Training
USAR is a capability that amalgamates the specific requirements of confined space rescue, vertical rescue, trench rescue, building collapse rescue, tunnelling, shoring, atmospheric monitoring, concrete breaching, electronic/optical search, long duration incidents and field living skills.
Courses are delivered by a wide range of agencies who participate in USAR for their own and other agencies personnel.
Categorised Skillsets
Category One:
- Basic Search techniques
- Occupational Health and Safety
- Other relevant competencies
Category Two
- Requires Category One
- Specialist equipment training
- Training to Team/Task Force member capability
Category Three
- Skills to manage USAR Task Force
Taskforce Specialist
Attached to each Taskforce are the specialists, which provide expert advice to the Taskforce Leader within the scope of their specific discipline. Taskforce Specialists are utilised as an addendum to the Taskforce and not all disciplines may be deployed to every incident.
The following identifies some of the groups that generally deploy with a USAR Taskforce.
- Medical: Doctors, nurses, allied health professionals
- Engineers: Level 1 Operates on the outer perimeter of a structural collapse site
Level 2 Operates within a structural collapse site, to assess overall structural and element stability, as part of a deployed USAR Taskforce.- Canine Team: Dedicated teams of handler and canine trained to operate within the collapse zone to locate trapped victims.
- Communications: The Taskforce may deploy with specialist communications operators and technicians in order to provide a more sophisticated communications capability.
- Police Forensic: This group is more of an end user of the Taskforce, self sustainability component. There training is targeted at understanding the capability of the Taskforce and how it may assist them in there function of response as result of injured or deceased victims not necessarily related to criminal activity.
This information provided has been developed in conjunction with the National Urban Search and Rescue Working Group