ASTM International

Standard Guide for Hazard Awareness for Search and Rescue Personnel
 N F2890

Annotation

This guide is intended for training those who normally work in natural environments, solely subject to terrain and weather-related risks, who may be asked to respond to, or who may encounter, the operations defined in 1.2.

This guide identifies and describes hazardous situations and environments, and the associated risks affecting search and rescue personnel who may be working on or around the following:

Landsearch;

Land rescue;

Structural collapse;

Rope rescues;

Confined spaces;

Water, both still and moving; and

Trench or excavation collapse.

The knowledge conveyed in this guide is intended to enable search and rescue (SAR) personnel to recognize situations that may require skills or capabilities they have not been trained to perform. This understanding will allow them to seek more knowledgeable personnel to mitigate the hazard and perform such rescues or other activities required to complete their mission.

This guide is not intended to suggest that all search and rescue personnel must have the training identified within it. However, wherever the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) deems this training to be appropriate, this document can be used as a guide.

The AHJ shall determine what level of training constitutes sufficient competence for search and rescue personnel to enter areas, or carry out missions, which include the hazards described in this guide.