Application
This unit describes the skills required to gather and assess information to inform a search and rescue (SAR) operation, including communicating with stakeholders and conducting appreciations. These skills would be applied when receiving a request to commence search and rescue operations.
This unit applies to those working as police staff involved in police search and rescue and incident management operations.
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 information management.
Those undertaking this unit would work autonomously and within teams while remaining responsible for reporting to senior staff. They would perform a range of complex tasks and demonstrate adaptability across a broad range of contexts, either in the field or within police station/office environments.
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. Gather information | 1.1 Collate information and intelligence to assess situation. 1.2 Identify points of contact to gather information. 1.3 Evaluate whether situation is a search and rescue incident to determine response. 1.4 Disseminate information to inform stakeholders. |
2. Assess search and rescue situation | 2.1 Assess situation to determine responsibility for search and rescue incident. 2.2 Conduct appreciation of search and rescue incident to identify courses of action. 2.3 Conduct urgency assessment to determine level of response. 2.4 Communicate responsibility for coordination and control of search and rescue response. |
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.
gathering and evaluating information relating to potential search and rescue situations
evaluating search and rescue situations
undertaking risk and urgency assessments
determining search and rescue requirements
communicating with stakeholders
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.
Commonwealth, national, state and territory legislation relating to search and rescue.
national guidelines relating to search and rescue
jurisdictional policies and procedures relating to search and rescue
jurisdictional search and rescue systems
roles and responsibilities for responding to search and rescue situations
search and rescue terminology
search and rescue emergency stages
common characteristics of search and rescue situations
distress and emergency signals
process for conducting urgency assessments
information collection techniques
jurisdictional information management systems
jurisdictional information sources
resources to facilitate search and rescue responses
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.
Consideration must be given to holistic assessment for this unit. Refer to advice in the companion volumes.
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