PUAFER005 vs PUAFER006: Which Training Course Do You Required?
If you manage a facility or you have ever put on a fire warden hat throughout a discharge drill, you currently understand that great intentions do stagnate people safe. Tranquil framework does. In Australia, that structure originates from an Emergency Control Organisation, set out under AS 3745, and the two across the country certified systems that bring it to life are PUAFER005 and PUAFER006. The first prepares wardens to operate as component of an emergency situation control organisation. The second prepares leaders to lead that organisation as chief warden or deputy. The program codes look similar, but the assumptions, duties, and training end results are not the same.
I have actually beinged in a lot of post-incident debriefs where complication about roles set you back mins. Those mins felt long. Choosing the ideal training reduces them.
The two systems at a glance
PUAFER005 Run as part of an emergency situation control organisation is the standard fire warden course for the majority of workplaces. It focuses on what to do when the alarm system goes, how to sweep and clear locations, just how to communicate with the chief warden, and exactly how to relocate individuals to a setting up area. It constructs muscle mass memory for wardens and flooring wardens.
PUAFER006 Lead an emergency control organisation is the chief warden course. It prepares you to take cost when points are unpleasant, coordinate wardens, communicate with emergency services, make discharge choices, and take care of the occurrence log and post-incident actions. If you wear the white safety helmet, or you may be handed that duty, you require PUAFER006.
The simplest method to consider the difference is this: PUAFER005 has to do with executing a strategy, PUAFER006 is about directing the strategy and adapting it under pressure.
Where these courses suit the Australian framework
AS 3745, the key requirement for preparing for emergencies in facilities, develops the Emergency Preparation Board and the Emergency Control Organisation. The EPC creates and preserves the emergency situation plan. The ECO, led by the chief warden, activates that strategy throughout an incident. Most centers appoint a chief emergency warden, deputies, and location or floor wardens. That hierarchy has practical significance when a genuine event unfolds, whether it is a fire alarm, a chemical spill, a medical emergency, or a bomb threat.
PUAFER005 maps to the warden roles. It emphasises sensible emptying jobs, communication procedures, and safety and security checks. PUAFER006 maps to the chief warden and deputy duties. It stresses management, choice production, and coordination, including when the strategy is incomplete or the scenario changes mid-evacuation.
Not every office will run a discharge each month, however every office that brings the public or groups right into a building has tasks under WHS legislations to take care of emergency risks. Component of those obligations is guaranteeing your wardens and chief wardens obtain appropriate training. Numerous insurance providers anticipate it. Major sites audit it.
Who requires PUAFER005 Operate as part of an ECO
If you are appointed as a fire warden, floor warden, area warden, or you routinely help with discharge drills, PUAFER005 is the right starting factor. The unit covers the nuts and bolts of warden training, not just fire warden training. Genuinely, most cases are not fires, so the training course covers a broader collection of scenarios: alarms and system faults, clinical events, power outages, minor spills, and safety hazards together with fire response.
In a normal PUAFER005 course you can expect to practice:
Recognising alarms and emergency situation warning systems, using interior phones, radios, and warden intercom points, and passing on clear messages to the chief warden.
Performing a location move, consisting of checking spaces, shutting doors, taking care of mobility-impaired owners, utilizing search markers, and reporting an all-clear.
Operating as a team, remaining within the pecking order, and following the emergency strategy while using situational judgment when the strategy does not fit the moment.
You will certainly not be asked to play hero. PUAFER005 does not teach you to fight fires past the standard use a portable extinguisher when risk-free to do so, and lots of companies deal with extinguisher use as a different, add-on module. The training course concentrates on risk-free, organized evacuation and liability for individuals. That is the essence of a fire warden course.
A quick note on practicalities. Fire warden training requirements vary by developing threat account, yet an usual tempo is to freshen PUAFER005 every two years, with shorter in-house refresher courses in between. If you have high turn over or you run public events, annual refresher courses are smarter.
Who requires PUAFER006 Lead an ECO
If the title on your door reviews facilities supervisor, structure supervisor, website manager, health and safety supervisor, or you are the person every person anticipates to take cost throughout an evacuation, your training course is PUAFER006 Lead an emergency control organisation. The distinction appears the very first time the alarm system panel shows 2 competing areas or smoke in the loading dock causes a second emptying mid-event.
PUAFER006 establishes proficiency in:
Leading an ECO under practical time stress, consisting of assigning wardens, setting priorities, and changing strategies when new details arrives.
Making evacuation decisions. Complete evacuations are not constantly the front runner. Partial discharges or defend-in-place methods can be much safer in some facilities. PUAFER006 shows when and how to use them.


Liaising with emergency situation services, providing succinct situational updates, handing over the occurrence log, and following their directions without blowing up of your website responsibilities.
Managing post-incident activities: debriefing the group, taping lessons learned, upgrading the emergency strategy and layouts, and recommending adjustments to the EPC.
Chief warden duties expand beyond the day of the occurrence. A great chief fire warden forms drills so the team discovers as opposed to just ticks a box. That includes intending a situation that in fact tests the stairwell bottleneck you discovered last time.
In lots of offices, the chief warden requirements include holding PUAFER006 plus prior or simultaneous completion of PUAFER005. Some training suppliers bundle both so you can step up or down as needed.
What each program gets out of you
PUAFER005 presumes you can comply with guidelines, connect plainly, and move safely around your area. It fits staff throughout all divisions. If you work part-time, it still makes good sense because emergencies do not keep workplace hours.
PUAFER006 presumes you can keep an amazing head while 3 conversations take place at once. You will manage radio traffic, alarm panel codes, warden records, and occupant behaviour. Training circumstances typically mimic synchronised concerns: a blocked departure, an individual who rejects to leave, a lift that stops between floors, a professional unaccounted for. If the weight of that sounds familiar from your day job, this course fits you.
Both courses are country wide accredited and delivered by registered training organisations. Assessment commonly includes written concerns and useful circumstances. Trainers worth their fee will certainly adapt those situations to your website format and hazards instead of run generic drills.
Fire warden requirements in the workplace
Every workplace need to have a documented emergency situation plan, emptying diagrams, and an ECO sized to the structure. For a multi-storey workplace, a functional guideline is one warden per tenancy floor, with replacements to cover leave and shift adjustments. For a warehouse, you may require wardens for every area plus a person at the front gate coordinating truck movements throughout a discharge. Retail and healthcare websites often require even more insurance coverage due to the fact that public motion is harder to control.
Fire warden needs do not quit at consultation. Wardens need radio gain access to and to recognize where emergency situation equipment sits. They ought to recognize evacuation courses and the alternate path if a stairwell is blocked. They should recognize that the mobility-impaired occupants are, and the procedure for managing them safely.
Your emergency warden training must line up with the specific structure features. If your site has a Vesda system, a gas reductions system in the server space, or complicated gain access to control, your warden course ought to cover what takes place when those systems trigger. A standard summary is not enough.
Colours, hats, and why they still matter
People occasionally laugh regarding warden and chief warden hat colours till the power cuts and the lights drop to emergency setting. Exposure issues when people are anxious. A lot of Australian workplaces follow this basic colour code:
Chief warden hat or helmet: white, commonly with the title published front and back.
Ordinary wardens use red. Communications policemans typically use yellow. Other neighborhood variations exist, yet white for the chief warden and red for wardens prevails sufficient that both personnel and participating in firefighters will recognise it. If your team uses vests instead of helmets, stick with the same colour reasoning. When someone asks more info what colour helmet does a chief warden wear, one of the most useful solution is white, and keep it constant in your site kit.
What you in fact do on the day
The gap between training and technique shows up when the alarm sounds throughout a customer presentation or halfway through a shift modification. A short illustration from a circulation centre shows how the units deviate in real life.
At 10:43 a.m. a smoke alarm sets off in the battery charging area. The nearby flooring warden hears the alert on the radio, orders the red warden hat, and transfers to the zone with one more warden to perform a quick sweep. They direct team to the nearest departure, guide a forklift vehicle driver to park and get rid of the trick, and close the charging area door without getting in. They report to the chief warden that the zone is leaving which one professional is unaccounted for.
The chief warden, putting on the white safety helmet, checks the panel, confirms the area, and asks the interactions policeman to call 000 and wait for directions. They send a replacement to the contractor sign-in indicate determine who is missing and what trade they are. They decide to evacuate the surrounding zone as a preventative measure and advise the front gateway to hold shipments off-site. When firemens arrive, the chief warden briefs them: source zone, door status, evacuation development, and the missing out on service provider details. They hand over the incident log and comply with the firemans' instructions while keeping oversight of the setting up area headcount.
Everything the wardens did matched PUAFER005 training. Whatever the principal did matched PUAFER006. The distinction is not comfort with radios or doors. It is the choice making at each fork, and the communication between roles.
Where PUAFER005 and PUAFER006 overlap
The overlap is intentional. Both consist of a refresher course on threats, alarm types, and the emergency strategy. Both include interaction methods, due to the fact that typical language reduces complication. Both consist of the ethics of safety and security: do not place on your own in jeopardy to repair an issue that belongs to professionals. Both additionally stress record keeping, though in PUAFER005 it is restricted to easy reports and handing info to the chief warden, while in PUAFER006 it reaches full incident documents and debriefs.
Some carriers plan PUAFER005 and PUAFER006 together for teams. It is not unusual for a tiny website to educate five or 6 individuals in PUAFER005, and two in PUAFER006, developing insurance coverage throughout changes. In a huge district, safety staff may all hold PUAFER006 since they lead out-of-hours occurrences, with tenant wardens holding PUAFER005.
Choosing the appropriate program for your function and site
Mistakes normally run in either directions. Companies choose a favored employee as chief warden without giving them PUAFER006, which leaves them feeling underprepared the very first time they deal with a panel mistake that becomes a genuine fire. Or companies send out everybody to PUAFER006 thinking much more senior-sounding training is much better. That wastes cash and develops sound, due to the fact that not everybody requires to practice leading. Most people require to practice executing.
Start with the plan. Map your ECO versus your operating hours. Recognize who will get on site when specialists work after hours, and who lugs authority on weekend breaks. Align training to that reality. If the site manager gets on leave, who holds the white hat? If your retail centre runs pop-up events, that leads if an entertainer sets off a smoke machine under a beam of light detector? If your office is crossbreed, who is continually present to sweep each flooring? Job in reverse from those questions.
If you are a solitary location with a secure group, splitting your group right into wardens on PUAFER005 and a smaller sized core on PUAFER006 typically covers it. If you manage numerous sites or high-risk locations, spend much deeper: chief fire warden training for task managers and protection supervisors, and a wider base of emergency warden training for frontline staff.
Training distribution, analysis, and realistic practice
A well-run PUAFER005 course uses your real discharge representations and simulates your building's noisiest reality. If your stairwell tightens at degree 3, the situation ought to make wardens problem-solve that choke point. If you have multilingual personnel, method radio expressions that are clear and basic. Good instructors do not just teach doctrine. They rehearse the specific friction points you will certainly face.
A strong PUAFER006 course sets up contending priorities and insufficient details. It should consist of a radio self-control workout where the chief warden has to puncture chatter and appoint channels. It should include a decision factor where safeguarding in place is more secure than evacuating, such as a smoke occasion on a hot day when leaving to a parking area produces a warmth tension risk. It ought to consist of a handover to emergency situation solutions within 2 mins, since time goes away when alarm systems are sounding.
Assessment is sensible for both courses. Anticipate scenario-based tasks, short expertise checks, and an analysis of your interaction. The most effective worth comes from a debrief that surfaces what worked out and what needs work. If your group leaves with an order of business, like updating the specialist sign-in procedure or relocating a warden kit, you got your money's worth.
Fire warden training requirements and rejuvenate cycles
Standards and WHS regulation do not prescribe a solitary nationwide refresh interval, however common method is to revitalize PUAFER005 every two years and PUAFER006 every 2 to 3 years, with at the very least one emptying drill per year for each structure or tenancy. High-risk websites may pierce quarterly. If your workforce turns over rapidly, roll brand-new starters into a warden course within their first couple of months.
Record your drills, including times to leave and headcount settlement. If your discharge time slides from 6 mins to 9 over a year, investigate. Perhaps a door closer is sticking, or a brand-new format produced a blind edge. Your chief warden responsibilities include detecting these patterns and bringing them to the Emergency Situation Planning Committee with propositions to deal with them.
Gear, radios, and straightforward upgrades that pay off
Training prepares individuals, yet tiny equipment options reduce friction. Radios that really operate in stairwells deserve the budget plan. Label your networks simply. Keep warden vests or hats with radios in plainly authorized closets on each flooring. Put a laminated quick-reference card inside each package with easy triggers: panel place, emergency situation numbers, assembly areas, and the radio phone call indicators for chief, communications, and wardens. The best chief warden hat colour or style not does anything if the hat sits in a secured cabinet nobody can access after hours.
If you operate a campus or big center, take into consideration a specialized warden channel separate from general operations. Throughout one drill at a healthcare facility, a cooking area delivery call overloaded the radio while the chief fire warden tried to verify an all-clear. That is not the cooking area's fault, it is a network strategy issue.
Common questions addressed plainly
What colour safety helmet does a chief warden wear? White. Maintain it regular and visible, whether you utilize a headgear or a vest.
Do I need PUAFER006 to be a replacement chief warden? Yes. Deputies may lead at any time. If you are a deputy on paper only, that space will certainly show up when the principal is off-site.
Can a small workplace get by with just PUAFER005? Potentially, if your structure management supplies a chief warden for the whole center. Lots of multi-tenant structures run by doing this. In that instance, your occupancy assigns wardens and an organizer that communicates with the structure's chief warden. Ask structure management concerning their expectations.

Does a chief fire warden course cover bomb threats and security cases? Proficient PUAFER006 training addresses a range of emergencies beyond fires, including bomb dangers, dubious packages, and personal hazards. It will certainly not turn you right into safety, yet it will certainly provide you a structure to lead safely up until professionals take over.
Are there medical prerequisites? Both units require you to move safely and interact. If you have mobility constraints, discuss your duty with your EPC. Numerous sites utilize pal systems and designate functions that fit various capabilities.
Pitfalls that training can fix
I have actually seen wardens search alone due to the fact that they thought it was effective. It is not. Pair, move methodically, and mark cleared areas. I have seen principals await assurance from the panel while smoke enlarged in a cellar. Early, traditional choices save time. I have actually seen wardens argue with a staff member who did not want to leave during a drill. The better technique: acknowledge, do not intensify, and escalate to the chief for a strategic action. Training gives you manuscripts and practices that maintain things moving.
Another typical issue is missing out on professionals. Your fire warden requirements in the workplace need to consist of a professional administration procedure that links into emptying headcounts. If you rely on the memory of a website supervisor, you will certainly shed minutes. An easy sign-in connected to a warden's clipboard saves them.
How to extent your next training session
Before booking a PUAFER005 course or a PUAFER006 course, stroll your site with the fitness instructor or share exact representations. Mention known headaches like secured inter-tenancy doors, areas under refurbishment, and one of the most usual after-hours tasks. If your group has had near misses, share them. Ask the instructor to customize circumstances. Off-the-shelf content is a starting factor, not an endpoint.
For blended teams throughout numerous structures, take into consideration a split day: early morning PUAFER005 for wardens, afternoon PUAFER006 for leaders, with a combined drill at the end to bring the assemble. The drill will expose radio rules issues and handover voids much faster than any classroom slide.
Bottom line: match the program to the responsibility
If your work is to move individuals, check rooms, and report up, register in PUAFER005 Operate as part of an emergency control organisation. If your task is to make the phone call, coordinate, and possess the result, register in PUAFER006 Lead an emergency control organisation. A lot of specialists hold both, because occupations develop and lineups change. The chief warden requirements are much heavier, however the fulfillment of a clean, calm emptying is real. When the fire warden course pays off, you will feel it in the silent self-confidence of a group that understands the plan and depends on 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.