The article describes the experience of professional training and development of workers of operational and rescue services of Australia. The experience accumulated by specialists of operational and rescue services of Australia in the fight against the elements, disasters, liquidation of the consequences of various emergencies, which quite often occur on its territory, is invaluable and deserves study. Each state and territory has its own services that ensure the civil safety of the population and their property: police, fire service, emergency service, emergency agencies. Australia builds its emergency management policy on four main principles: preparedness, prevention, response and recovery. The assignment of responsibility for emergency response to schools is due to the fact that in Australia the school itself is considered a key center for the community. Teachers are perceived as potential leaders in emergency situations, whose task is to perform any action before, during or after an emergency. As part of the reorganization of the operational rescue service system, its training programs were formalized and professionalized. In most institutions of higher education, there is a policy of re-enrollment of credits and recognition of the results of previous informal education. The professionalization of specialist training is achieved through targeted programs from higher education institutions, which are designed specifically to order from the national government, state and territory governments or an employer. The aforementioned training programs are a valuable addition to on-the-job training. Some universities have opened emergency research centers that carry out scientific research in the field of civil security and emergency management, which contributes to obtaining reliable scientific results, a closer connection between theory and practice, the highest level of practices in the area of emergency management, indicates ways of its optimization, determines the content of training courses. In order to focus on one platform the maximum number of areas of educational activity on emergency situations, the Australian Knowledge Center the so-called "Knowledge Hub" was created. It is a national open platform that provides an opportunity for everyone to find everything they need for familiarization, training, self-education, professional development in the field of emergencies. Keywords: operational rescue service, emergency situation, civil safety, higher education institution, management in emergency situations, professional development, training of specialists.