Second Year Of Success
Image Credit: International Maritme Rescue Federation
A seven day LifeboatCrew Exchange Programme involving rescue volunteers from nine countries has proved to be a fulfilling training exercise for all 55 participants.
With the aim of exchanging knowledge, sharing ideas and building relationships between the voluntary institutions, the project is designed to help reduce the number of people losing their lives inEurope’s waters.
Instigated by the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) and the Search and Rescue (SAR) organisation KNRM from theNetherlands, the programme has four clear objectives.
The first is to exchange practical experience and best practice between European Maritime Emergency Search and Rescue (MESR) organisations to support improvements in quality of practices.
The event also helps personal development allowing volunteers to acquire skills increasing their employability in European rescue activities and acts as a transnational communication platform between MESR organisations, enabling the exchange of results, evaluations and experiences.
Improving the knowledge of the Maritime English terminology for Lifeboat Crew members, because English is the world-wide and European working language in maritime organisations is the fourth and final objective.
IMRF Chief Executive, Bruce Reid explained: “So much of the SAR work inEuropeand in many other parts of the world is undertaken by volunteers trained to a professional standard.
“The Crew exchange is providing a platform to build on the best practice of the seven host countries sharing knowledge and skills that have been tried tested and proven. When it comes to the safety of our people and those they are assisting we must look for continuous improvement and with the exchange there is an opportunity to compare and measure SAR training against that delivered through other organisations.”
The volunteer crews involved, collectively commit thousands of hours of their time every year to serving their communities to keep those going out on the water safe.
The Crew Exchange is project managed by IMRF members the KNRM of theNetherlandswith Linde Jelsma heading the initiative. The programme is in its second year with funding secured through the Life Long Learning programme of the European Union for this year and 2014.
Linde Jelsma said: “Learn, explore and enjoy are the key words of this exchange and the IMRF exchange 2013 has been fantastic for all participants – crewmembers and host coordinators, sponsors and head office people have had the chance to talk about the similarities and differences between the European rescue organisations.
“It was great to see after the first day they were a team and created wide exposure through social media, press and evaluation forms. We are very pleased to have the support of the Life Long Learning programme of the European Union.”
The host organisations were theDanish Coastal Rescue Service (DaMSA), The Finnish Lifeboat Institute, the UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) ,The Swedish Sea Rescue Society (SSRS), The Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue (NSSR) and The Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue (ICE-SAR). Crew members from Estonia and 2 guests from Canada also participated.