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1. Home
2. Recruitment
3. Retained Firefighters
4. Recruitment process
5. Medical Requirements

Medical Requirements

What does the employment medical assessment involve?

Health questionnaire - Retained Firefighter applicants will be required to accurately answer questions regarding medical history.

Physical examination - You will given Health Assessment forms if you successfully pass the recruitment interview. You will be required to take these to a doctor close to where you live, to enable the doctor to examine you and complete relevant health assessment forms.  You will be required to undergo tests including the following: lung function test, hearing test, vision test (including colour vision), urine test and pathology test. Other tests may be required dependent upon results from the Health Assessment. The results of your Health Assessment will be reviewed by the Brigades Medical Officer.

Supporting medical information - applicants with pre-existing medical conditions must send copies of medical reports, x-ray reports or other medical information, with their Health Assessment results, to assist the Brigades' Medical Officer in assessing the individual case.

Time - the Employment Medical Assessment will take approximately 1 hour to complete.

Confidentiality - all medical information collected as part of the medical assessment shall be considered confidential, and shall be released only with the specific written consent of the applicant, or in accordance with legal requirements.

Medical guidelines for all firefighter applicants

The following document is a general guideline for the information of applicants and potential applicants for firefighting positions with the NSWFB. While the information provided in this document reflects national and international medical standards for fire and emergency service workers, the NSWFB will adopt a risk management approach taking into consideration the circumstances of each applicant on a case-by-case basis.

This will occur at the Medical Assessment phase of the firefighter recruitment campaign. The NSWFB is unable to provide medical advice prior to this phase. Applicants who have particular medical questions prior to this Medical Assessment phase should review the appropriate section of this document and seek the opinion of an appropriately qualified medical professional. Guidelines presented in this document are reviewed on a regular basis and will change with appropriate supporting medical evidence.

Medical guidelines for firefighter applicants (PDF, 135Kb)