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One nationally recognizable SAR qualification for Water Bourne Rescue Teams.

In recent years there has been a marked rise in the number of organisations offering training courses for SAR teams. The RNLI have there own training programme, Independent teams use a variety of organisations to access training such as RYA, RESCUE3, and MRI.

The danger is that all this training is becoming fragmented and that teams who operate in similar areas will begin to be trained differently and behave differently.

I am interested in what people think about a series of nationally recognizable qualifications such as NVQ / SVQ, which could be developed for specific rescue roles. What do you think? I am currently putting a programme together that operates using the same principles as an NVQ. This programme could then be a standard level of training for all SAR teams operating in the inshore environment. Although the principle could be rolled out for all the UK's SAR organisations. A qualification package that allows SAR personnel to pick and choose units to meet the demands of their own jobs. Can't be a bad thing can it?

I would like to hear from anyone who has a view on this.

Cheers

Leigh Robinson

Training Manager - MISAR