General Description

This course is intended to introduce the concept of the “Global SAR System” as it is applied by the IMO and ICAO. It will study the SAR organisation at the highest strategic level, including issues such as organisational structure, personnel and development, equipment systems and managing national and international inter-organisational relationships. The course is heavily based on the IMO model course and covers the strategic origins and processes of the concept of co-ordinated search and rescue introduced through IMO by way of the SAR Convention 1979 and SOLAS. It examines legislative foundations and structures for a successful SAR organisation. The course is a mix of theoretical learning and reinforcement by way of practical table-top exercises designed to enable the student to develop understanding through interaction with peers and trainers alike.

Course Aim

The SAR Admin Course aims to give students the opportunity to research and discuss the dynamic structures and managed relationships required to fulfil the needs of an efficient national SAR Organisation. By the end of the course the student will have demonstrated the knowledge and have practiced the application through participation in at least one detailed case study exercise.

Prerequisite Knowledge or qualifications

This course has NO prerequisite requirements in terms of technical qualifications or experience.
The course will be delivered using the English Language, and students should be orally fluent in its use. With proper notice, it may be possible to organise an interpreter service should the client deem this necessary.

Target Audience

This course is aimed at senior managers of the National SAR Organisation, whether they be employees of Government, Private Sector or Volunteer/Charity sectors. Budget holders and procurement specialists, personnel and development departments as well as operations managers will all have an interest in how the organisation should function to meet its international obligations under the SAR Convention 1979. Rescue Centre staff and SMCs will also benefit by using the course learning as benchmarks against which they can review their own organisations and performance.

Detailed Course Content

• SAR legislation
• SAR risk assessment
  • Organisational design in context with national risk
• Search and Rescue Regions (SRR)
• National versus regional SAR organisation
• The national SAR family
• National SAR contingency plans
• Inter-organisational relationships and Memoranda of Understanding
• Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) design requirements
• SAR procedures
• SAR alerting systems
• RCC equipment specifications
• SAR competence profiling
• SAR officer recruitment and selection
• SAR training strategy
• SAR Mission Co-ordination
• On Scene Co-ordination
• SAR assets & equipment sets
• SAR Reporting
• SAR Statistics
• Key Performance Indicators
• SAR links with other Government functions