover leave and shift adjustments. For a storehouse, you may need wardens for each zone plus somebody at the front entrance collaborating vehicle movements throughout an evacuation. Retail and health care sites frequently call for even more coverage due to the fact that public motion is harder to control.
Fire warden needs do not quit at visit. Wardens require radio access and to recognize where emergency situation devices rests. They must understand discharge paths and the alternative path if a stairwell is obstructed. They ought to recognize who the mobility-impaired residents are, and the process for managing them safely.
Your emergency warden training need to align with the particular structure attributes. If your website has a Vesda system, a gas reductions system in the web server space, or intricate accessibility control, your warden course should cover what takes place when those systems activate. A fundamental review is not enough.

Colours, hats, and why they still matter
People sometimes laugh regarding warden and chief warden hat colours up until the power cuts and the lights drop to emergency situation mode. Exposure matters when people are anxious. The majority of Australian workplaces follow this simple colour code:
- Chief warden hat or helmet: white, frequently with the title published front and back.
Ordinary wardens wear red. Communications police officers typically put on yellow. Other regional variants exist, however white for the chief warden and red for wardens is common sufficient that both staff and attending firefighters will certainly acknowledge it. If your team makes use of vests as opposed to safety helmets, stick to the exact same colour logic. When somebody asks what colour helmet does a chief warden wear, the most beneficial solution is white, and keep it consistent in your site kit.
What you really do on the day
The space in between training and technique shows up when the alarm system sounds throughout a customer discussion or midway via a shift modification. A short image from a distribution centre shows how the systems split in real life.
At 10:43 a.m. a smoke detector sets off in the battery billing space. The nearby flooring warden listens to the sharp on the radio, grabs the red warden hat, and relocates to the area with an additional warden to perform a fast move. They direct personnel to the closest leave, overview a forklift driver to park and eliminate the secret, and shut the charging space door without getting in. They report to the chief warden that the area is leaving and that one specialist is unaccounted for.
The chief warden, putting on the white headgear, checks the panel, confirms the zone, and asks the interactions officer to call 000 and wait for instructions. They send a deputy to the specialist sign-in indicate determine who is missing out on and what trade they are. They decide to leave the surrounding zone as a precaution and advise the front gateway to hold distributions off-site. When firemans show up, the chief warden briefs them: source zone, door status, discharge development, and the missing professional information. They hand over the event log and follow the firemans' direction while preserving oversight of the assembly area headcount.
Everything the wardens did matched PUAFER005 training. Everything the chief did matched PUAFER006. The difference is not comfort with radios or doors. It is the choice making at each fork, and the interaction in between roles.
Where PUAFER005 and PUAFER006 overlap
The overlap is calculated. Both include a refresher course on risks, alarm system kinds, and the emergency situation strategy. Both consist of communication procedures, because typical language lowers confusion. Both include the values of safety and security: do not put yourself in danger to take care of an issue that comes from professionals. Both likewise emphasise record maintaining, though in PUAFER005 it is limited to simple records and handing information to the chief warden, while in PUAFER006 it reaches full event paperwork and debriefs.
Some suppliers plan PUAFER005 and PUAFER006 together for teams. It is not uncommon for a small site to educate five or 6 individuals in PUAFER005, and 2 in PUAFER006, developing coverage throughout changes. In a big district, protection team may all hold PUAFER006 since they lead out-of-hours events, with renter wardens holding PUAFER005.
Choosing the right training course for your duty and site
Mistakes typically run in one of two directions. Firms choose a well-liked team member as chief warden without providing PUAFER006, which leaves them feeling underprepared the first time they encounter a panel mistake that ends up being an actual fire. Or companies send out everyone to PUAFER006 thinking a lot more senior-sounding training is much better. That wastes money and creates sound, due to the fact that not everybody requires to practice leading. Lots of people need to exercise executing.
Start with the strategy. Map your ECO against your operating hours. Identify who will certainly be on site when service providers function after hours, and who brings authority on weekends. Line up training to that fact. If the website manager gets on leave, that holds the white hat? If your retail centre runs pop-up occasions, who leads if an entertainer triggers a smoke device under a beam detector? If your office is crossbreed, who is regularly present to move each flooring? Work in reverse from those questions.
If you are a solitary area with a stable team, splitting your group into wardens on PUAFER005 and a smaller core on PUAFER006 typically covers it. If you handle several sites or risky locations, invest deeper: chief fire warden training for task managers and safety and security managers, and a more comprehensive base of emergency warden training for frontline staff.
Training distribution, evaluation, and reasonable practice
A well-run PUAFER005 course uses your actual emptying representations and simulates your building's noisiest truth. If your stairwell narrows at level three, the circumstance ought to make wardens problem-solve that choke point. If you have multilingual personnel, method radio phrases that are clear and easy. Excellent trainers do not just teach doctrine. They practice the specific friction points you will certainly face.
A solid PUAFER006 course sets up completing concerns and insufficient info. It ought to include a radio self-control exercise where the chief warden needs to puncture chatter and appoint channels. It needs to include a decision factor where safeguarding in position is much safer than leaving, such as a smoke occasion on a warm day when evacuating to a parking area develops a heat anxiety danger. It should consist of a handover to emergency solutions within 2 mins, due to the fact that time vanishes when alarm systems are sounding.
Assessment is functional for both training courses. Anticipate scenario-based jobs, short knowledge checks, and an examination of your interaction. The best value originates from a debrief that surface areas what went well and what needs job. If your group leaves with an order of business, like upgrading the specialist sign-in process or transferring a warden kit, you obtained your cash's worth.
Fire warden training demands and refresh cycles
Standards and WHS legislation do not recommend a solitary nationwide refresh period, but common practice is to freshen PUAFER005 every two years and PUAFER006 every 2 to 3 years, with at the very least one discharge drill annually for each and every structure or tenancy. Risky sites might pierce quarterly. If your workforce turns over swiftly, roll brand-new starters into a warden course within their very first couple of months.


Record your drills, including times to evacuate and headcount reconciliation. If your evacuation time slides from 6 mins to 9 over a year, examine. Maybe a door closer is sticking, or a brand-new layout produced a blind corner. Your chief warden responsibilities include finding these patterns and bringing them to the Emergency Planning Committee with propositions to repair them.
Gear, radios, and easy upgrades that pay off
Training prepares people, yet little devices selections reduce rubbing. Radios that actually work in stairwells are worth the budget plan. Tag your channels clearly. Maintain warden vests or hats with radios in clearly authorized cupboards on each floor. Put a laminated quick-reference card inside each kit with basic puafer006 emergency training course motivates: panel location, emergency numbers, setting up areas, and the radio phone call signs for principal, interactions, and wardens. The most effective chief warden hat colour or layout does nothing if the hat sits in a locked cabinet no person can access after hours.
If you operate a school or big facility, think about a devoted warden channel separate from general procedures. Throughout one drill at a health center, a cooking area distribution telephone call swamped the radio while the chief fire warden tried to confirm an all-clear. That is not the kitchen area's mistake, it is a network strategy issue.
Common concerns responded to plainly
What colour safety helmet does a chief warden use? White. Maintain it constant and noticeable, whether you use a headgear or a vest.
Do I require PUAFER006 to be a replacement chief warden? Yes. Deputies may lead at any moment. If you are a deputy on paper just, that gap will appear when the chief is off-site.
Can a tiny workplace manage with just PUAFER005? Perhaps, if your building administration provides a chief warden for the whole center. Numerous multi-tenant structures operate this way. In that situation, your occupancy assigns wardens and an organizer that liaises with the structure's chief warden. Ask building monitoring concerning their expectations.
Does a chief fire warden course cover bomb threats and security occurrences? Qualified PUAFER006 training addresses a series of emergencies past fires, consisting of bomb dangers, questionable plans, and individual risks. It will not transform you into safety and security, however it will provide you a structure to lead securely till professionals take over.
Are there clinical requirements? Both units require you to move safely and communicate. If you have movement constraints, review your duty with your EPC. Several websites make use of pal systems and appoint duties that fit various capabilities.
Pitfalls that training can fix
I have seen wardens search alone because they assumed it was reliable. It is not. Pair, move methodically, and mark removed areas. I have seen chiefs wait on assurance from the panel while smoke enlarged in a basement. Early, conservative choices save time. I have seen wardens argue with an employee that did not intend to leave during a drill. The better technique: recognize, do not rise, and escalate to the principal for a tactical feedback. Educating offers you manuscripts and routines that maintain points moving.
Another usual concern is missing out on specialists. Your fire warden requirements in the workplace should consist of a specialist administration process that connects right into emptying head counts. If you rely on the memory of a site supervisor, you will certainly shed mins. A straightforward sign-in connected to a warden's clipboard saves them.
How to extent your following training session
Before booking a PUAFER005 course or a PUAFER006 course, walk your website with the instructor or share precise representations. Point out understood headaches like locked inter-tenancy doors, areas under repair, and one of the most usual after-hours tasks. If your team has had near misses, share them. Ask the fitness instructor to tailor circumstances. Off-the-shelf web content is a starting factor, not an endpoint.
For blended teams across numerous structures, take into consideration a split day: early morning PUAFER005 for wardens, mid-day PUAFER006 for leaders, with a combined drill at the end to bring the pieces together. The drill will certainly subject radio decorum problems and handover spaces much faster than any class slide.
Bottom line: match the training course to the responsibility
If your work is to relocate individuals, check spaces, and report up, enlist in PUAFER005 Operate as part of an emergency control organisation. If your job is to make the telephone call, coordinate, and have the end result, register in PUAFER006 Lead an emergency control organisation. A lot of experts hold both, since professions evolve and lineups adjustment. The chief warden requirements are much heavier, yet the fulfillment of a tidy, tranquil emptying is actual. When the fire warden course settles, you will certainly feel it in the silent confidence of a group that recognizes the strategy and trust funds the person in the white hat.
Take your leadership in workplace safety to the next level with the nationally recognised PUAFER006 Chief Warden Training. Designed for Chief and Deputy Fire Wardens, this face-to-face 3-hour course teaches critical skills: coordinating evacuations, leading a warden team, making decisions under pressure, and liaising with emergency services. Course cost is generally AUD $130 per person for public sessions. Held in multiple locations including Brisbane CBD (Queen Street), North Hobart, Adelaide, and more across Queensland such as Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Cairns, Ipswich, Logan, Chermside, etc.
If you’ve been appointed as a Chief or Deputy Fire Warden at your workplace, the PUAFER006 – Chief Warden Training is designed to give you the confidence and skills to take charge when it matters most. This nationally accredited course goes beyond the basics of emergency response, teaching you how to coordinate evacuations, lead and direct your warden team, make quick decisions under pressure, and effectively communicate with emergency services. Delivered face-to-face in just 3 hours, the training is practical, engaging, and focused on real-world workplace scenarios. You’ll walk away knowing exactly what to do when an emergency unfolds—and you’ll receive your certificate the same day you complete the course. With training available across Australia—including Brisbane CBD (Queen Street), North Hobart, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Cairns, Ipswich, Logan, Chermside and more—it’s easy to find a location near you. At just $130 per person, this course is an affordable way to make sure your workplace is compliant with safety requirements while also giving you peace of mind that you can step up and lead when it counts.