Maintaining a common operating picture
Page updated: 30 November 2020
A shared understanding of what is going on during a SAR operation is known as a common operating picture. Everyone involved in a SAR operation must communicate effectively to maintain a common operation picture.
Name the SAR operation
If you're the Incident Controller, you decide what to call the SAR operation. This may be after a geographical reference.
Use the correct format when communicating about the SAR operation
If you're involved in a Category 1 SAR operation, you need to use a specific format when communicating about the SAR operation to the Incident Control Point. Use ‘ICP’ followed by the geographical name of the operation. For example, if your call sign is Team 12 and you are calling the Incident Control Point about an operation named Motueka, you would say ‘ICP Motueka this is Team 12’.
Using this format will prevent people getting confused about which SAR operation you are communicating about. This is important as multiple SAR operations may be running at the same time.
Log all communications about the SAR operation
This log needs to be:
- in a text format (if it is voice recorded, turn it to a text format as soon as possible)
- easy to access by SAR resources involved in the SAR operation.
Refer to your SAR organisation’s communication plan
This should contain more detailed information about communication systems and processes.