No doubt SES Volunteers remember the Equipment Recall and Prohibition (ERAP) Circular banning the body belay and ladder hinge/slide techniques. You may be also aware that there isn’t any training in power hand tools, jacking and cribbing or hydraulic hand tools.
To cover these areas, we are pleased to advise that the new General Rescue Course is close to completion and will be available in early 2024.
This course is designed to bridge the gap between Basic General Rescue (BGR) and Vertical Rescue (VR)/Road Crash Rescue (RCR), giving all units rescue capability.
General Rescue is a modular four-day course that can be broken up into two weekends with the following components:
- Anchoring – similar to VR and Roof Safety Systems
- Low angle Rescue – rescue from slopes too steep to walk with a stretcher and rescue from height or depth (from a roof or hole in the ground)
- Rescue of the lightly trapped – including power hand tool use, jacking, cribbing and shoring.
The General Rescue course was successfully trialled in Bunbury and following the quality control process, it will be published.
This course will be a prerequisite to Storm Damage Operations (SDO), VR and RCR meaning these courses can be shortened in the future or that we can enhance the existing courses to make time for more practical activities.
Interested volunteers can apply to become the foundation trainer group by lodging an expression of interest through their District Officers.
