1.1.6 Rescue plans Rescue principles
All vertical rescue operations are based on key principles rather than prescribed plans . The range of environments and situations to which a vertical rescue team is required to respond make prescriptive rescue plans unusable in practice .
This manual provides a range of rescue techniques ( see Chapter 1.2 : tree rescue techniques ), with the intention that experienced incident controllers will select one or more applicable techniques to achieve any given tree rescue . The following principles should be used when selecting the most appropriate technique :
Safety – skills , knowledge and experience
Gear intensity – just enough
Efficiency – teamwork
It is crucial that rescuers have the skills , knowledge , and experience to operate safely in the vertical environment where the rescue is occurring . Unfamiliarity with basic systems increases stress and task saturation during a vertical rescue .
Rescuers need to apply the appropriate amount of gear or ‘ just enough ’ to undertake the rescue . This starts with knowing how gear works best to maximise performance and rigging without introducing additional unnecessary components .
Efficiency is the ratio of the useful work performed in a process to the total energy expended . Efficiency comes from a combination of suitable leadership for the situation and team , the team members knowing their roles , and effective communication leading to outstanding teamwork .
Complexity – train hard , rescue easy
Systematic rigging – tidy and planned
Understanding – flexibility
Rescue teams should train with complex simulations that test their ability to achieve a rope rescue task in a challenging environment . During a real rescue the team should default to the easiest method so that the rescue is ‘ easy ’ and well within the capabilities of the team . The rescue team uses a progression of techniques to greater complexity only when needed .
Rigging is a system of ropes , webbing , karabiners , devices and other attachments that together support and control a rescue load . All rigging should be constructed around a plan and be orderly . Being able to quickly evaluate a rigging system is important , and is compromised by unnecessary clutter or poorly set components .
Rescuers should seek a healthy balance between sound techniques that everyone in the team can do as a minimum , and flexibility in what the team can accomplish through deeper understanding . Most of the time the standard techniques will work and should be used . With a deeper understanding of the systems involved , complex rescues can be achieved with small adaptations of standard techniques . It is better to know how to do a lot with a little than a little with a lot .
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