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SSAA Victoria
Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Victoria)
Enquiries & Membership
03 8892 2777

Range Officers are a vital part of all SSAA Victoria ranges. With the primary function of ensuring safety and compliance of the range rules, it is a role that must be maintained ensure the highest level of safety is met. It is a SSAA Victoria policy that all ranges have a qualified Range Officer in attendance at all times when in operation.

All ranges across Victoria welcome SSAA members to assist them in servicing the ranges to ensure that all members have an enjoyable time. SSAA Victoria encourages its members to become Range Officers to help fellow shooters and ensure all of our ranges continue to provide the high standard of service expected by regulatory bodies.

SSAA Victoria conducts Range Officer training courses across the State. In 2015, the Range Officer training course underwent a major review to ensure our new Range Officers fully understood the requirements of their role. As a result, a new course was developed and a new Range Officer Policy adopted by the SSAA Victoria Board.

  • How to become a Range Officer
  • Does my accreditation expire?
  • Revalidation
  • How to renew my accreditation
  • Training policy

How to become a Range Officer

Training course are conducted in both metropolitan and regional areas of Victoria. Each prospective Range Officer must complete an application form that is to be sent to the SSAA Victoria State Office.

This application form will ask a number of questions of the applicant to assess whether they qualify to become a Range Officer. The application form includes:

  • Are you a SSAA member?
  • Do you have a firearms licence and for how long have you held it?
  • Why do you want to become a Range Officer?
  • Endorsement from branch or sub-club

These questions will allow SSAA Victoria to ascertain what experience an individual has had on and around a range and with firearms. The Branch or Sub-club endorsement is a mandatory requirement. Those who have only recently acquired a firearms licence or have no intention to assisting Branches or Sub-clubs may not be viewed favourably unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Once an application has been approved by the SSAA Victoria Facilities Manager, each candidate will be sent a pre-course assignment to complete and be informed of which course they have been enrolled. Relevant support documentation will also be sent to assist the applicant in completing the assignment. There are elements that will require a candidate to do some research at their local range. All applicants will need to bring the completed assignment to the course for assessment.

The course runs over one full day (eight hours) with both theoretical and practical components. Throughout the day each candidate will be assessed and, based on meeting key competences, they will be accredited as a Range Officer.

Following the course, newly qualified Range Officers need to be inducted onto the range they will be servicing. This induction should include understanding the range rules (orders), range certification and local limitations/restrictions of the range(s). It is recommended that new Range Officers work with an experience Range Officer to build confidence and understanding of any unique natures of their local range.

Each Range Officer will receive a card after completing the as proof of their accreditation. This accreditation card should be worn when on-duty as a Range Officer on a SSAA Victoria range.

2018 Range Officer Course dates:

Eagle Park
Saturday, March 24
Saturday, September 15

Springvale
Saturday, June 16
Saturday, December 8

Phone the State Office for details: (03) 8892 2777

Download application form

Does my accreditation expire?

Yes. Every three years Range Officers will be required to revalidate their accreditation. This reaccreditation is managed by the Branch or Sub-club that endorsed the Range Officer. No additional courses need to be attended to revalidate, however Range Officers must be active on a range regularly.

Revalidation

The primary change to RO accreditation is that it will now expire every three years. As the current RO accreditation cards do not have an expiry date on them, SSAA Victoria will be expiring all ROs at the end of 2016. This will enable the Association to identify those ROs that are actively servicing our ranges. SSAA Victoria will also reissue accreditation cards with the new three-year expiry date for new ROs and those who complete a process called ‘revalidation’.

The sub-clubs and branches will revalidate RO accreditations at the end of this year. Currently accredited Range Officers will not be required to sit a new or refresher course, only being required to gain endorsement from their branch or sub-club. In November 2015 the State Office will send lists of all ROs to the branches and sub-clubs. The sub-clubs and branches will then endorse those who have been active ROs on a regular basis. This information will be sent back to the State Office to be processed and new SSAA Victoria RO cards will be issued. Through this process, all RO contact details will also be cross checked and the database updated.

All revalidated or new accreditations obtained from 2017 onward will expire at the end of 2019, when sub-clubs and branches will be required to revalidate ROs again.

Melbourne metropolitan ROs should note that if they have not attended a new or refresher course since September 2013, their RO accreditation has already expired. The colour and type of RO card a person carries, signifies whether they have attended a refresher course. Those with a yellow and white printer card are current and will need to revalidate through their branch or sub-club. Those with an old paper accreditation will need to sit a new course this year so that they can revalidate at the end of the year.

ROs associated with the country branches are still current and branches will revalidate those ROs that are actively working on ranges throughout the year.

How to renew my accreditation

  1. If your Range Officer accreditation expired at the end of 2015, you will need to complete a new course.
  2. For currently accredited Range Officers, each branch or sub-club will be sent a list of Range Officers associated with them in late 2016. Each branch or sub-club will endorse those Range Officers for those Range Officers endorsed by their branch or sub-clubs.

Training policy

See our Range Officer training policy here.