Becoming Operational

As well as the ability to operate our specialist equipment, operational team members require a working knowledge of the construction of buildings and structures, their behaviour prior to and during collapse, flammable and explosive material as well as rescue techniques from fire, vehicles, aircraft, vessels and from climatic extremes.

 

Rescue work of this type can be very unpleasant and requires coolness in harrowing circumstances.

 

Team members must be able to work as part of a close-knit integrated team, yet also be able to work independently and show initiative. They must be level headed, calm and clear thinking in a highly stressed situation. The success of any mission depends not only on having sufficient experienced personnel and equipment from the many international agencies available, but also on the ability to co-ordinate them into a unified, controlled operation.

 

Our National Open College Network accredited training programme takes 3 years to complete before a member can be assessed for suitability for overseas missions.

 

Training

 

Training is thorough and covers a wide range of topics associated with search and rescue activities in the UK and abroad. These include –

  • Basic survival skills
  • Campcraft
  • Orientation
  • Communications
  • Team Discipline
  • Safe Working Procedures
  • Heavy Cutting Tools
  • Location of casualties using sound, heat, visual image and physical search
  • Rescue of casualties
  • First Aid (Basic Casualty Care)
  • Rope Rescue
  • Confined Space Rescue
  • Boat Work
  • Working with helicopters

 

Whilst we occasionally enlist the help of outside specialists for our training most is managed by our own members, who have themselves been through the same training programme.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Training is generally carried out at weekends across the UK and follows an intensive curriculum to complete each stage within a year. Trainees must commit to attendance at training, on exercises and at assessment weekends in order to complete their individual portfolios each year.

 

At the end of the three years the culmination is a week long assessment based on a scenario of an international deployment to a disaster zone. Your skills and physical endurance will be tested to the limit in order to simulate the stresses of working in the difficult conditions of an overseas mission.

 

Members who pass this assessment can feel justifiably proud as members of one of the world’s leading voluntary search and rescue organisations.

 

Along the way to acceptance onto the international register, members can be assessed and accepted onto the UK Support and UK Operational registers. These members will be part of teams attending emergencies within the UK.

 

Age ranges for operational assessment are 18 - 60 for the UK and 23 - 54 for Overseas.

 

The voluntary nature of the Corps, combined with the need for extensive training, means that operational membership of the IRC is restricted to residents of the UK. We do however work with many overseas teams and are always looking to forge links that may further help to save life by sharing best practice.

 

Taking the first step

 

The first step to becoming operational is to join as a member and get in touch with your regional co-ordinator once their details have been sent to you. You will then be invite to attend the next available training to experience what the training programme is all about.