#SaferSAR Overview

The #SaferSAR initiative is designed to improve safety at sea by encouraging SAR professionals to share lessons learned from incidents and accidents. Currently, no global system collates SAR unit data, analyses it for trends or safety risks, and disseminates this information to the SAR community. Through the #SaferSAR platform, SAR organisations can gain valuable insights into safety risks, identify patterns, and share best practices with others around the world, ultimately enhancing operational safety and saving more lives at sea.

#SaferSAR Journey

The #SaferSAR initiative began with a 12-month feasibility study for a globally accessible platform that SAR personnel and organisations can use to share lessons and best practices identified in SAR response, incidents, accidents, and exercises. The objective of the initiative is to improve safety at sea by fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing among SAR professionals worldwide. The initiative is funded by Lloyd's Register Foundation (feasibility study) and Trinity House Department for Transport Fund.

Despite numerous marine accident investigation branches worldwide, including the United Kingdom's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) and Germany's Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation (BSU), there is currently no global system that collates SAR unit incidence data, analyses it for trends, patterns, or safety concerns, and disseminates these findings globally. By sharing data and experiences in our own incidents and accidents more effectively, global SAR organisations can develop a deeper understanding, identify safety risks and trends, and implement safer operations, ultimately saving more lives. The initiative also aims to assist organisations that lack the resources to collect such information themselves, further promoting safety at sea.

Sharing lessons is one of the key functions why the IMRF exists as an organisation, bringing together world’s maritime SAR organisations and developing SAR capacity around the world. The project is therefore at the heart of our functions as an organisation. With the pilot project we established, in relation to data on incidents and accidents occurring in SAR units, the nature of sharing culture within the maritime SAR community, the key barriers and potential value of sharing information, and the potential design options of a global information sharing system.