Control and Mobilising

The Control centre is based in Ipswich and is staffed 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.  Emergency calls are routed through to the Control centre via the Operator. Control staff then process the call and deploy the nearest crew/s and Officers to deal with the incident.

There are four teams (Watch’s) that cover the shifts - Red, White, Blue and Green.

Each shift is 12 hours for each Watch; these start at 8 AM and 8 PM and run 2 day shifts then 2 night shifts followed by 4 days off.

                                       Week 1

Mon     Tue     Wed     Thur     Fri     Sat     Sun    
Day Day Night Night Off Off Off

                                       Week 2

Mon    

Tue    

Wed    

Thur    

Fri    

Sat    

Sun 

Off Day Day Night Night     Off Off


                                       Week 3

Mon    

Tue    

Wed    

Thur    

Fri    

Sat    

Sun

Off Off Day Day Night     Night Off

Each Watch has an Officer in charge and a second officer in charge to run the Watch of three Control Operators, so there are also career progression opportunities here too.

It’s not only about answering emergency calls though; The Control staff deal with the service equipment defect reporting process,  alarm centres, formulate data into information, manage crew movements to maintain appropriate levels, manage the Accident & near miss process, deal with confined space working notification, formulate fire reports, maintain chemical information, update new roads information and engage in multi-agency liaison amongst many other roles.