| International Search and Rescue Response Guidelines |
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Table of Contents:
The International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) was formed in 1991, as a cooperative effort by the United Nations and many of the participating countries in international SAR. With the assistance of all participants, the conclusions and recommendations adopted at the initial INSARAG meeting were based on their collective experiences in disaster responses.
The mission of INSARAG is to develop effective international relationships in order to save lives and render humanitarian services following natural or man-made disasters. The activities of INSARAG include the improvement of emergency preparedness and cooperation between international SAR teams as well as the promotion of information exchange on operational procedures and lessons learned.
As a result of the efforts of many participating countries who collectively make up the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), the INSARAG participants have developed a common understanding of the functions and operations of SAR teams which have resulted in the development of the International Search and Rescue Response System.
Purpose
The purpose of the International Search and Rescue Response System Manual is to provide an overview of the International Search and Rescue (INSAR) Response System. This document describes the framework for the INSAR Response System as developed by INSARAG as well as serves as a reference source for guidelines for international SAR teams. These Guidelines were developed by member countries of INSARAG to assist international SAR teams to operate in the most efficient and effective manner possible.
Over the past decade, disasters in heavily populated areas around the world have increased the need for sophisticated SAR capabilities to assist trapped victims. Recent improvements in technology have also increased the ability to locate, medically treat and rescue trapped victims. Many countries have developed a SAR capability and routinely send teams of well-trained experts to assist other countries in times of need. While this has been of great benefit to victims and the affected country, it has also revealed a need for these responding SAR teams to coordinate their operations. Inter-team coordination can help maximize the use of available resources by matching team capabilities, thereby avoiding duplication of efforts.
There are three levels of need for coordination of international assistance:
The United Nations has taken a lead role in coordinating disaster relief efforts especially at the operational level. Without operational coordination, the links to the on-site emergency management will be incomplete. This is accomplished by the role of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and the UN Disaster Management Team, which comprises the in-country humanitarian, and the major Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). A variety of programs within the UN focus on this issue.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), through its Disaster Response Branch (DRB) in Geneva, has established an emergency response system for coordinating actions taken by the international community as a result of natural disasters and environmental emergencies. The DRB is the focal point within the UN for mobilizing and coordinating international disaster response. When disaster strikes, OCHA facilitates information exchange between responding international SAR teams. Through OCHA, INSARAG maintains close contacts with international SAR teams and maintains a Directory of SAR teams that meet the criteria for international response and operations.
If required, OCHA can field a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team to assist in emergency assessment and field coordination during the initial relief phase. This team consists of qualified and specially trained national emergency management experts, as well as OCHA staff.
INSARAG Mandates [NOTE: To be updated by the INSARAG Steering Group.]
To achieve its mission, INSARAG has established the following mandates:
INSARAG Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of INSARAG consists of a Steering Group, Regional Groups, and Working Groups with Chairperson oversight.
The Steering Groups consists of the:
Three Regional Groups consist of:
INSARAG provides the forum for continued improvement of the INSARAG Response System by providing a review and approval process for new policies and procedures. Recommendations for system changes can come from disaster response experiences, individual SAR teams, Regional Committees, and Working Groups. Examples of recommendations for changes in the system are:
Recommendations for system changes can come from a variety of sources and may enter the process from any level. The following steps define the review and decision-making process as illustrated in the diagram:
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It is important that a life-safety program such as the INSARAG Response System be maintained at the highest level of efficiency and readiness. There needs to be a systematic process in place to address changes that are required as the result of training and exercise scenarios, disaster response after action reviews, special events (i.e., Triplex, NATO Summit, etc.). Everyone involved at all levels in the Progam should have equal access to providing input into the process for program improvement. As a result, an INSARAG Corrective Action Procedure has been developed.
The Corrective Action Procedure consists of a six-step process as indicated on the following flow chart and definition. The process is intended to allow for comment and review from all levels. The flow chart illusrtrates an issue entering the process at the lowest level and progressing entirely through the system. This does no preclude an issue from entering the process at other levels as required. [NOTE: Move chart to next page w/ steps.]
Process
Issue Action Tracking
At the Regional Review Group level, attention will need to be paid to ensure the careful inclusion of all submissions under consideration into a Issue Action Tracking Plan. During this process, all items submitted will be carefully reviewed for content and completeness, with redundancy eliminated, or grouped. It is not the intent for this group to become involved in issue resolution.
The following example illustrates the components included in the Issue Action Tracking Plan. This could be incorporated into a database format to allow for the historical tracking over a long period of time.
| Step Assignment: | Issue Tracking Number: | Issue Description: | Assigned To: | Action Completed / Comments: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | Development of INSARAG Guideline concerning Equipment Cache Standard | Region I Chair | 1-1-99 |
| 2 | - | Regional Review Group | Approved/forwarded to INSARAG Chair 2-1-99 | |
| 3 | 99-REG1-019 | INSARAG Chair | 3-1-99 | |
| 4 | Equipment WG | 4-1-99 | ||
| 5 | INSARAG Steering Group | 5-1-99 | ||
| 6 | UNOCHA | 6-1-99 |
The development of the INSARAG Response System results in the production of a wide variety of documents. It is imperative that consistent document development standards are defined to ensure consistency as these documents are produced. It is equally important that existing documents are reviewed, updated or purged on a scheduled basis to maintain currency and accuracy. There must also be a standardized system to allow for immediate or unexpected submissions and/or changes that are needed that may occur outside an established review cycle.
The following list identifies many of the defined elements that should be adhered to ensure the further effective development and management of the INSARAG Response System:
The purpose of developing the INSARAG Operational Guidelines is to:
Response Requirements
INSARAG Guidelines are based on a number of assumptions and requirements that will be the responsibility of the affected country, assisting country, and the United Nations. The Guidelines in this manual are based on the following expectations:
Affected Country will:
Assisting Countries will:
The United Nations will:
Capability Criteria
SAR teams are to be designed for all risk response. The teams are modular in design and while primarily designed for search and rescue operations in the urban setting, can also be quickly reorganized to handle flooding, avalanches, and other types of disasters. The team functional structure allows it to change its operational mission and retain the management and support elements necessary. This method of design increases the cost effectiveness of a developing response team and in maintaining it in a state of constant readiness.
SAR teams are capable of providing the following actions when dispatched to disasters:
Operations
Citizen Assistance/Outreach
Assistance to Local Emergency Response Personnel:
Training/Exercises:
[To be developed by the INSARAG Training Group.]
SAR Team
A SAR Team must be composed of technical specialists from a variety of fields who support the victims of a disaster. Teams must be organized, staffed and trained to provide the functions outlined in the Management and Coordination Guideline. Each team should be staffed with a team management component and have at a minimum; the functional capabilities of search, rescue, medical, and technical and support assistance.
The management component has the responsibility for overall supervision of the team while ensuring its safety and security. It will also represent the team concerning media and public information requests, provide various types of mission planning, and have the ability to liaison with the various entities encountered during a mission. The functions of Search, Rescue, and Medical are grouped into an Operations Section. The search function must have the capability to search and locate trapped victims using physical, canine and electronic means. The rescue function must be capable of working at multiple work sites. The medical function must provide medical doctors and paramedics capable of providing advanced life support to trapped/rescued victims as well as provide for the medical needs of team members. The technical assistance function should provide support to the team by providing hazardous materials detection and protection, structural integrity assessments, as well as interacting with heavy equipment operators. The support assistance function should provide all logistical and communications needed for the team.
The following are international relief organizations that the SAR team may interact with during the mission:
UNOSOCC
The United Nations On-Site Operations Coordination Center (UNOSOCC) concept was developed by the United Nations to provide a group of highly qualified personnel readily available for rapid deployment to a disaster area. The mission of the UNOSOCC is to assist the affected country's LEMA with the management of the disaster by providing coordination support for international SAR teams and other relief resources arriving in the affected country.
The role of the UNOSOCC will vary with each disaster. The UNOSOCC will assist the LEMA in assessing the need for international SAR teams, communicating their operational capabilities to the LEMA and providing logistical support for incoming teams. A major portion of its logistical responsibility lies with the establishment and management of a Reception Center (normally at a local airport) to coordinate the arriving Response Teams. The UNOSOCC will also recommend operational assignments to the LEMA for international SAR teams based on known capabilities. In all cases, the UNOSOCC should be activated and deployed whenever there is a SAR Team activation or the potential for international team activation exists.
The UNOSOCC has three primary functions:
UNOSOCC personnel may arrive in the affected country prior to the arrival of international SAR teams, especially if UNDAC personnel transition over to the UNOSOCC. These operational guidelines are written on the premise that the UNOSOCC will arrive prior to international teams and be available on-site to provide the necessary direction and support required for the teams to complete their assignment. In some countries, LEMA officials may provide this type of assistance to the incoming teams and the actual presence and function of the UNOSOCC may be reduced in scope or entirely eliminated. In other instances, international SAR assistance may arrive prior to the UNOSOCC becoming operational. In that case, the individual team(s) must ensure that the actions normally taken by the UNOSOCC are established until such time as it can take over these functions. Arriving teams may be expected to assign a person(s) initially to start the UNOSOCC functions. The UNOSSOC will provide overall strategic planning and coordination to the international response teams operating under its mandate.
In the early stages of the response, the UNOSOCC should develop a written document that details the exact mission objectives of the incoming international teams. This document should be agreed upon and signed by representatives of the LEMA and the UNOSOCC. This document will assist in defining what the international SAR response mission is. This can be of great assistance to the UN effort when disengaging from the disaster.
LEMA
It is imperative that the SAR resources (teams and UNOSOCC) become an integral part of the existing local command structure upon arrival at the disaster. The UNOSOCC and Team Leader should be prepared to adapt to variations of incident management. It should be clearly understood by LEMA personnel that the team is a resource that is available for their use and under their operational control through the UNOSOCC.
The UNOSOCC should address and comply with all local guidelines for reporting team activities. To whom to report, what type of information to report, when reports have to be made, etc., must be identified. To ensure that this is accomplished, the UNOSOCC should confer with LEMA communications personnel, and determine what means of communications should be used for accomplishing these tasks.
The SAR Team Leader must identify any local support needs of the team and forward to the UNOSOCC. The UNOSOCC will coordinate with LEMA officials for the support that the team will require to properly accomplish their assignment. This could include the need for fuel, compressed gases, heavy equipment and/or support personnel. Guidelines must be determined to acquire the assistance. All team requests for expendable supplies should be forwarded to the UNOSOCC for processing. The UNOSOCC will obtain the resources locally or through resupply.
The following diagram summarizes the response phases a SAR team experiences during a deployment from the incident occurrence to the return to readiness status.
SAR teams go through various actions during an international mission. This cycle begins with team preparedness and ends with its return to home base and subsequent return to readiness. Teams must ensure that internal procedures are compatible with the following phases:
Team management prior to any deployment must address a variety of administrative and personnel issues. Records of personnel data must be developed. Personnel must be properly immunized for travel to all parts of the world and must be issued proper clothing to live and work in a wide variety of environmental conditions. Team management must complete UNOCHA administrative requirements and develop relationships with other countries for bilateral assistance during disasters.
Each team should have a written mobilization plan that addresses the necessary actions to activate and deploy the team. This plan should include team and country/sponsoring agency notifications procedures; team member assembly point location and procedures; equipment packaging and loading plan; and a transportation plan to the POD or for ground travel directly to the Point of Arrival (POA) in the affected country.
All aspects of team mobilization must be well documented in its plan and exercised regularly to accomplish such a large undertaking. All personnel should have required personal items ready for deployment as well as essential equipment, tools, and supplies that support the team in the field. Load plans should be in place that document where specific items are placed on aircraft, with weights and cubic size already calculated. Additionally, load plans for ground transport should be in place that indicates similar placement of equipment stock items on over-the-road trucks.
The team must develop an equipment stock sufficient to perform all operations involved in complex technical rescues, including equipment capable of breaking, lifting and moving heavy concrete as well as the medical supplies and equipment to care for team members, canines, and rescued victims. Communications equipment must accompany the team to allow for communications between team members, home country, and the UNOSOCC and/or LEMA. The team must also have life support equipment and supplies required to be self-sufficient for seven-ten days in the field.
Activation Phase
Requests for international assistance go through several stages before reaching SAR teams in assisting countries. When a disaster occurs, the first response will be from LEMA officials and supporting services of the affected country. If additional assistance is required outside the local level, requests should be filled by the national government until the affected country's resources are exhausted or the requested level of assistance is not available. The affected country may then request international assistance. Within this framework, formal requests for international assistance can be directed to UNOCHA or may be made directly to another country (existing bilateral agreement between the two governments). In this case, the request will bypass UNOCHA.
If the request for international SAR assistance is made through UNOCHA, they will begin to determine the resources necessary to fulfill the request through information obtained from the affected country. They will assess the availability of SAR resources from the SAR team Directory and send out Disaster Advisory, Alert, or Activation Notices, as appropriate. Advisory Notices are for information purposes and serve to advise teams in the system that an event has occurred that requires monitoring. Alert Notices notify specific teams that SAR response may be requested and the team should begin to review its readiness to deploy. Once the situation is determined UNOCHA will send out Activation Notices to the National Focal Point of the team selected to respond. Activation Notices are official requests from the affected country through UNOCHA requesting the response of SAR teams. A Stand Down Notice may be issued at anytime to cancel the response for any reason.
It is crucial that information pertinent to the disaster response is provided to the responding SAR teams in the Advisory, Alert, and Activation Notices. When a team is deployed to the affected country, often times limited information is known in the early phases of the mission. Team management must advise deploying personnel of weather and environmental conditions so that appropriate clothing and equipment is packed. Equipment stock items may vary based on the type of disaster and the mission of the team. Team management will need to ensure that administrative requirements, i.e., visas/passports, immunizations, etc., are identified and tasked. The security status of the affected country must be assessed and pertinent security issues that could affect a team's response are made known in the action plan.
UNOCHA should provide as much as possible at the time it becomes known. A guideline for necessary information to be provided in the UNOCHA notifications is listed below.
| Disaster Advisory/ Alert Notice | Disaster Activation Notice | Stand Down Notice |
|---|---|---|
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Once a written Activation Notice is received from UNOCHA, the SAR team must use its existing plans to bring all facets of the team together to meet the time limits of deployment.
Equipment Stock Equipment loading plans must reflect priority loading and unloading of equipment necessary to allow effective SAR team operations.
Team Briefing
Refer to SAR Team Mobilization Guideline for addition information.
The In-Transit Phase has two sub-phases. The first is the travel period from the home base to arrival in the affected country and the second is from arrival in-country to arrival at disaster or work site.
Each team is responsible for its own transportation to the affected country. From the time the team is activated until it reaches the reception center in the affected country, all issues relating to the deployment will be channeled through the respective assisting country(s). During this time, team management should continue to collect intelligence on the disaster and provide briefings. Team members should get as much rest as possible during this phase.
Once the team arrives in the affected country, it comes under the operational control of the LEMA, in coordination with the UNOSOCC. The Team Leader will report into the UNOSOCC or appropriate representatives at a Reception Center. The UNOSOCC will arrange for immediate needs and transportation to a Staging Area or assigned work site. From that time until the team leaves the affected country, the Team's operations will be coordinated by the UNOSOCC.
As Teams arrive, representatives should report to the UNOSOCC Reception Center. This facility will normally be at or near the POA and be the focal point for international teams. The Reception Center staff will provide the initial contact for the Team Leader and provide the following information:
In most cases, the team should only remain in a Reception Center for a short time. This depends upon many variables, such as available personnel and equipment for equipment stock movement, available ground or air transportation to the assigned work site, weather conditions, etc.
An advance or reconnaissance team may be sent ahead of the full team to liaison with UNOSOCC or LEMA. Upon arrival, they can ascertain the name and location of the contact person, possible team BoO sites, and current information on the situation. They should also identify resources needed at the assigned work site so the team can immediately integrate into the local rescue operation.
Team management should attend initial briefing, provided by UNOSOCC and LEMA, to discuss the current situation. Included in this briefing will be:
The specific team assignment should be discussed with LEMA and UNOSOCC representatives and include:
(See SAR Team Engagement/Disengagement Guideline. )
There are two critical issues the Team Leader must address immediately upon arriving at the work site and commencing operations. The first is the operational work period scheduling and rotation of personnel. The initial deployment of personnel into rescue operation may have lasting effects on extended operations later in the mission. The Team Leader must consider whether to commit all personnel to the rescue effort or hold some personnel in reserve for 24-hours operations or a combination of the two. The second issue is the site location and set-up of the team's BoO. If this site has not been previously determined by LEMA, the UNOSOCC or established by an advance team, it must be determined immediately. An appropriate BoO site is essential to effective operations by the team. A safe and secure site must be obtained that considers environmental factors, team member stress reduction, and proximity to the work site. The team leader must determine what personnel resources are required to establish the BoO and perform SAR operations simultaneously. For more information on BoO operations, see Guideline J, Base of Operations.
It is imperative that LEMA officials have an understanding of the capabilities of a team. The UNOSOCC should have previously provided LEMA officials with a copy of the appropriate SAR Team Capability Document and a briefing on general team composition, capabilities, etc. In addition, the limitations of a team must be identified. Examples include self-sufficiency for 10 days, medical capability, transportation resources, etc. In addition, any known specific support requirements for the team should be identified and resolved at this time. The locality should identify any political or sensitive considerations specific to the current situation. The Team Leaders should receive clarification of authority specific to the locality or country.
As soon as possible, the Team must be integrated into the rescue operation. If the local rescue effort has not already identified potential victim locations, team operations may begin by sending out reconnaissance personnel into its assigned area. This size up may include identifying individual structures by address, physical location, or landmarks; performing a general triage of the area that includes identifying the structures that offer the highest potential for viable rescue opportunities; and a general hazard assessment and marking of the structural stability of the buildings the team may work in as well as the potential hazards that may be encounter during operations. One method of developing information for this assessment is to perform structural triage of the area. The triage process consists of a three-step process:
The information developed during this process is use to assist in prioritizing rescue efforts through a scoring process that takes into account the total number of trapped victims, the occupancy type, potential for secondary collapse and other criteria.
International SAR teams have a standardized marking system, using symbols and plain text that can be placed on the exterior of a structure and indicate essential information on a building's structural and hazard integrity as well as a search assessment and victim locations. Through these two pieces of information, all SAR team members can quickly and accurately determine the safety assessment of the structure as well as the number of victims removed and number located but remaining trapped from the exterior of a structure, This is an important safety factor in entering damaged buildings. It also allows other SAR teams to identify the status of earlier operations on a specific structure, possible by another team. See Guideline D, Identification and Marking.
After completion of the initial assessments and reconnaissance operations, the team should focus it priorities on searching and locating trapped, live victims; removal of trapped victims; and providing medical care to those rescued.
Teams should have the capability to perform physical search, consisting of conducting interviews with survivors and a systematic movement across the site while listening for calls for help; canine search using specially trained dogs to locate living persons; and electronic search using sophisticated listening and seismic equipment. These three primary types of search will allow search personnel to focus on the most important potential rescue opportunities. Prior to initiating search operations, the team must determine the search strategy to be followed. This should be based on detecting and locating the greatest number of victims in the shortest amount of time. A plan should be developed which prioritizes the search opportunities based on a number of factors. including occupancy, time of day, and local information on missing persons. In most cases, if the local rescuers have not identified locations of trapped people, the team's search operations will begin with a rapid initial search of their assigned area followed by a more thorough main search. See Guideline C, Search Operations.
Rescue operations follow search operations and are focused on extricating the greatest number of victims in the shortest amount of time, prioritizing technical rescues that cannot be accomplished by local resources. Based on the search results, the team must prioritize the rescue sites and determine what resources to commit to a rescue site based on the potential success. Generally, rescue operations are prioritized based on rescues that are easily achievable and moving on to those that are more complex. A rescue plan will ensure that all efforts are brought to bear in a systematic and coordinated manner, using the most up to date intelligence about the victims and buildings. See Guideline D, Rescue Operations.
Early in the incident, team medical personnel should meet with the local medical authority of the affected work area to determine the procedures to be followed. Team medical personnel should also develop a medical plan for the on-site operation that includes handoff procedures, re-supply needs, deceased victim management, indigenous health concerns, and evacuation procedures for injured team members or canine. The team medical personnel should work closely with the rescue personnel even prior to victim release to monitor and ensure proper care is provided to trapped victims. Medical actions may be necessary to prevent hypothermia and reduced oxygen consumption. Failure to provide necessary care to trapped victims can lead to an untimely death form crush injury syndrome. Following the rescue of trapped victims, the team must provide an advanced level of medical care until such time as the victim is handed off to the local medical system. Additionally, the medial team personnel must provide care to team member and canine from injury and illness while on-site and make recommendations to the Team Leader on the need for specialized care and/or evacuation to an appropriate medical care site. See Guideline G, SAR Team Medical Guideline.
Throughout the operations, safety needs to be a prime concern to every team member. Although the team should be staffed with a safety officer, it remains up to each individual to be the primary overseer of safety, since the safety officer cannot be everywhere at once. The safety officer should not focus on only the work site tactical aspects and lose sight of the broad scope of mission safety, but rather provide systematic oversight to all areas and functions including the BoO. Oversight includes performing risk analysis of team living and working conditions, developing and reviewing component plans for safety aspects, spot checks of tactical operations, and developing an overall safety plan for the team each day. All accidents should be thoroughly investigated to determine the cause and corrective action taken to prevent like occurrences. A warning system and evacuation plan is essential to have in place and disseminated to all personnel. Safety should be discussed at every opportunity. See Guideline H, SAR Team Safety and Security.
The UNOSOCC will act as the central control point in demobilizing and/or reassigning teams.
The issues outlined in this section regarding the reassignment of a SAR team will deal only with a reassignment that would result in a significant change of location of an operating SAR BoO. This type of reassignment would be a major undertaking (if the BoO had already established) because elements of the team would have to be completely repacked and transported. The change of assignment of a SAR team still in transit is considered a diversion and is much simpler to implement.
The UNOSOCC in conjunction with appropriate LEMA officials will carefully assess the ability of a SAR team already established and in operation to accept a tactical reassignment requiring a location change. It is incumbent upon the Team Leader and management personnel to make a judicious assessment of the physical and mental condition of team personnel for continued operation.
In addition, the possibility exists that a SAR team may not be able to continue operation (significant team injuries, team exhaustion, extended incident stress considerations, etc.), even though its initial assignment is not complete and will require deactivation.
Prior to issuing Standown Notices for either mission completion or inability to continue, UNOSOCC and LEMA personnel and political leaders of the community should meet and bring closure to the international SAR team participation. If the mission is complete, all parties should review the objectives contained in the previously developed document of understanding. There should be complete agreement that all objectives have been completed before viable SAR teams are returned home. The amicable agreement on the mission objectives completion will assist in the appreciation of the international SAR response by the affected country. Once the international SAR mission has been completed and no further activity or reassignment is warranted, the UNOSOCC in conjunction with the LEMA will begin to demobilize the international teams. This information will be communicated to LEMA officials through the UNOSOCC and forwarded by the UNOSOCC to UNOCHA. UNOCHA will initiate a Standown Order for the team through the UNOSOCC. SAR team standown will essentially be a reversal of the original mobilization process. This would include coordination of transportation for the team back to the Mobilization Center (possibly through an incident Staging Area), and return to its original POD.
The Team Leader should be considering standown issues several days before the assignment has been completed. The standown process needs to be discussed with the Planning Officer and Team Managers during action planning meetings and reviewed with the team members during briefing sessions. The Team Leader should ensure a standown plan is developed in conjunction with the UNOSOCC and the LEMA and forwarded to UNOSOCC. This plan should cover all actions that must be completed before beginning the return home as well as the time schedule of events for leaving. Every effort should be made to comply with the time frames set in the plan, as they will be an integral part of the overall UNOCHA stand down plan.
During the Standown Phase, advanced consideration and planning should address such issues as:
During the return home through the Mobilization Center, the following issues at a minimum should be addressed:
The standown and return home phases provide team members with possibly the first opportunity to relax since arriving in the affected country. Consequently, safety should be of prime importance to everyone on the return. Personnel may lose focus on safety as they begin the return home, increasing the chances for injuries during equipment loading and personnel movement. Team management must reinforce the need for attention to safety. In addition, Team management must continue to enforce the Code of Conduct to ensure the professionalism of the team is maintained at all times until the return home.
Once the SAR team has stoodown and begun its mobilization back to its home jurisdiction, there are many issues related to the return of the SAR team at its Home Base that should be addressed by the sponsoring jurisdiction prior to the team's return. This should include:
Ater return home, the Team Leader is responsible for completing several important actions. A return to readiness plan should be developed that addresses all issues that must be taken in order for the team to be operationally ready for the next mission. This plan should include:
All injury follow-ups and stress management issues must be brought to closure. If extended incident stress debriefing sessions are necessary, they should be held soon after return home and prior to each person's return to normal duties, if possible. Consideration should be given to including family and friends who endured the mission at home in the follow-up session. All personnel should participate in these sessions. It may take multiple sessions to complete this action and there may have to be referrals to mental health professionals to bring closure to the mission for some team members.
A thorough inventory and cleaning, disinfecting, and decontamination of the equipment stock should be completed before storing for the next mission. All lost equipment should be documented and replaced. Other equipment should be thoroughly inspected and tested and any required preventative maintenance performed. It should be repacked in the proper containers. All expendable supplies must be inventoried and replaced as needed. Logistics personnel should ensure the entire equipment stock is completely rehabilitated before informing team management or a return to readiness status.
There should be a formal after-action process that includes a post-mission operational debriefing followed by a complete, written after-action report documenting the issues and concerns of the mission. The documentation of the mission is crucial for the improvement of the team and the INSARAG program.
The post operational debriefing process after return home should be a thorough, in-depth, session(s) that addresses a comprehensive list of issues developed during the Standown phase debriefing. The pertinent information must be captured in an appropriate format for inclusion into the final mission report. The After-Action Report should be forwarded to UN OCHO within 45 days after the return homes and includes the following:
The post mission issues should be included in the team's corrective action process to ensure that issues that were detrimental to the team's operation are eliminated and positive events are reinforced. The after-action issues should be factored into team training where possible and practical and function as lessons learned for future missions.
Once all after-action issues are complete and the team has returned to a state of readiness for another mission, this information should be communicated to UN OCHA.
The Operating Guidelines contained in this manual have been developed according to twelve functional areas of operation. They provide suggested actions for the use and operation of SAR teams on an international deployment. While these are only guidelines, they have been developed from the experience of numerous disasters and represent the international SAR community's best effort to document procedures that can best lead to cooperative operations on a disaster site.