Unit of competency Outline

Date retreived
22/07/2026 11:37 PM AWST

Whilst all efforts are made to provide accurate and timely information from the relevant source/documentation, please be aware that the information supplied may not be the most current version. The accuracy of the detail has not been confirmed by the Department and therefore should not be relied upon without first confirming the contents.

Undertake land search and rescue duties

Undertake land search and rescue duties

Unit of competency
National Code
POLSAR006
State Code
AVN19
TGA Status
Replaced
DTWD Status
Replaced
Current Release Number
1.00
Current Release Date
19/10/2015
View on TGA
State Implementation and Classification
Approved Date
30/03/2016
Field of Education
080399 - Business And Management, N.e.c.
Original Release Date
30/03/2016
Nominal Hours
0
Description
This unit describes the skills required to prepare land search and rescue (SAR) responses, determine current location and destination, provide grid references to search and rescue teams, and plan land search and rescue operations.This unit applies to those working as police staff involved in police land search and rescue operations. It may be applied in the field and within office environment.The skills and knowledge described in this unit must be applied within the legislative, regulatory and policy environment in which they are carried out. Organisational policies and procedures must be consulted and adhered to, particularly those related to work health and safety (WHS).Those undertaking this role will work within multi-agency teams and often liaise with stakeholders, while completing complex tasks in a broad range of contexts. They will have to make decisions independently while giving consideration to financial and human resource management requirements.No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to unit at the time of publication.
Notes
Elements and Performance Criteria
1. Prepare for land search and rescue response
  • 1.1 Establish command and control to conduct land search and rescue operations.
  • 1.2 Conduct urgency assessment to determine level of response.
  • 1.3 Establish forward command post to facilitate coordination of land search and rescue operations.
  • 1.4 Establish communications to facilitate flow of information.
  • 1.5 Assess characteristics of target and environment to inform search and rescue response.
  • 1.6 Access jurisdictional information management systems to gather information on target.
2. Determine current location, destination and resources
  • 2.1 Identify maps to source information.
  • 2.2 Interpret information from maps to ensure accurate parameters of search area.
  • 2.3 Analyse data to plot incident location.
  • 2.4 Calculate incident distance and location from given landmarks.
  • 2.5 Triangulate incident from distinct features to fix a position.
  • 2.6 Plot search areas to determine resource allocation and asset deployment for probable and possible search areas.
  • 2.7 Evaluate terrain to identify impacts on land search and rescue operations.
  • 2.8 Identify safe routes and potential access restrictions to determine access to search area.
  • 2.9 Identify specialist resources to facilitate land search and rescue operations.
3. Provide grid references to search and rescue operations team
  • 3.1 Calculate grid references using magnetic bearings, and/or latitude and longitude and/or incident location details provided by callers.
  • 3.2 Communicate six figure grid references to search and rescue operations team.
  • 3.3 Communicate references to field personnel for use in portable navigational aids.
  • 3.4 Communicate directional information to operations team on request.
4. Perform land search and rescue response
  • 4.1 Establish cordons to limit size of search area.
  • 4.2 Use land search strategies to develop an accurate search area.
  • 4.3 Select land search patterns in accordance with conditions and terrain.
  • 4.4 Allocate taskings for resources and assets in accordance with capability.
  • 4.5 Apply portable navigation aids to provide live information to search coordinator, where available.
  • 4.6 Analyse information from portable navigation aids to determine areas searched by teams.
  • 4.7 Modify land search patterns using on scene intelligence.
No information
No information
Replaced By
State Code National Code Title Type
ODO02 POLSAR018 Undertake land search and rescue duties Unit of competency