Search & Rescue Training
Dave G at Education Directions has noted this interesting issue from the Search and Rescue newsletter:
LandSAR received a letter from Tai Poutini Polytechnic (TPP) last month indicating that the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) funding that used to cover courses overseen by SARINZ will no longer cover the full cost of services and a $10 per credit fee will be charged to LandSAR in the New Year. This is not $10 per course but is based on the total credits value given to each course which could range from 10 or more per person per year. Based roughly on the course credits received from the 96 SARINZ Courses held over the last two years, this could cost LandSAR up to $250,000 or more in the next calendar year.
… The LandSAR Board reviewed the overall issue stated and we stress that this is not solely a TPP concern. They are simply making it clear that our industry or sector has to pay its way and they can see no other solution that imposing such a fee.
LandSAR has to now look at all options going forward…. Our industry is not commercial, it is not for profit and as such should be funded as a core function of Central Government. …LandSAR fundamentally believes that volunteers should not have to pay for the training required to remain capable of delivering an emergency service to the communities of NZ. We believe volunteers, without hesitation, give enough of their time, professional skills and personal equipment; to expect them to pay for training for that service would become a bridge to far on the overall goodwill standings.
Over the next few months we will be talking to our members and the sector – as we believe this will eventually affect all of the emergency sector (Civil Defence, CoastGuard, Rural Fire, Surf Life Saving, etc) and our key partners (NZ Police, RCCNZ and NZSAR)…
Dave G notes:
Search and rescue work is pretty hard to fault – whether the person who is lost is experienced or an idiot who didn’t look at a weather forecast, I’m enormously happy that people are willing to drop their normal lives to head out into the bush to find someone. Other than a few coordinators, they are essentially volunteers too. In that environment, I wonder how realistic it is to expect them to meet increasing training requirements out of their own pockets.
There are lots of things I am unhappy about funding as a taxpayer. Training for volunteer search and rescue teams is not one of them. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than having a professionally staffed search and rescue service run by the Government.
December 4th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Call me a silly fool but when I was once involved many years ago the volunteers were taken from tramping/deerstalking clubs who were only to happy to do it for nothing as it could be ourselves who need rescued next time. We were expected to be reasonably competent in regards to finding our way about the scrub and self equipped for overnighting in the hills.
The only training we got was how to coordinate with the search controller via radio and how to operate with helicopters in a safe manner.
Now we have tertiary training courses on this!
The mind boggles.
Did OSH get their sticky fingers in the pie in the past.
God help SAR if they did.
Can the crap now and get back to the good old days when we did it because we wanted too not because we got paid or had passed a course.
December 4th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
I know nothing about how search and rescue is organized, but logic would dictate that three acronyms (LandSAR, SARINZ, NZSAR) is two too many.
December 4th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Perhaps an all encompassing organisation named WANCSAR (We Are Now Controlling Search And Rescue) would be best Camryn.
December 4th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
We would be well advised to apply the bullshit filter to what Tai Poutini has to say, them like many other institutions they have incurred the wrath of the TEC.
First hand experience has shown me that many of the flowery courses dreamed up in this institution have been more about extracting coin from TEC and funding pipe dreams at TPP than providing for students needs, these institutions are a business first and a teaching venue second.
TPP fought hard to retain the SAR training and some of the other courses they run, and did as much as they could to keep anyone else s fingers out their pot of gold, now they have been burned by their own clever
The entire education system right from the very start, needs shaking out and pulling into line from the bottom to the top, for to long we have allowed teachers to run the system with the net result being massive numbers of young adults being dumped from the school system unable to read and write. WTF have we spent the money on?
Drop all the decile bullshit even rich parents have thick kids. Fund teachers, schools & tertiary institutions on results rather just throwing ever increasing amounts of money into a black hole.
December 4th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Camryn, you need to look into it. This isn’t a duplication/triplication of services, but 3 separate volunteer organisations with specialist interest. Even LandSAR itself is a common banner for a group of semi-autonomous organisations that have adopted a common set of training, communications and operational standards: http://www.landsar.org.nz/Article.aspx?ID=934
December 4th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Spot on Johnboy.
Like you DPF, I am happy to see taxes going to bolster Search and Rescue.
I question the need for the current level of training.
I worked with a guy who disappeared periodically to look for/rescue folk
in difficulty. His training – first as a youngster going with older experienced
searchers, then as an experienced person teaching others.
No one had their hand in the pot wasting our tax dollars.
December 5th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Christs the mind boggles, first day of training the OSH trained instructor holds a map up and intones this is a map.
That makes it the first and last day after those non PC hunting types string him up.
Fuck, OSH will have instructions on how to open a map up without cutting ones pinky.