April, 2009 edition #8

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TV Series Brings SAR Together

Television New Zealand has commissioned Auckland production company Screentime Ltd to produce an eight-episode series on missing persons cases. The focus of the series is to look at how progress in science and technology may help solve these cold cases. A component of this includes progress that has and is being made in SAR.

SARINZ has been contracted to provide SAR technical advice and all the major SAR agencies are involved or have been consulted.

This is seeing SAR Development Manager Ross Gordon closely involved in planning with Screentime, liaising with the local SAR groups and providing advice and to-camera commentaries.

There has generally been a very positive response from police and volunteers and it is an excellent opportunity for districts to demonstrate their SAR professionalism. The work is also involving liaison with the families of the missing and the actual searchers, a dimension that Ross says will make the series “powerful television.”

Filming is still progressing with two districts treating the cases as an unresolved operation and secondly as a training opportunity.

“Whakatane picked up on one case and applied a full formal planning process to it, which meant meetings of the volunteers and police, analysing scenarios, allocating probability of area and generally applying the whole comprehensive management package in a non-rushed environment.”

Ross says the district contributed “… probably over 100 days …” of volunteer and police time under the guidance of senior LandSAR advisor in the region Ray Walker.

Tasman, too, committed fully to a historical search utilising latest statistics and systems, under the leadership of Inspector Hugh Flower, Russell Tucker and Sean Judd.

“The input from the Tasman district was above and beyond the call of duty, and reflects really, really well on the police, the volunteers and their operational practices,” says Ross.

“It’s a series of very human stories set against dramatic backdrops.”

The series, planned to be titled “The Missing”, is due to commence screening in June.

98% and Improving

A SARINZ survey of its stakeholders at the end of 2008 confirms that the organisation is performing as expected by its constituency but perhaps knowledge of all services it offers could be greater.

The survey was aimed at how SARINZ can improve the way it communicates and interacts with its stakeholders.

Main points to emerge from responses:

• 98% of respondents indicated that SARINZ is meeting its mission to help others save lives.
• SARINZ training is seen as meeting the needs of the SAR community.
• SARINZ training is seen as meeting people’s expectations and would be recommended to not just SAR organisations but generally to other organisations as well.
• All the services provided by SARINZ are seen as ‘OK’ to ‘good’, from pre-course communication to training development. Student support after workshops was spread from ‘wanting’ to ‘good’.
• Some of the activities provided by SARINZ were not known about as much as the organisation would like. These include training development/design, research and development, and SAR consulting.
• Generally feedback on SARINZ performance was very positive, with the comment from participants summarised as “SARINZ has created a better-trained SAR person by providing quality training, using an excellent instructor knowledge base”.

SARINZ intends to use this information to improve its performance wherever it can, and is acting on the following fronts:

• Addressing individual needs-based training — correct analysis, design and development in line with SARINZ Systems Approach to Training will assist in ensuring that individual needs-based training is meeting stakeholder requirements.
• Developing a communication plan to ensure our support to SAR continues to meet stakeholder requirements. This plan will also help distribute information on SARINZ partnerships, research and development, training development, consulting, participant support and best practices.
• Ongoing communication with the different SAR groups will continue to investigate any additional improvements SARINZ may need.
• A total of 106 people responded, most of whom were previous SARINZ trainees. They were from a number of organisations involved directly or indirectly with search and rescue operations. The largest group was LandSAR who made up over 72% of the participants. Those who participated in the survey went in the draw for some Cactus clothing. The winner was John Twizell, Hamilton SAR Group.

Editorial

David Shearer – General Manager SARINZ

At last years LandSAR conference, I nervously opened my presentation with the old Fred Dagg standard “We don’t know how lucky we are”. Fortunately, the gambit worked and the audience delightedly bought into what I was trying to signal: that in New Zealand we have a search and rescue community and infrastructure of very high quality when it is compared with what’s available in some countries overseas in terms of levels of training and the commitment people are prepared to make. We really are very fortunate in that regard.

Still, we are sometimes a little harsh on ourselves. It is tempting to focus on the historically fragmented nature of SAR in New Zealand and other legacy aspects of our search and rescue community that can block communication channels, but then New Zealand is a well spread country with a terrific history of local communities getting out there and doing it instead of waiting for help or direction from “up top”.

But now I’m delighted to observe that separation is dissolving because “up top” and has come “down here” and is listening to what our operational SAR people need in terms of resources and training.

I am very fortunate to have joined SARINZ at a time when this process is accelerating. It’s pretty amazing to be able to repeat our claim, as I did to the audience in Wellington: from a bush line in the Ureweras, to the peaks of the Southern Alps, the streets of Auckland, the crevasses in Antarctica and the sea cliffs in Wellington, you’re now likely to find a SARINZ person delivering training, a SARINZ resource being referred to or a student of SARINZ using their training in an operation.

This edition of Heads Up reports on new initiatives and new partnership agreements that will ensure that superbly trained and highly committed search and rescue teams continue to characterise the heart of New Zealand society.

Feel free to contact me (dave@sarinz.com) any time with questions, criticism or compliments about SARINZ. Your feedback makes SARINZ better and helps to saves lives.

LandSAR Board

New director

Roscoe Tait has accepted an invitation to join the board of directors of SARINZ Ltd. Roscoe is the former Chairman of LandSAR and brings a long and distinguished SAR background to the table, such that a couple of years ago he was made an Honorary Member of LandSAR.

In the 2008 Queen Birthday honours list Roscoe was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to SAR. He was always a keen tramper through school and university who later got into caving, the activity which led him into SAR activities.

More importantly for SARINZ, Roscoe has an equally illustrious background in training. When LandSAR was formed in 1994, he was the first Chairman of its training subcommittee where he contributed to writing a set of training standards and conducting workshops around the country. SARINZ looks forward to his valuable contributions to the board’s work.

In February, Mike Sheridan (Chairman SARINZ Ltd) was inducted onto the LandSAR Board. This appointment reflects Mike’s governance, SAR and accountancy strengths, and as detailed later in HeadsUp, reinforces the close relationship between SARINZ and LandSAR.

SARINZ is always interested in hearing from people interested in governance roles in SARINZ (either as a Director or Trustee). For more information, please email dave@sarinz.com.

Magic 16 will Enhance Professionalism

The more of your peers who are attending a course with you, the better.

Nothing could be truer about SAR/SARINZ training — you are likely to learn just as much, if not more, from your colleagues and peers during the course as you will from the instructor (this is not a comment on the quality of instructors, of course!!!)

And naturally, the higher the numbers, the higher the viability of the course, boosting SARINZ’s ability to run more courses for more people.

SARINZ has set 16 as the “magic” number at which a course attains critical mass, and aims to have a minimum of 16 attendees at all future courses. Efforts in this direction thus far have been reasonably successful and most encouraging.

One strategy aimed at achieving this is encouraging anyone interested in SARINZ training to contact SARINZ directly, who will then refer the enquiry back to the Course Co-ordinators. The enhanced and streamlined course booking procedures reported elsewhere in this edition have been designed to accept this level of enquiry.

The direct enquiry and the streamlined enquiry process will go a long way to helping SARINZ achieve its “Magic 16” goal — and they will ensure that the numbers that a course has been approved for do actually turn up on the day.

This will raise training programmes to a higher level of professionalism and effectiveness which will ultimately benefit all SAR personnel and the lost person.

SARINZ/TPP Instructor Forum 2009

By Carl McOnie

In February SARINZ/Tai Poutini Polytechnic (TPP) held an instructor training forum to provide selected SAR practitioners and SARINZ/TPP instructors with the instruction knowledge, skills and attitudes required within the unique SARINZ/TPP environment.

SARINZ and TPP management gave some very interesting presentations on the overall uniqueness of SARINZ and TPP, but a substantial part of the forum was given to the SARINZ Programme Managers to bring together their teams and concentrate on what was important to their programmes.

A considerable amount of time was spent discussing and refining the way courses are presented, the content and programme direction for the year. This should ensure courses in the coming year are presented in a very professional manner — the best result for the trainees, SAR and the subject.

Horizons Unlimited presented a day-long workshop on instructor development which covered ‘the power hour’, adults as learners, experiential learning, learning styles, 4 MAT teaching approach, giving directions, getting responses and tips on using Power Point. This was a great chance to refresh or learn new concepts in professional instructing.

The last part of the workshop gave groups the chance to up-skill themselves in SAR or discuss issues that were important within the SAR sector. Having so many Subject Matter Experts in one place at one time was too much of an opportunity to waste. A lot of very good information was shared.

This event sees us well set for the rest of the year. Skills have been refreshed, new tools are ready and a focus has been set. I personally feel recharged, focused and ready for the year ahead. Talk has already turned to what we will cover next year.

Important agreements take SAR in New Zealand forward

The end of last year saw two major strides forward in SARINZ relationships with key partners in search & rescue in New Zealand.

The first of these, on the commercial front, was the signing of three and six-year contractual agreements with Tai Poutini Polytechnic in Greymouth (TPP) that will see both organisations working together to provide training for SAR practitioners that will count towards a TPP-accredited qualification.

The benefits of these agreements to both organisations as well the wider Search & Rescue community are a degree of certainty in long-term and sustainable access to quality training within New Zealand.

Meanwhile LandSAR and SARINZ have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that commits each party to a long-term partnership on the one hand, and on the other hand a recognition of the areas that each partner focuses on (LandSAR on operational SAR and SARINZ on training). This agreement goes a long way towards cementing a stronger and more unified Search & Rescue capability for the benefit of the entire New Zealand community and recognises SARINZ as LandSAR’s preferred training provider.

A copy of this MOU agreement can be downloaded from the SARINZ website.

Three international conferences in a month

Search Programme Manager Tony Wells and SAR Development Manager Ross Gordon embarked on a productive overseas assignment in October last year taking advantage of time, distance and cost efficiencies to attend three leading Northern Hemisphere national SAR conferences that were held one after the other.

In the USA, the pair attended the annual conference of the International Society of Professional Trackers in Virginia. They made presentations on developing subject profiles from evidence found and also integration of tracking with modern search methods. They attended a number of tracking specialists’ presentations, a highlight being an excellent workshop on the use of tracking to help locate human remains in the SAR environment.

The Kiwis were hosted in Virginia by Robert Koester, international authority on lost person behaviour and author of the book of that name, written to help searchers look in the right place to find lost subjects faster.

Next stop for Tony and Ross was SARscene, Canada’s annual SAR conference in St John’s, Newfoundland. They presented on tracking profiling and various recording systems for accomplishing that. A number of discussions with specialists on alpine search methods were held with an eye to the course being developed in New Zealand.

Last stop was ICESAR, the annual SAR conference of Iceland. Here they ran (in driving snow) a one-day pre-conference search methods training course as well as a presentation on New Zealand SAR and profiling. Iceland offered a unique experience as well:

“We spent a day on one of their glaciers hundreds of square kilometres in size and looking at their systems. They transit the glaciers in whiteout conditions, totally reliant on GPS and computer systems fitted to their vehicles. These are Nissan Patrols and the like, jacked up another couple of feet and fitted with tyres about four feet high that are run at just one or two pounds per square inch of pressure. While the vehicles may not be suitable for NZ conditions there are lessons to be learnt from their search methods.”

International conferences are invaluable for global networking which helps keep SARINZ at the leading edge in SAR, says Ross. The fact that New Zealanders are welcome contributors also highlights the regard in which SAR in this country is held. He puts that down to two factors:

“We’re pragmatic because our environment demands it; second, we have a group of search professionals and volunteers who are very passionate about the culture of continual improvement and contributing internationally. A number of us have been working overseas for years now and have some very strong links; it’s all about building and maintaining those links.”

He adds that New Zealand is contributing strongly in developing subject profiling tools that can be used operationally.

There are immediate practical spin-offs from all this international contact, too, of course: “We’re learning about technological advances in all kinds of new products including tracking systems, torches, communications and methods, and we’re straight into using these products and ideas when we get home; it’s not just an academic exercise.”

New alpine search course coming

SAR Development Manager Ross Gordon and Search Programme Manager Tony Wells are combining forces with industry experts and operational personnel to develop a new specialised alpine search course.

The idea originated from Roger Bates, Turangi SAR, and Andy Hoyle, RARO (Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation) because of the number of callouts each year in that region which includes the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and overdue skiers and boarders on Ruapehu. Momentum for the project built from a workshop held at Whakapapa in November attended by local specialists, NZ Mountain Safety Council, DOC and SAR representatives from Iceland and Canada.

Ross Gordon says the group is aiming for “… a course in the best search techniques for alpine conditions of snow, ice, sleet, wind and rugged terrain. This is important as a lot of New Zealand’s high country in both islands can turn to hostile conditions — no matter whether it’s summer or winter. This course will complement the positive progress taking place in avalanche search.”

It will be of benefit to groups such as alpine cliff rescue teams and ski patrollers plus searchers operating in alpine terrain or conditions.

“A lot of excellent alpine searches already take place but what we’re trying to do here is maximise our performance by customising the SAR response for a particular environment. The results then need to be put into an industry user-friendly package.”

The course development team is scanning the international SAR knowledge base “… to make sure we have the best methods…” so that the probability of detection is maximised. Compiling the course involves linking in with a number of leading international alpine search people.

Ross says the team hopes to have the pilot course ready to run on Ruapehu in June.

He says anyone with thoughts to contribute is very welcome to contact ross@sarinz.com or tony@sarinz.com.

Instructor Profile

Dean Arthur

Hokitika-based SARINZ contract instructor Dean Arthur is half-time Dad, part-time small-holding farmer (“a rough-as-guts ranch”) and part-time outdoorsman. Part of the last bit involves running rope rescue courses for SARINZ.

Dean basically makes a half-time living out of his long-time passions of climbing, tramping and kayaking.

Fortunately for SARINZ, Dean has been associated with us almost since the beginning.

“I got involved with Grant Prattley (SARINZ Programme Manager Rescue) at the quite early stages and that’s been something I’ve enjoyed — being involved with the organisation while it’s finding its feet. There are some quite exciting possibilities and opportunities there.”

“There have been a few hiccups and false starts from my point of view, but now I do feel like it’s going places. I’m also a whitewater paddling-type guy and SARINZ is slowly creating a range of whitewater-related training courses as well and I’m likely to be involved in that if it comes to fruition. That’s quite exciting.”

He is also excited by the international initiatives the organisation is starting to make. Indeed he has already seen the imprint of that offshore: “While I was down working out of Scott Base last year I was able to observe some of the SARINZ things in place which was interesting; I was able to provide a bit of feedback to Grant on that.”

Being determinedly a part-timer gives him, he says, a freshness that means he looks forward to going away for a weekend to do a SARINZ course. “It enables me to stay passionate about it.”

He says it was at Lincoln University that he discovered that his passions could also be his occupation. “As I got into it found it pretty hard to distinguish between recreation and work — they somehow merged together. It’s probably only recently that I’ve managed to achieve a bit of separation between the two.”

New Course Booking Guidelines

SARINZ launched new course booking guidelines, developed by a joint LandSAR, SARINZ and Tai Poutini Polytechnic Working Group, in January 2009.

The new guidelines are aimed at improving the booking of formal training by providing clarity of process for course organisers and ensuring that the common objectives of the three organisations are achieved:

• That all learning outcomes are achieved
• That all participants attending courses are eligible to attend
• That the participants have adequate time to prepare for the course
• That LandSAR groups receive the training subsidies to which they are entitled
• That local and regional training records are maintained
• That the volunteer course organisers receive the necessary support of the organisations involved
• That the delivery of training is cost-effectivev
• That all tertiary education requirements are met

The course booking guidelines have been sent out to all Training Co-ordinators; those who did not receive a copy and would like one are asked to contact the office and one will be emailed or posted out.

As will also be clear from other items in this edition of HeadsUp, SARINZ is working on various elements of its courses and, here, the objective is to simplify course organisation.

The new booking process and associated activities will also help those in the course organiser’s role. Any group needing help in marketing their courses is asked to contact the office and the appropriate Programme Manager will get in touch.

Office Manager Margie Sharkey says: “There will be a settling in period with these new processes and we want to help in any way we can. We are certain that receiving the course participants’ details prior to the workshop will ensure that the enrolment process is much smoother for all of us.”

Newsletters work — and that’s refreshing!

Our report on the front page of the last edition really rang bells. We have fielded a high degree of interest in the refresher training enabled by SARINZ Trust and the Lottery Outdoor Safety Fund allocation.

To refresh you on the main points:

• No cost — SARINZ Trust (using Lottery Outdoor Safety grant) is sponsoring the 2009 Refresher Programme.
• Workshop = one day — All refresher workshops are one day in length starting at 8am.
• Practical with minimal classroom time — refresher workshops focus on learning/refreshing by doing. In most cases, all you need to bring is yourself — no pen required!
• Flexible & Customised — with 60% of the content generic and 40% determined on the day based on need/demand etc.
• Instructors — Instructors will be experienced SARINZ instructors.
• Eligibility — attendees must have completed the prerequisite SARINZ/TPP training or be invited by SARINZ or LandSAR.
• Contact info@sarinz.com to enquire about booking refreshers or alternatively talk to your local or regional training coordinators. We are currently working on the 2009/2010 programme to meet this refreshing demand!

Do you want training, but not sure where to start?

Step 1 — Ask

Quiz your local or regional training coordinators about what you can do, and what is available when.

Step 2 — Visit

Go to www.sarinz.com and use the search by course function to see what, where and when training is being delivered.

Step 3. — Enquire

Use SARINZ online enquiry form and enquire about attending course(s) that interest you. (NB just because it isn’t in your region doesn’t mean you can’t attend it)

Step 4 — Talk

Let your training coordinator know about the courses that interest you – there may be others in your group/region also interested in attending this course.

Step 5 — Read, listen, watch

You will receive information about the course – if you don’t receive any information or have questions contact the course coordinator and SARINZ.

Step 6 — Confirm and attend

A lot of people — not least the lost person — depend on your attendance. So do the right thing and let us know if you can’t make it. Your attendance saves lives — don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy training the SARINZ way.

Step 7 — Practice and refresh

The only way to improve is to keep practising. The best way to do this is with your SAR group or on SARINZ courses. And let us know (info@sarinz.com) what works or doesn’t. Your feedback makes training better and helps to save lives.

Lynne Fiebig

SARINZ Office Administrator

Lynne has been with SARINZ since March 2008. Her main responsibilities are the booking and confirmation of courses and course logistics (including travel & accommodation and providing resources for courses). Lynne is often the person that you will initially have contact with when you are looking to organise a course. She will be able to either assist you with your queries or put you in contact with the appropriate Programme Manager.

When Lynne is not working she is fulfilling one of her many other roles including: wife, mother of two teenage girls, taxi driver for early morning swimming training and various other sporting and social events throughout the week as well her other volunteer roles as swim meet co-ordinator for the Aquagym Swimming Club, Chairperson of the Burwood OSCAR programme and Secretary/Treasurer for the Marian College Past Pupils Association.

Lynne has a fondness for the colour pink and can sometimes be seen in the winter months in her pink slippers. It is certainly easy to see which desk is hers!

Lynne’s bubbly and effervescent personality brings an added zing to the SARINZ office. She can always be relied on for a cheerful smile and her great sense of humour. If you need to get in touch with Lynne she can be contacted during office hours by telephone or by emailing lynne@sarinz.com.

Competition

Name three characteristics of a lost hunter?

Send your answers to headsup@sarinz.com. by 30th April and be in to win one of five Initial Response Search Guides we are giving away. Winners will be notified by email.

Next Quarter Activity

• TCA (Tracking Clue Awareness) and Tracking courses being reviewed as to content, applicability etc.
• UK tracking training: first of three series to be delivered in the UK aimed at improving tracking training of UK SAR personnel.
• Delivery of training to Fonterra ERTs (Emergency Response Teams) throughout the country over the next few years commences soon.
• First Team Leader course due to be delivered in May.
• Development of simplified on-line enquiry for students looking for SARINZ training courses or information.

Next edition ...

HeadsUp is a quarterly publication (April/August/December) designed for the SAR community. If you would like to receive a copy, submit news or notices email headsup@sarinz.com.