LIFE LINE
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December 2010 The Newsletter of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) December 2010 News… Experience… Ideas… Information… Development… December 2010 In this issue:
MH370 ‘G3’ – the third IMRF international maritime mass rescue conference, 1-3 June 2014 Blue sky thinking by the IMRF Board news from New Zealand, NW Africa, Europe, Canada, Uganda and China and more...
December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010
Missing
December 2010
th
Since March 8 the world has watched the huge air and sea search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight, MH370. As this strange story unfolded, vast search areas were calculated and the ships and aircraft and satellites of dozens of countries became involved. Colossal areas of the Earth’s surface came under scrutiny; immense efforts were made by SAR organisations and their partners; ground-breaking data analysis took place. Yet the days passed and there was no news of this large, modern aircraft or of the 239 people aboard. To most of the millions following this story around the world this seems inexplicable. How could this aircraft still be missing?
December 2010 December 2010 December 2010
There are many questions remaining to be answered as this edition of LIFE December LINE is published. We consider a few of them on page 3. The IMRF – the global network of maritime SAR organisations – unites in expressing our sincerest condolences to those whose friends and family members were aboard MH370. And we congratulate our colleagues in the SAR services involved on their response to such an immensely challenging case.
2010
December 2010 December 2010 December 2010
The International Maritime Rescue Federation is a registered company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom and registered as a charity in England and Wales Patron: Efthimios E. Mitropoulos KCMG, IMO Secretary General Emeritus
December 2010
Registered office: IMRF West Quay Road Poole BH15 1HZ United Kingdom Company Registration Number: 4852596 Charity Registration Number: 1100883
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
December 2010 December
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Editorial
Contents
Welcome to the latest edition of your newsletter.
Missing
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As I write this, late in March, the search for flight MH370 is still going on. LIFE LINE looks at this perplexing case on pages 1 and 3. The global news media, coming to the IMRF for comment, have expressed the general bewilderment, and have asked us to comment on the search and speculate on the cause of the aircraft’s disappearance. We have refused to do the latter, on principle, and have only commented in the most general way, not on the specifics of the search. But at least, in the midst of this tragedy, the public now understand a little more about the difficulties of SAR at sea, and, indirectly, this may lead to the saving of a few more lives.
Editorial
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Dates for the Diary
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MH370
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It cannot now really be hoped that anyone aboard MH370 has survived: very sadly, this is not a mass rescue operation. Yet the huge international effort to find the missing aircraft is very relevant to the IMRF’s mass rescue operations project. See page 5 for the next stage in that project, the ‘G3’ conference in Sweden, 1-3 June. And in ‘SAR Matters’, our discussion column on pages 6 & 7, you will find the first part of an excellent article by Rob Lee and Rick Janelle on the realities of such operations. The second part will be in our June issue. On page 9 we look at some ‘state of the art’ rescue craft – although do not despair if such fine vessels are beyond your reach! You can still save lives with a great deal less. In our June edition we will be continuing both these themes, looking at the part unmanned craft might play in future SAR; and also at how the IMRF can best help developing SAR organisations as we move into our next quadrennium. For the future is much on our minds now: see page 4; and begin to plan to be in Bremerhaven in June 2015, so that you too can help shape the future of maritime SAR! There are lots of things going on in SAR in the meantime, however, as our ‘Dates for the Diary’ show. Our Asia-Pacific regional development meeting is not yet on this list – but watch www.imrf.asia for details, which will soon be announced. Thinking of the future, finally, reminds me of the past, and in particular of Frank Golden: see page 11. Frank was a great friend to SAR and the subject of sea survival in general. He recently helped us re-write the IMO’s guidance on cold water survival and rescue, for example. He’ll be much missed. But his work, like all SAR work, lives on.
Blue skies in New Zealand Wir kommen!
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G3: the latest on mass rescue ..................
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SAR Matters
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Saving lives through education Fresh boost for N&W Africa
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news@imrf.org.uk
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
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State of the art
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RLSS Uganda
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News from Finland
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News from China
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Frank Golden
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Essentials of Sea Survival
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Members Assisting Members ...................
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The IMRF Members’ Library
12
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Send us your news & pictures
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Dates for the Diary ‘Gothenburg 3’: the next in the IMRF’s mass rescue operations conference series 1-3 June 2014 Hosted by the Swedish Sea Rescue Society. See page 5.
ISAR – international SAR conference & exhibition 17-19 June 2014 Hosted by Global SAR Resources in Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. See www.globalsar.com.my.
Drowning Prevention Week
21-29 June 2014
Organised by the Royal Life Saving Society UK. See www.drowningpreventionweek.org.uk.
IMO Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue 30 June - 4 July 2014 Rescue 2014
17-19 October 2014 Hosted by ICE-SAR in Reykjavik, Iceland. See www.icesar.com/rescue.
IMRF European Regional Meeting
30-31 October 2014
Hosted by Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM) in IJmuiden. For details, contact info@imrf.org.uk.
World Maritime Rescue Congress Dave Jardine-Smith
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1-4 June 2015
Advance notice of the IMRF’s next Congress and quadrennial general meeting. See page 4.
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MH370 The search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 may well have been the biggest ever seen. At various times the search areas have covered much of the South China Sea and the eastern Indian Ocean: millions and millions of square nautical miles. It has been a huge international effort, bringing in the resources of dozens of countries, and making headlines around the world day after day. It has also seen unprecedented analysis of the little data available, leading to significant breakthroughs in the search planning but – very sadly – the loss of hope for those aboard the aircraft too. It has also, inevitably, raised thousands of questions; not least, how could such an aircraft simply vanish like this, and how can it not be found? The global news media has struggled to understand the complexities of maritime searches, including the continuing reliance on visual searching in this technological age, and has reported the grief and frustration of friends and relatives of the missing.
The IMRF joins in the heartfelt condolences for the bereaved. Our member organisations, the maritime SAR services, know only too well the grief caused when, despite their best efforts, lives cannot be saved. We also know the terrible strains of searching, for hours and days on end perhaps, while hope wanes. And we know, sometimes, the pressure of those questions: why can’t you find them? Why couldn’t you save them? But what of those questions the world is still asking as this article is being
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
The IMRF’s efforts to increase focus on these largely preventable losses would benefit greatly from just a tiny proportion of the news media coverage of the MH370 disaster. But that’s not how the world works.
written? How could this have happened, and why has the search found nothing so far? As a matter of principle, the IMRF does not comment on the details of ongoing or recent SAR operations, nor do we engage in speculation. We will wait to hear, and learn from, the fully considered reports that will follow this tragedy in due course. And as to speculation, there is more than enough of that going on already. When asked by the news media for comment, we have sought to explain how maritime SAR works, and how difficult searching can be in these circumstances, when no distress alert has been received and no locator beacons have been activated. Perhaps we in SAR should reflect again on this ourselves. Much of the reaction around the world seems to be predicated on the idea that, whatever we do, we are being watched; that governments, for example, monitor our movements, and should be able to find us quickly when we are in trouble. Whether we have Hollywood to thank for this misconception or not, the fact clearly remains that a large, modern airliner can indeed vanish, apparently flying for hours with only its engine sensors ‘pinging’ to say it’s still in the air. And what are the search implications of this? Perhaps the biggest lesson we can draw at this stage is the simple (yet difficult!) one that major searching can still be required in the st 21 century, despite all the communications systems which we have developed and which, we tell ourselves, are taking the ‘search’ out of ‘search and rescue’. In terms of global SAR, of course, far, far too many people die each year at sea, at least in part because they lack any such communications systems.
MH370, like the Costa Concordia in 2012, catches the world’s attention because people can imagine themselves on such an aircraft or such a ship, and we have been assured that they are safe. They are safe, in fact, nearly all the time. But on the very odd occasion that something goes wrong, we also believe that systems exist that will enable searchers to find us quickly and rescuers to pick us up and take us to a place of safety. And such systems do exist. The questions we have to ask, once the incidents are fully investigated, are did they work, and can they be improved? It is not speculative to say that there will be major lessons to learn from the search for MH370. This is in no sense to imply that the searches have been mismanaged. Quite the contrary: every indication is that experts from around the world have come together to conduct a truly international search operation in the most challenging circumstances, and the IMRF congratulates all involved. But we can usefully review, in due course, our search procedures. If an aircraft disappears at height there is always the chance of a large search area anyway, if no distress alerts or location signals are received, for the fall or glide of the aircraft may carry it far from its last known position. If it changes course and flies off into the blue, of course, the problem is hugely greater. We can usefully review, and pool, our surveillance data sources and analysis procedures. We can learn from Inmarsat’s painstaking work on the only signals received. We can review procedures on the carriage and operation of locator beacons. And we can remind ourselves that ‘search’ remains part of SAR, and that it probably always will.
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Blue skies in New Zealand The IMRF’s Trustees met for their biannual board meeting at Whangamata in New Zealand in March. In addition to their usual business, and conscious that in June next year IMRF Members will agree the charity’s strategic direction for at least the next four years (see ‘Wir kommen!’, on this page), they set two days aside for some ‘blue sky thinking’. The dictionary describes ‘blue sky thinking’ as producing creative ideas unlimited by current processes or preconceptions; and ‘Whangamata’ can be translated as ‘the bay of hard stones’. Well, partly because of the IMRF’s ongoing success, there are a few hard decisions that need to be made, and a thorough review of everything we do and how we do it is a necessary beginning to that process. The Trustees’ aim is to propose a blueprint for the IMRF’s next decade for discussion by the Members at the 2015 QGM. “With more and more calls for IMRF assistance across global maritime SAR, there is an obvious need to review the resources available for this work,” says IMRF CEO Bruce Reid. “We need to identify sufficient and sustainable funding streams. Membership fees alone are not enough for everything the IMRF is doing now, let alone the things we are being asked to do. It is also necessary to find ways of enabling SAR organisations, especially Government agencies, to join the IMRF more readily.” Sustainable funding, increased accessibility, increasing influence and activity, and an audit of progress and effectiveness in delivering on the IMRF mission were therefore the key discussion topics at the Whangamata meeting. As IMRF Chairman Michael Vlasto says, “the IMRF Trustees were given a clear challenge from the membership at the 2011 congress to accelerate the IMRF’s development. We have made excellent progress on many fronts but still have key areas to target.” www.international-maritime-rescue.org
April 2014
In the blue sky sessions – kindly facilitated by James Vaughan of the RNLI – various potential future models for the IMRF were discussed, with the Trustees considering what options will best fit the organisation’s development, balancing new activity and increased global SAR influence with improving the service provided to the Members. These discussions will be continued in early June, when a number of the Board will be attending the IMRF’s G3 conference in Gothenburg (see page 5). In the meantime, the Trustees are pleased with the outcome and direction of the planning meeting in Whangamata. “We hope to have a possible blueprint for the future well advanced by the June meeting,” says Michael, “And we will be able to provide IMRF members with a good overview of our thinking after that.”
Wir kommen!* Well; we hope you are coming! The IMRF’s World Maritime Rescue Congress – perhaps the most important maritime SAR event in the calendar – is held every four years, and the next will take place 1-4 June 2015, in Bremerhaven, Germany. We are delighted to be able to help our good friends in the German Maritime SAR Service (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger) celebrate th their 150 anniversary. The planning is advancing. We will be able to receive some 450 delegates at the Congress, which will be accompanied by a trade show and SAR unit exhibition. Some 200,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition and Congress area. More details will be available soon on the IMRF website: www.internationalmaritime-rescue.org. Keep a lookout for them – and book early to avoid disappointment!
The IMRF Board and a blue Kiwi sky...
The Trustees had a busy schedule ‘down under’, well hosted by IMRF Members, Coastguard New Zealand. They were briefed on the national SAR system by Duncan Ferner of NZSAR, and heard about the Coastguard Boating Education project (see page 8). They also took part in a networking event attended by a number of New Zealand businesses supplying into the SAR market – who were enthused by the opportunities afforded by the 2015 World Maritime Rescue Congress (see ‘Wir kommen!’). The Trustees also spent a day with the Board of Coastguard New Zealand (see LIFE LINE, August 2013), although a passing cyclone disrupted their plans to visit rescue boat stations by sea. That, as Bruce Reid remarks, “provided the visitors with a good appreciation of the types of conditions this island nation experiences.”
The IMRF’s Quadrennial General Meeting (QGM) will take place alongside the Congress. This is a vital event for all IMRF Members. It’s your opportunity to contribute to and help decide the strategic direction the IMRF will take over the next four years (see ‘Blue skies’, this page). Please start planning now to be represented in Bremerhaven. As well as the overall strategy, and agreeing on the roles you want the IMRF to play in future, the QGM is when the IMRF’s Board of Trustees is elected, to oversee and guide the organisation as it moves forward. While we hope that many of our current Board will be able to stand for re-election, we also know that there will be some vacancies to fill. So please begin to give your attention to this too. Do you wish to make a nomination? If so, and for more information, please contact Bruce Reid, at b.reid@imrf.org.uk. See you in Bremerhaven, June 2015! *We’re coming! page 4
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Have you ever been part of a mass rescue operation? Do you want to be? The answer to the first question is likely to be ‘no’ for most people – and the answer to the second question is almost certain to be the same! A mass rescue operation is one which is ‘characterised by the need for immediate response to large numbers of persons in distress, such that the capabilities normally available to the search and rescue authorities are inadequate’. Or, to put it more simply, this is ‘the big one...’ The IMRF’s mass rescue operations (MRO) project has included the ‘Gothenburg series’ of conferences. At the first, hosted by IMRF Members the Swedish Sea Rescue Society in Gothenburg in 2010, we scoped the problem, with presentations by an international panel of experts. At the second conference, in 2012, the various issues identified were discussed in depth by the delegates, with actions proposed as a result.
We have an excellent international speakers’ panel lined up for you at G3. They include: o Dan Sten Olsson, owner of Stena AB – of which the world’s largest ferry company, Stena Line, is a group member
‘G3’ the third IMRF International Mass Rescue Conference
Gothenburg 1-3 June 2014
The conference will be a mix of expert presentations, with several important case studies; practical exercises, including an ‘optional extra’ MRO simulation (see right); and an ‘open space’ discussion for any MROrelated subject you wish to debate. And don’t worry if you missed ‘G1’ or ‘G2’. Although this has been a developing series, G3 is for everyone with an interest in maritime MROs.
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
o a presentation by a senior Italian Coast Guard officer on the successful SAR response to the Costa Concordia disaster o James Instance, Manager of the UK’s Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, speaking about a ‘deep sea’ MRO o Chan Kwok Wai, of the Hong Kong Marine Department, on the Lamma IV disaster and a recent cruise ship exercise o Steve Scully, a Senior Emergency Planning Officer from the UK, on the shoreside response
At ‘G3’, to be held again in the fine city of Gothenburg, st Sweden, between 1 and rd 3 June, we will review the issues and work done to date, and will discuss the next steps. You can be a part of this – but if you haven’t booked your place yet, hurry! Places are limited and demand is high.
o Paul Culver, Director of Exercise Black Swan, the biggest live MRO exercise ever run by the US Coast Guard
o Toni Fohlin, of the Finnish Border Guard, on the Baltic Sea Maritime Incident Response project
The G3 MRO exercise under development in Chalmers University’s multi-bridge simulation suite The exercise, starting at 1600 on Sunday 1 June, will be an ‘optional extra’ for G3 conference delegates arriving in Gothenburg over the weekend. Believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world, this simulation will give delegates the opportunity to take part in, or observe, the at-sea element of a mass rescue operation.
Want to be there? Go to www.international-maritimerescue.org and follow the G3 links
o Dr Michael Baldauf, giving the World Maritime University’s and the IMO’s views; and o two very different perspectives on the problem of recovering people at sea, from Mattias Kjellberg, Senior Master with Stena Line, and Mohammad Mobarak Hossain, Second Officer of mv Hope, abandoned off Thailand in 2013. It’s not to be missed! Book now: email info@imrf.org.uk phone +44 (0)1569 767405 with your name, organisation and contact details; or visit the IMRF website. See you in Gothenburg!
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SAR Matters This column provides a forum for LIFE LINE readers worldwide to contribute to debate on any relevant SAR issue. Have a look at the previous discussions in our Newsletter Archive, online at www.international-maritimerescue.org. Every Life Line since 2010 is available there for free download. You can join in the debate by emailing news@imrf.org.uk. It’s good to talk! In this edition we hear from Rob Lee & Rick Janelle, Passenger Vessel Safety Specialists with the United States Coast Guard. This is the first part of a two-part article on
Ten Mass Rescue Operational Realities In this edition we cover the first four on Rob & Rick’s list. The others will be in our June edition. th
October 4, 2010 marked the 30 anniversary of the dramatic rescue by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) of 520 passengers and crew from the burning mv Prinsendam in the hostile Gulf of Alaska. This ‘mass rescue operation’ (MRO) was so impressive it is second on the list of top ten rescues in Coast Guard history as rated by the organization’s historians. Only Hurricane Katrina operations in 2005 rate higher.
to improve local MRO preparedness. Although numbered for presentation, the list is not ordered for priority – item 10 is as important as item 1. Each MRO response will be unique depending on the type of craft involved, number and condition of victims, location, weather, response assets available, capabilities of the crew and operators, and several other contributing factors. But MROs also share common operational realities that must be considered in preparing for and responding to such incidents. Although only briefly described here, each item is worthy of a lengthy discussion, and certainly requires careful consideration in any MRO planning document and incident response. Reality #1: MRO incidents are not confined to a single organization, or to strictly SAR functions. No single agency will possess all the tools or assets required for success in an MRO. Coordination with multiple local, state, regional, or international response partners will be required, not only for the challenging on-water SAR operation, but also for the several concurrent functions including security, pollution response, salvage, investigative actions, medical response, shore side shelter and support, transportation, and final accountability of survivors and casualties.
If you make a list of agencies involved it will include, at a minimum, the lead SAR agency, In 2007, mv Explorer struck ship personnel, ship owners, “Good Samaritan” ice and sank in Antarctica. In vessels, port community officials, agents, 2009, US Airways’ “Miracle on government agencies, customs, local fire and the Hudson” incident resulted police, local and national public health in the rescue of all on board. officials, hospitals, media, transportation In 2010, mv Clipper Advencompanies, various volunteer organizations, turer grounded in the high and others. The list is extensive and each Prinsendam, October 1980 Arctic. It took two days for the organization is dependent on the actions of or nearest rescue vessel to arrive on scene. In 2012, the Costa information received from a partner to be successful. To Concordia incident resulted in 32 deaths and the make it all work, a functional MRO plan is required. evacuation of thousands. In the United States, the Incident Command System (ICS) What was unthinkable or unimaginable in 1980 is today’s is the management process best suited to effectively reality. The 520 people rescued from the Prinsendam would manage the various MRO operational functions. Fitting all fit in just two or three lifeboats from today’s super cruise the traditional SAR organization and procedures into the ships. Cruise ship routes now span the globe, and continue ICS umbrella takes a willingness to recognize and accept to expand into new markets. Adventure cruises routinely the need for change, and a commitment to invest in the sail to the Arctic, Antarctic, and other remote corners of the planning, training and practice to make it work. With seas. Ferries, day tour operations, dinner cruises, and MROs being low occurrence events, it is often difficult to offshore gaming vessels have also grown in number, size, make this commitment, especially since we have been and geographic area of operation. As a result, the next successful in MROs in the past. However, it will pay off if MRO may be 15 times larger than the Prinsendam and the “unthinkable” occurs. [The ICS concept is described in occur in an even more isolated region. IMO’s International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Our capacity for mass rescue response has not kept pace with the potential. MRO planning is more critical than ever, but often remains undervalued by SAR organizations that are by nature ‘responders’ and not planners. So; if you are concerned about your organization’s ability to meet the increased MRO challenges, you should continue to read… This list of operational realities is condensed from actual responses and exercises that highlight the need for MROspecific planning and introduce recommendations and job aids www.international-maritime-rescue.org
Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual, Volume II, Appendix C-4.]
To avoid duplication of effort or conflicts, MRO plans must dovetail with the emergency plans of each significant response partner. One tool to help with plan compatibility is a simple joint quick-start guide listing the response expectations and key actions of major response partners. As an example, a USCG ‘Multi-Agency Quick Start Guide for Passenger Vessel Emergencies’ can be found at www.uscg.mil/pvs/Handouts.asp.
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(continued from page 6)
Another practical option to help achieve plan coordination is to work with your partners to develop an incident briefing document which provides much of the guidance in the quick start guide, but would also include your organization chart and identify key facility locations including command post, landing site(s), and reception center(s). No matter how you do it, get to know your partners, understand the role they play, and the tools and information required for their success. The next two operational realities are closely related and will be discussed jointly. Reality #2: Accountability of passengers and crew will be elusive and difficult. An accountability process must be developed, implemented and stressed from the start, and then checked and double-checked at each opportunity. Reality #3: There will be delays, often lengthy, between rescuing and officially accounting for people. Pressure to “hurry” the process will often lower the accuracy. There is no standard procedure for managing the accountability process. If you’re lucky, there will be an official manifest that provides a starting point to check off the names of rescued survivors, but even the accuracy of the manifest must be double-checked. Manifests may not include non-revenue, short-term technicians, marine pilots, or other individuals. To make matters worse, on many commuter ferry operations there is no manifest – only a head count taken as passengers walk on board. If this is the situation, it is important to include crew in the final head count number. Airline manifests are tightly controlled after an incident, and rescuers will often be provided with just the number of individuals on board. Accountability will take time. Time to recover the evacuees to a stable platform, time to count the numbers onboard, time to double-check the numbers, time to transport to shore, time to work the manifest (if available) and transition from head count to names, and time to run down the errors that should be expected. Accountability should proceed at best speed. Rushing the process will only compound the errors, increase frustration, and in the end slow the process down. How to execute the accountability process during a MRO incident is a universal problem. The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) is refining an initiative titled ‘Casualty Tracking System for Multiple Casualty Incidents’ (CASTRACK). This system is designed to track and account for all casualties involved in a major marine incident. While this project is focused on a CCG application pertaining to large passenger vessels, the intent is for the system to be adaptable and useful to other response agencies. Accountability must be addressed in your MRO planning. Your plan should determine which organization will ultimately manage the process, and how and where accountability information will be collected, shared, collated and checked. A 6-Step Process for Evacuee Accountability, Care, and Processing Guide is available at
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
www.uscg.mil/pvs/Handouts.asp. Importantly, make sure to include responder accountability in your process. As a practical matter, buses (tour, city, school, etc) are excellent tools for accountability. Survivors can be loaded on to buses, given basic food and drink, be warmed and provided with basic first aid. Buses also contain survivors until they can be accounted for – no one gets off the bus until they have signed in and required information is recorded and verified. Provide guides for each bus. Guides can be ship hotel staff, or local volunteers who are familiar with handling and directing large groups of people and who understand the accountability process. Due to the value of buses, it is strongly recommended that bus companies be involved in the development of local MRO plans, and be included in training and exercises. Reality #4: The demand for information will be overwhelming unless a process is implemented early to manage the content and flow of internal and external communications. How you communicate, what you communicate, when you communicate, and who you communicate and share information with will be critical; perhaps the single most important factor. This is a huge topic, one that requires deliberate planning with your response partners. Planning involves hardware compatibility, frequency use, content and format agreement, release authority, information security, social media concerns, public information policy and other factors that impact communications. Maintaining a common operations picture between response partners requires a well-planned and practiced system. Any level of success will depend on your communications capabilities. When considering communications internal to the response organization, keep in mind that this includes not just rescue units, but also all the other response agencies involved. Early in a response, the SAR authority is often the ‘gatekeeper’ of information. The On Scene Coordinator (OSC) must immediately report critical information to the SAR Mission Coordinator (SMC). The SMC must not hoard this information but actively push it out to response partners, who may be remotely located. Information that must be pushed includes numbers of victims, their condition, port arrival times, rescue vessel names and docking requirements, safety concerns, and anything else that is required for mission completion by the various agencies. As the incident matures, other response partners will also begin to push the information they collect. Recommended landing sites, survivor tracking and accountability, status reports, and security concerns are examples of information the maritime SAR services need but will not necessarily collect. Dispatching liaison officers to help collect and share critical information should also be considered a best practice. There are also external communications with contacts outside the response organization. For MRO events these will largely be with family and friends of victims, and the news media. Both will be demanding. Neither can be ignored. (To be concluded in our June edition: look out for it!)
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Fresh boost for North & West African SAR Services
Saving lives through education New Zealand’s Coastguard Boating Education (CBE) hosted IMRF Board members during their visit to the country in March (see page 4). IMRF CEO Bruce Reid commended CBE on the great work they are doing, noting that the Board were particularly impressed by the award-winning Safe Boating Programme which CBE has developed for 10-12 year-old children. The main reason for the success of this programme is the link developed between CBE and community aquatic centres as the hub for water safety educational activities to provide young people with the skills they might need to survive in a dangerous situation. The innovative programme covers skipper responsibility and what safety equipment should be carried on board a vessel, highlighting the importance of lifejackets, marine VHF radio and distress signalling devices in addition to how to perform a safety briefing for the crew. The practical session includes deep-water boat drills and lifejacket buoyancy, plus survival positions should the student ever find themselves in difficulty. CBE – an accredited Private Training Establishment whose objective is to increase safety and enjoyment on the water through a range of theory and practical boating courses – have issued over 21,750 certificates since the programme was first launched in early 2013, in addition to providing professional boating safety training to the aquatic centre swim instructors. CBE General Manager Neil Murray (pictured handing CBE’s Day Skipper Handbook to IMRF Chairman Michael Vlasto) says that “with
over 10,000 responsible boaties attending a course in 2013, the public have clearly embraced the variety of course options, from the popular Day Skipper, Boatmaster and VHF courses through to the Ocean Yachtmaster and practical RYA (Royal Yachting Association) courses. For more information on CBE’s courses and safety programmes see www.boatingeducation.org.nz. Ann Laing, the IMRF’s own Education Project manager, says: “This is a fantastic programme, and a great example of the sort of material the IMRF project is gathering together for all Members’ benefit.” See the Education page, under ‘Projects’, at www.international-maritime-rescue.org; and contact Ann at a.laing@imrf.org.uk to contribute. www.international-maritime-rescue.org
For some time, and as previously reported in LIFE LINE, the IMRF has been working with partners to improve SAR services in North & West Africa. Now 15 SAR officers from the region have enhanced their skills further through an advanced coordination course held in Agadir, Morocco. The officers – from Mauritania, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Morocco – engaged in a series of simulated and live exercises and covered topics such as navigation, search planning, communication and SAR graphs and tables. They had all previously completed initial training together. As well as the advanced content, the Agadir course presented an opportunity to develop further the cooperation and collaboration between the services involved. The course, held in February, was organized by the the Government of Morocco and the German Maritime SAR Service, with the support of the IMRF and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Dirk Stommel addresses the advanced coordination course members in Agadir
IMRF Regional Coordinator Mohammed Drissi, who also chairs the North & West African SAR Regional Committee, is delighted that the training, held over the last 18 months, is making a real difference – not just in the knowledge of the trainees, but also in bringing the States in the region closer together. Bruce Reid, IMRF Chief Executive, said, "The combination of these factors is dramatically improving the coordination and management of maritime SAR incidents across the region. This will ultimately reduce the potential for lives being lost in North & West African waters." The most recent training was held at the High Moroccan Institute of Marine Fisheries and was delivered by Captain Dirk Stommel, an expert in maritime SAR coordination and head of the German Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Bremen. page 8
LIFE LINE
April 2014
State of the art: new rescue craft Readers may recall that, in the December 2012 edition of LIFE LINE, we carried the announcement of a new class of rescue vessel by the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM). Well: now the new boat has arrived. Seen here on trials with a vessel of the Arie Visser class she is designed to replace, is the NH 1816, KNRM’s “next generation lifeboat”. The class is named for the generous donor, the insurance company ‘Noordhollandsche of 1816’. Motivated by technical progress in engineering and production of high-speed craft, and rapidly developing maritime IT systems, as well as challenges in areas such as exhaust emission, noise reduction, new environmental laws and regulations related to labour conditions, KNRM have begun to re-think their fleet plan. A consortium of several leading Dutch organizations was formed in 2010 in order to guarantee that all relevant innovations were incorporated in the design. These innovations include the ‘semi-axe’ bow and retractable fins at the stern, which, combined with jet propulsion, have produced great improvements in directional stability and manoeuvrability, while vertical Gforces in heavy seas should be reduced. The wheelhouse is composite-built and separately mounted to reduce vibration and noise; and a cabin forward of the engine room houses 16 survivors. The last major change is the fully-integrated touch-screen ICT system, positioned in accordance with the findings of a full ergonomic study of the wheelhouse layout. At 19.3m overall, the NH 1816 is half a metre longer than the Arie Visser class. She is a handful of knots slower, but her two 1200HP engines still give her a design maximum speed of 31 knots, and the same maximum range as the Arie Visser (185 nautical miles). She will have a crew of 6. KNRM expect to order about ten of the class from Damen Shipyards, Gorinchem. Both parties are keen to share their experience of the new class with other SAR and Coast Guard organisations, for the very good reasons that they have a good boat to offer, and the more that are made, the cheaper for everyone. See www.knrm.com.
Cross-section of the final design of the NH 1816 (above), and the DGzRS’s mock-up of a wheelhouse for ergonomic research, and tank-testing one of the new hulls (below)
– the class is currently known as the ‘SK35’ – which will eventually replace six 27.5m craft built between 1984 and 1993. Drawing 2m and displacing 120 tonnes, the SK35 will have a speed of 24 knots. The other boat is smaller – 10.1m, with a draft of 0.96m and capable of 18 knots. This SRB65 class will be built by Tamsen Maritim and is designed for volunteer crews. With a survivor capacity of 26, the all-aluminium, self-righting boat, based on the well-proven 9.5m class, will have excellent sea-keeping and manoeuvrability characteristics, and heavy collision resistance for difficult alongside work. The new vessels are part of what the DGzRS call the ‘constant modernisation’ of their fleet of 60 rescue vessels, following the new 20m class begun in 2008 and the 36.5m class begun in 2011. * Finally, from Canada, another type of new craft. The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Moytel, pictured below, has taken up her new station in British Columbia. ‘Moytel’ is a Halq’emélem word meaning ‘to help each other’. A replacement for the CCGS Penac, the hovercraft Moytel is a heavy-duty amphibious vehicle capable of patrolling inland waters and mud flats. A larger, more powerful vessel than the Penac, she has a greater range of capabilities and features, including a bow ramp that will enable her to transport supplies such as rescue vehicles and equipment.
* The German Maritime SAR Service (DGzRS) is also th working on new boats. With the 150 anniversary of the Service falling next year (see page 4), two new vessels are expected to make their debut during the celebrations on the Weser. The Fassmer Werft yard is working on a 27.9m SAR cruiser www.international-maritime-rescue.org
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LIFE LINE
Member Focus: RLSS Uganda The motto of the Royal Life Saving Society, Uganda is: “Whomsoever you see in distress, recognize in him a fellow human being”. This ethos has kept the Society going in very difficult circumstances. RLSS Uganda traces its origins to the 1960s, when a British police officer, John Beaden, built a training pool at Kibuli Police Training School. The Amin regime and civil strife interrupted the work – and the voluntary basis of the Society has limited its capabilities since its revival in 1983. However, in 2012 the few active members decided to register the organisation as a Civil Society, aiming to bring basic lifesaving skills to vulnerable people. The Society’s aim is to contribute to the reduction of drowning in Uganda by increasing water safety awareness, training lifeguards, introducing life saving as a sport to enhance young people’s skills, and to provide life saving services as required.
Lack of their own infrastructure, and reliance on volunteers (whose time is necessarily limited) has led the Society to focus on training organisations such as the Police. But – with the support of partners like the Commonwealth Life Saving Society and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution – a proposal has been developed which, once funded, will address these major challenges. Able to help? Then please email jerrydralega@hotmail.com, or contact the IMRF at info@imrf.org.uk. www.international-maritime-rescue.org
April 2014
News from Finland
News from China
The Finnish Border Guard is now running international OSC (on scene coordinator) courses at their Academy at Espoo. Feedback from attendees and observers has been excellent.
CEO Bruce Reid was in Shanghai at the end of March to help advance the activities of the IMRF’s Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC). As the IMRF is a non-governmental organisation, the APRC registration process has been a bit challenging; but Mr Lu Dingliang, Director General of Donghai Rescue Bureau (which hosts the APRC) hopes that it will be completed soon, with strong support from the China Ministry of Transport and Shanghai Municipal Government.
Participants so far have been from Belgium, the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Finland, and have included SAR authorities, SAR volunteers and merchant mariners. The courses are supported by the World Maritime University, the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum, and Frontex (the European Union agency for external frontier security). As well as classroom sessions, the courses include simulator exercises and SAR unit visits.
Bruce Reid and Lu Dingliang, with the APRC’s Gu Yiming and Zhang Rongjun
Another recent development in this region has been the ‘RescOp’ project, co-funded by the EU, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland and focussing on the Finnish and Russian volunteer rescue organisations. The efficient organisation of SAR at sea and in lake areas is an important aspect of maritime risk management. An early achievement of the project was the development of a SAR incident atlas for Finnish waters, based on all the relevant rescue authorities’ missions. This provides an unprecedented insight into the actual need for SAR services; evidence useful for deciding on the organisation of the response fleet. Surprisingly little scientific attention is given to these aspects of maritime risk management globally. As well as offering useful analyses and tools, the project has been disseminating relevant results, extending the benefits of the research beyond those directly involved. For more information on this project, visit www.merikotka.fi/rescop.
Applications for the funding of three IMRF APRC projects for the Asia Pacific Region have been made through the Donghai Rescue Bureau: regional SAR Coordinator training improving regional cooperation and communication through desk-top mass rescue exercises building collaboration and strengthening SAR relationships across the region through the second regional SAR development meeting (September 2014) SAR organisations in the region are encouraged to register their interest by completing the form on the IMRF websites: www.imrf.asia or www. international–maritime-rescue.org.
Bruce and the APRC team also had the pleasure of visiting Shanghai Maritime University, to discuss partnering opportunities. Bruce is seen here with Vice Principal, Professor Jin Yongxing PhD. page 10
LIFE LINE
April 2014
Frank Golden
The Essentials of Sea Survival
Pictured is Surgeon Rear Admiral Frank St Clair Golden OBE MB BCh BAO Dip Av Med PhD, who died in January.
As noted in Mike Tipton’s obituary of Frank Golden (left), Frank published a great many papers on physiology in his lifetime, contributing hugely to our understanding of cold water immersion and how to survive at sea.
Frank was a man of many titles – but he will not be remembered, as Professor Mike Tipton told a packed congregation at his memorial service in March, for all those ranks and honours. He will be remembered for his character, and for his huge contribution to saving life at sea – a ‘back-room boy’ whose work has informed the survival and SAR literature as few others’ have. Mike takes up the story:
Every day the prospect of surviving immersion, somewhere in the world, is improved because of Frank Golden. He was born in Cork, in Ireland, in 1936, and studied medicine at the city’s University College, graduating in 1960 (despite his lifelong interest in rugby!). He went into general practice in London; then, in 1963, following some friendly advice from his bank manager, he joined the Royal Navy as a Surgeon Lieutenant. An outstanding career followed during which he served as Consultant Adviser to the Medical Director General in Applied Physiology, Director of Naval Medical Research, Fleet Medical Officer, and Medical Officer in Command of the RN Hospital, Haslar. Frank retired from the Navy in 1993 and joined the Universities of Surrey and then Portsmouth as Consultant Adviser in Human Physiology. Almost uniquely, Frank managed to combine his naval duties with a successful scientific career. Whilst serving at RNAS Culdrose he was involved in many air-sea rescues. It was the helplessness of not knowing how to prevent circum-rescue deaths that ignited his interest in physiology. In a subsequent appointment to the RN Air Medical School in Hampshire, he discovered, beneath the floorboards, a refrigerated pool that had been used to test aircrew immersion suits. So began a scientific career that spanned five decades, providing new insights into the body’s physiological responses to immersion and cold exposure. www.international-maritime-rescue.org
In the early years of his studies he was frequently a participant in his own experiments. These led to improved techniques for the rescue and treatment of the victims of cold water immersion. His study of cold injury during the Falklands conflict was another of his considerable contributions to the understanding of thermal physiology. Frank was awarded a Diploma in Aviation Medicine from London University in 1969. For over 35 years he hosted and inspired generations of students from the Universities of London, Sheffield and Leeds. Frank received a PhD (Physiology) from Leeds in 1979 and published the last of over 70 scientific papers in January 2014. He never retired. Frank’s voluntary activities were many, including being on the Executive Committee & Board of Management of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and chairing their Medical and Survival Committee for 13 years. His distinguished career brought worthy recognition from many quarters. But it is Frank Golden the man that most will remember: his honesty and humility, incisive mind and glorious sense of humour; a great raconteur, a man whose company and counsel one sought and which were never disappointing; a loyal and dependable colleague and friend. Frank Golden was a giant of a man in every sense: he will be missed by all who knew him; and many who never knew him will survive because of his outstanding work.
Much of this material may be too technical for the general reader – but that cannot be said of his Essentials of Sea Survival, written with Professor Tipton and published by Human Kinetics in 2002. This book is written for a general readership and is very highly recommended for anyone involved in maritime SAR.
As Frank and Mike write in the book’s preface, “Analyses of maritime tragedies suggest two principal underlying causes. First, there appears to be a general lack of understanding of the nature of the various threats and the reaction of the body. Second, in a survival situation, costly safety equipment is often not readily to hand, is difficult to operate in adverse conditions, or is impossible to use correctly without specific training.” Essentials of Sea Survival explains the threats and our physiological responses, and provides the information needed for a survival strategy. It is still available as an eBook: see www.humankinetics.com. Remember too the IMO’s Pocket Guide for Cold Water Survival (2012), to which Frank and Mike contributed greatly and which can be bought at a 20% discount via the IMRF’s online bookshop, at www. international-maritime-rescue.org.
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LIFE LINE
April 2014
Members Assisting Members
The IMRF Members’ Library
One of the many benefits of being an IMRF Member is that you can get help from, or offer it to, fellow SAR people around the world. As well as representing maritime SAR services on the world stage, the IMRF is all about sharing – sharing experience, ideas, resources.
Are you part of an IMRF Member organisation? Did you know that there is a great deal of very useful information available to you on the IMRF website, www.internationalmaritime-rescue.org?
There are many ways in which that sharing happens: at conferences and workshops, for example, or in bilateral or multilateral support programmes. Our ‘Members Assisting Members’ programme is another way in which the IMRF facilitates this sharing process, to everyone’s benefit – including the poor soul in distress at sea! Members wishing to use this service should look in the ‘MAM’ folder in the Members’ Library (see right). Currently we have four Members looking for rescue craft in the 7 to 9m class. Malta’s Emergency Response and Rescue Corps, for example, is hoping to buy a secondhand RIB of the Atlantic 75 type. On the other hand, the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue are selling their fine 24m rescue vessel, Ulabrand.
As well as all the material on the public parts of the site, there’s a Members’ Library which – as the name implies – is another of the benefits of IMRF membership. If you scroll to the foot of any page on the website, you will find a ‘Log In Members’ section. If you know your organisation’s IMRF username and password, log in and, again at the foot of any page, you will find the link to the Library in the ‘Members Menu’. If you don’t know your login details, email the IMRF Secretariat at info@imrf.org.uk and we will let you know who to contact within your own organisation for the details.
The UK’s Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service have also very kindly offered the IMRF some 250 SOLASapproved Crewsaver 150N lifejackets of the orally-inflated type with inherent foam buoyancy (as shown, but without the retro-reflective strips) for use in the developing world.
In the Library you will find lots of detail on our ongoing projects, on education, rescue boat guidelines and mass rescue operations, plus other useful resources: IMO papers, IMRF conference reports and regional information, and the IMRF Constitution.
Any IMRF Member interested in acquiring or helping to distribute these jackets, or in helping their fellow Members acquire the RIBs they need, should email us at info@imrf.org.uk.
Go on: have a look around your Library. It’s entirely free to Members – and there’s lots to see, and to use in our mission to save lives in the world’s waters.
And finally... We hope that you have found this issue of LIFE LINE informative and interesting. We know that there is much more going on among IMRF’s membership that could be reported here, to the benefit of all – but we rely on you, the reader, to tell us about it! LIFE LINE and the IMRF website need you to provide their contents – your news, your projects, your events, your ideas, your lessons learned. We also need your pictures, please: good quality pictures (more than 250 kB, if possible) of your SAR units – boats, ships, aircraft, RCCs etc. These will be used in LIFE LINE and on the website – but are also needed for presentations and to accompany press articles about the IMRF and its worldwide work. Please send articles and pictures (or links to them, with formal permission for them to be used for IMRF purposes) to news@imrf.org.uk Let’s spread the word, for the benefit of all at risk on the world’s waters.
LIFE LINE www.international-maritime-rescue.org
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