RES CPR 11 Develop and Implement Watercraft-Based Emergency Response Training for Lay Rescuers
Develop and implement or expand existing watercraft-based emergency response training for lay people, including search and rescue.
Spectrum level: Educating Providers Promoting Community Education
Evidence level: Low
Rationale:
Improve boating safety, and decrease loss of life, by creating a more capable and knowledgeable boating public in regards to water safety and rescue.
Anticipated Impact:
After implementing this recommendation, you can expect to experience the following outcomes.
- Improved boating safety, and decreased loss of life.
- An increase in available human resources to support water safety.
- An increase in skilled labor for water safety (a broader portion of the population being capable of rescue efforts during water emergency).
- A watercraft-based emergency response training for lay people would foster inclusiveness, encourage people to become safer boaters, and inspire the next generation of emergency responders.
- Stimulation of innovative enterprise ventures in marine safety that allow more people to pay for courses that previously were closed to them.
Evidence:
In the USA, military and some police and fire departments are officially tasked with marine search and rescue operations. Additionally, private tow companies, and other private companies, have been tasked by local (county, town, state) USCG, police or fire to respond to a call for mariner assistance and offer similar rescue and response services. Organizations like NASBLA have formal agreements with the USCG and offer rescue-related boat courses. However these courses are not currently open to the wider public. This type of training has been limited to agency students. There are currently no major organizations or companies that offer courses to become more skilled in responding to a boat-based rescue, or learn to perform search and rescue patterns with a boat, for the general public. Volunteer groups such as the USCG Auxiliary exist, but the military aspect and requirements excludes many members of the public, and the courses demand more time than a typical volunteer would be willing to give. USCG-licensed boat captains (those possessing a commercial merchant mariner credential as a master) are typically required to demonstrate their ability to perform a man-overboard, when starting a job for a company as captain, but that is the extent of their training. Additionally, not all members of the public have, or are able, to spend the time to attain a commercial license. There are members of the public who are skilled boaters without commercial licenses, yet there appears to be no framework that explicitly targets individuals interested in rescue boat operations from the general public. These training opportunities could be used to enhance the knowledge, and skills, in boat-based rescue operations that could help asset local agencies or industry in aquatic rescue. By contrast, other nations have a marine rescue framework that is largely civil or volunteer, and independent rescue boat groups are common. Marine rescue groups like KNRM in Holland, or RCMSAR in Canada, provide in-house training, typically with allignment with any federal training. In theory this means anyone can join to serve in marine safety and boat rescue, with no discrimination or requirement as to agency affiliation and the ability to perform the activities, and the training itself are the basic requirements. This gives civilian and volunteer water rescue teams more extensive human resources to draw upon and train. In the UK, a newly formed independent, non-profit or volunteer water rescue team (with boat response capability) can be declared as a national asset for the nations emergency services after completing their national training requirements.
Evidence Sources:
Barcala Furelos R, Szpilman D, Palacios Aguilar J, et al. 2016. Assessing the efficacy of rescue equipment in lifeguard resuscitation efforts for drowning. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine 34(3):480-5 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2015.12.006
American Red Cross. Lifeguard Manual. https://highsierrapools.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/LGPMdigital.pdf
The Canadian Coast Guard. The Dutch Sea Rescue Service. The Finnish Lifeboat Institute. Swedish Sea Rescue Service. New Zealand Coastguard. NASBLA Training Courses.
High Risk Populations Addressed:
All populations can benefit from implementation of this recommendation.
Evaluation Metrics:
Indicators of long-term impact:
- Legislation or rules at local, state, and federal levels change to allow trained lay people to be in supportive roles during water emergencies.
- A set of state or federal sponsorship platforms, applications, calls, frameworks, etc. that are available for people and legal entities to apply to.
- Restrictions are loosened so that training opportunities are available to individuals and legal entities that are not associated with agencies.
- Water emergency outcomes improve and total number of incidences decrease.
Indicators of intermediate impact:
- Increasing knowledge among boaters.
- Change in attitudes and behaviors toward members of the public who are interested in rescue service but who are not affiliated with agencies.
- Barriers to entry and training and education opportunities are removed.
Indicators of initial impact:
- Companies, and, or, organizations implement changes and open their courses to all people, not only agency-affiliated persons.
Implementation:
Consider the following to ensure successful implementation:
- Demonstrate to organizations that there may be benefits to opening their courses to the public (increasing their revenue stream, improving business, contributing to society by making boating a safer activity for all).
- Shift exclusionary mindsets and attitudes through education in ethics, inclusion, teamwork, positive development of communities, psychological, etc.
- Obtain further information on government and state sources of financial and other support for boat-based rescue operations and training.
- Identify specific legislative barriers (at local, state, or federal levels) to non-agency members of the public becoming educated and trained in boat-based rescue techniques.
Challenges to Implementation:
When implementing this recommendation, you might encounter challenges related to the following factor.
- Local, state and federal agencies interested in water safety, recreational boating, and boat-based emergency response may not support this recommendation.
Potential Facilitators:
The following factor might facilitate the implementation of this recommendation.
- Local, state and federal agencies interested in water safety, recreational boating, and boat-based emergency response may support this recommendation.
GAP Recommendation:
NOT A RESEARCH GAP