Edge Safety in Search and Rescue

We created Edge Safety in Search and Rescue simply because the first rule of vertical rescue that was taught to me years ago by an old curmudgeon was “Thou shall not plummet.” On a more serious note, we believe that the rescuer should never add to the problem and some of the practices we’re seeing specifically in the Search and Rescue world are putting people at significant risk of violating that basic rule.

This course offers an awareness view of the current problems we're seeing with edge safety in Search and Rescue as well as possible solutions to consider. However, the real skills and fluidity in an operation come from judgment, gained through experience, of which solution(s) to deploy.

• What’s the exposure?
• What are the skill levels of the resources?
• What gear is available?
• What will our edge challenges be?

This internal planning debate is constant and repetitive. For those with a tactical or planning background, you might liken this to the SCORPA planning model:

• Size Up: What’s our problem?
• Contingencies: What could change or go wrong? (I often phrase as “What’s going to ruin my day?”)
• Objectives: What are we trying to accomplish?
• Resources: What personnel, gear, and environment do we have to work with?
• Plan: How are we going to do this?
• Action: Do it. Manage it. Measure it. Adapt.