Meeting the requirements of different SAR organisations
Page updated: 30 November 2020
Different SAR organisations have different requirements. If you're contributing to a SAR operation, you need to consider your SAR organisation’s requirements and the requirements of the operation.
For SAROPS involving foreign nationals
If the subject of the SAROP is a foreign national, then establish a process for informing MFAT or the Embassy. MFAT must be advised if the missing person is a diplomat, government hosted VIP, guest of government, or foreign official.
Be aware of your SAR organisation’s requirements
Your SAR organisation will have specific requirements for:
- communicating during a SAR operation
- keeping SAR resources safe
- ensuring SAR resources do not break the law.
Use the communication process established by the Incident Controller
During the SAR operation, your SAR organisation’s communication process is secondary to the communication process for the SAR operation.
You can use your SAR organisation’s processes to communicate with your organisation. However, you must ensure this does not have a negative effect on the SAR operation.
Do not breach your SAR organisation’s safety or legal requirements
If you're asked to do something that does not align with your organisation’s legal or safety requirements, you must:
- let the Incident Controller know
- comply with your SAR organisation’s requirements, even if it means withdrawing from the SAR operation.
Examples of this kind of situation are requests to:
- deploy a SAR resource beyond its capability or legal area of operation
- perform a task the SAR resource is not trained for
- perform a task which the SAR resource is not equipped to do.