Mounted search and rescue

["IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN" <ilichten1@verizon.net>]

Before we all go crazy over the exact semantics of standards and who says to
use what you must realize that standards are developed by an industry or
user association to make products and practices easier to sell to the
public. The insurance companies have Underwriters Laboratories, Factory
Mutual (actually an insurance company), the Insurance Services Organization,
and the National Fire Protection Association to define what is acceptable to
them in various areas (quality, boiler safety, fire department services, and
building and equipment codes respectively).

The federal government, being a very big customer for everything, used to
establish product and commodity standards.  Some, such as food grades, have
the force of law behind them, others such as MIL-STDS; have the force of
Defense procurement behind them.  The Office of Management and Budget
directed all federal agencies to use civilian standards instead of federal
standards where the civilian standard was cheaper. If a civilian standard
existed it was cheaper than developing a mil-std and the product to meet it
the feds went civilian.  

The major civilian standards organizations include the ASTM which originally
studied construction materials and the methods to test them so architects
could design buildings and builders build them according to the engineering
design and they would stay up and roads wouldn't crumble. There is the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers who wrote the standards for
pressure vessels (air tanks and boilers) not covered by Fed-DoT or FM. 
Today the International Code Council writes building codes as well as the
NFPA and depending on the jurisdiction they may have the force of law.
APCO International covers 9-1-1 centers and systems and with the FCC, most
public safety radio technology.  IFSAC and ProBoard issue tests for
firefighters based on NFPA standards of performance while ISO rates fire
departments service based on various factors important to its member fire
insurance companies. 

How effective are these standards? Nobody really knows except that fewer
people get killed in car accidents because of federal safety standards and
other industry standards relating to roads, breath meters, etc. The
Charleston City Fire Department was rated in the top category for fire
departments by ISO and lost 9 men in a simple building fire.

The most important part of a standard, whether it is developed by a
consensus of users, manufacturers, a technical society, or the government is
that it sets expectations for the performance of the thing or practice it
covers. You perform to that standard in all senses of the word or you are
not worth the trouble.  It also sets the expectations of members as to what
they will be trained to do because they can read the standard and compare it
to the test afterwards.  It is therefore important that any organization
have a standards and procedures manual to guide its training and performance
in the field.  In SAR this may include such trivial sounding matters as
formally adopting NIMS and ICS, stating that members will obey traffic laws
while responding to calls, not carry firearms on a search, and name course
material to be completed for each level of performance.  There are very few
voluntary consensus standards that have been adopted by a jurisdiction as
required.  That is why states have passed accreditation laws for cops,
regulations for training EMTs, doctors and lawyers. You must decide which
standards or other published concepts you will adopt or create your own.
Legally, once adopted by your organization you must follow them and enforce
them.  

Irv Lichtenstein, founding member ASTM F32, Search and Rescue
  
-----Original Message-----
From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jorene Downs
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 2:38 PM
To: 'Mounted search and rescue'
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Starting a MSAR team