Mounted search and rescue

["Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>]

For those not familiar with ASTM International www.astm.org  ...
ASTM is an international voluntary standards organization, which means an
ASTM standard is not imposed on any industry simply because a standard
exists. The ASTM standard is simply available for use to establish
consistency in expectations, etc., and many choose to use those standards.
(For example, most riding helmet manufacturers state they meet the ASTM
standard for that product.) For another example, a local or state authority
could choose to use ASTM F2209 for their own fundamental SAR requirements,
as could an organization providing training, such as NASAR.

To respond to Una and Irv ... 
There *is* no national authority for SAR in the USA, so of course there is
no nationwide "requirement" to meet specific standards for SAR. Since SAR is
generally considered a local incident, while some states are well organized
for statewide SAR mutual aid at the State level, only a few States have
published statewide expectations for SAR training. However, there is a clear
recommendation from the national level (FEMA) that State and local
jurisdictions will adopt standards from ASTM and other recognized sources as
needed for that resource type.

"A fundamental responsibility of the NIC Incident Management Systems
Integration (IMSI) Division is to adopt existing standards that are
consistent with NIMS doctrine and recommend those standards for voluntary
adoption to State and local jurisdictions as guidance in fully implementing
NIMS. [...] Coordination with standards development organizations (e.g.,
ANSI, ASTM, OASIS, etc.), the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T)
Office for Standards, Testing, and Evaluation, and DHS S&T Office for
Command, Control, and Interoperability are key to the IMSI Division's
success in standards and interoperability work." 
Source: http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/OngoingMngmntMaint.shtm 

To quote Irv: "This does not have the force of either statute or case law
behind it." This is correct.

Required by FEMA? No. Recommended by FEMA? Yes. FEMA obviously recognizes
ASTM as a standards source. FEMA / DHS is already working with some ASTM
committees, including F32 (Search and Rescue).

However, following that recommendation from FEMA also provides some legal
liability protection to users - that protection isn't near as strong in "we
invented these requirements" local standards - so there are advantages to
using ASTM standards locally ... even with no statute or case law behind it.


So, yes, I recommend using ASTM standards for SAR. This may include writing
your own training requirements built on ASTM standards, or acquiring
training from an existing organization that uses ASTM standards.

Those few States with SAR standards also provide a higher level for
liability protection, assuming the locals meet those state requirements and
have the documentation to prove it. My personal preference would be to meet
/ exceed State *and* ASTM standards so both bases are covered.

- - - - - -
Jorene Downs
SAR & CERT
Mounted SAR
www.ceoates.com/msar 

-----Original Message-----
From: Una Smith

Irv and Jorene are talking about the same things, kind of.  There are a few
published standards concerning SAR, that are available for use by anyone
anywhere in the world.  That makes them international, in a sense.  However,
as far as I know none of them have been adopted by any national authority.
I don't know that any of them have even been adopted by a US state
authority.

Corrections to the above, with full citations, would be most welcome!

        Una Smith
        New Mexico