Application
This unit describes the skills required to prepare land search and rescue (SAR) responses, determine current location and destination, provide grid references to search and rescue teams, and plan land search and rescue operations.
This unit applies to those working as police staff involved in police land search and rescue operations. It may be applied in the field and within office environment.
The skills and knowledge described in this unit must be applied within the legislative, regulatory and policy environment in which they are carried out. Organisational policies and procedures must be consulted and adhered to, particularly those related to work health and safety (WHS).
Those undertaking this role will work within multi-agency teams and often liaise with stakeholders, while completing complex tasks in a broad range of contexts. They will have to make decisions independently while giving consideration to financial and human resource management requirements.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to unit at the time of publication.
Elements and Performance Criteria
ELEMENTS | PERFORMANCE CRITERIA |
Elements describe the essential outcomes | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. Where bold italicised text is used, further information is detailed in the range of conditions section. |
1. Prepare for land search and rescue response | 1.1 Establish command and control to conduct land search and rescue operations. 1.2 Conduct urgency assessment to determine level of response. 1.3 Establish forward command post to facilitate coordination of land search and rescue operations. 1.4 Establish communications to facilitate flow of information. 1.5 Assess characteristics of target and environment to inform search and rescue response. 1.6 Access jurisdictional information management systems to gather information on target. |
2. Determine current location, destination and resources | 2.1 Identify maps to source information. 2.2 Interpret information from maps to ensure accurate parameters of search area. 2.3 Analyse data to plot incident location. 2.4 Calculate incident distance and location from given landmarks. 2.5 Triangulate incident from distinct features to fix a position. 2.6 Plot search areas to determine resource allocation and asset deployment for probable and possible search areas. 2.7 Evaluate terrain to identify impacts on land search and rescue operations. 2.8 Identify safe routes and potential access restrictions to determine access to search area. 2.9 Identify specialist resources to facilitate land search and rescue operations. |
3. Provide grid references to search and rescue operations team | 3.1 Calculate grid references using magnetic bearings, and/or latitude and longitude and/or incident location details provided by callers. 3.2 Communicate six figure grid references to search and rescue operations team. 3.3 Communicate references to field personnel for use in portable navigational aids. 3.4 Communicate directional information to operations team on request. |
4. Perform land search and rescue response | 4.1 Establish cordons to limit size of search area. 4.2 Use land search strategies to develop an accurate search area. 4.3 Select land search patterns in accordance with conditions and terrain. 4.4 Allocate taskings for resources and assets in accordance with capability. 4.5 Apply portable navigation aids to provide live information to search coordinator, where available. 4.6 Analyse information from portable navigation aids to determine areas searched by teams. 4.7 Modify land search patterns using on scene intelligence. |
Evidence of Performance
Evidence required to demonstrate competence must satisfy all of the requirements of the elements and performance criteria. If not otherwise specified the candidate must demonstrate evidence of performance of the following on at least one occasion.
assessing land search and rescue requirements
facilitating the coordination of land search and rescue operations
collecting and assessing information on land search and rescue requirements
evaluating terrain and weather conditions to inform search and rescue operations
determining target locations, distances and destinations
communicating with and coordinating stakeholders within land search and rescue context
applying appropriate land search and rescue tools and techniques
Evidence of Knowledge
Evidence required to demonstrate competence must satisfy all of the requirements of the elements and performance criteria. If not otherwise specified the depth of knowledge demonstrated must be appropriate to the job context of the candidate.
principles of land navigation
map and chart types
map interpretation
weather patterns
terrain types
cartographic symbols and legends
lost person behaviour
variation
obstacles to land searches
basic land navigation tools
limitations and/or regulations which impact on land searches
common land search scenarios
land search resources and their limitations
local land environment
policies and procedures for handover and takeover of land searches
Naismith’s rule
the Mattson Consensus
Assessment Conditions
This unit contains no specific industry-mandated assessment conditions. Guidance on suggested and recommended conditions and methods can be found in the Implementation Guide.
Assessors must satisfy the NVR/AQTF mandatory competency requirements for assessors.
Foundation Skills
The foundation skills demands of this unit have been mapped for alignment with the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). The following tables outline the performance levels indicated for successful attainment of the unit.
Further information on ACSF and the foundation skills underpinning this unit can be found in the Foundation Skills Guide on the GSA website.
Competency Field
Search and rescue