Why IASARC Certifications
By Matthew Mitchell, Founder and CEO, International Association of Search and Rescue Coordinators (IASARC)
Saving lives is a moral duty transcending national borders, politics, governments, and industries. Responding to incidents where people are in distress requires expert coordination by exceptionally skilled teams leveraging the most advanced technological capabilities. Unlike many other endeavors, saving lives in distress cannot be truly quantified. Life is of infinite value; therefore, the enterprise that seeks to save life must advance and improve infinitely. No matter the degree of excellence that a nation’s SAR system may demonstrate, the ability to render aid to persons in distress in all environments requires SAR professionals to be ever vigilant, and the organizations that enable them ever to improve their SAR systems:
Search and rescue (SAR) coordination is not wholly professionalized in national and global SAR systems. Well-established professions are often characterized by universal ethical standards, specialized knowledge and skill, prolonged training based on widely accepted criteria, and a corporate body of knowledge. These characteristics manifest during a field’s evolution from occupation to profession only with the aid of a qualifying association. These associations, bodies of the field’s leading experts, serve to promote professional conformity through certifications, advocate for members, and advance the sciences relevant to the field. The appearance of such an association is inevitable during the evolutionary process known as professionalization and signals the field’s imminent emergence as a universally recognized profession.
The International Association of Search and Rescue Coordinators (IASARC) was founded to promote the continued professionalization of SAR Coordination. This international professional association comprises leading subject matter experts from SAR organizations and the scientific community, who are united in the shared mission to Advance the Profession of SAR Coordination through challenging professional certifications, as well as advocating for its members and improving the sciences that support the profession.
Professional conformity is a cornerstone of any profession. Members' proficiency is based on specific, identifiable skills, attitudes, and a corporate body of knowledge. Competence is validated through independent review and testing, a certification process. IASARC’s principal objective is establishing certification requirements and processes for key positions within SAR coordination and aligning terminology with the IAMSAR Manual and its founding conventions. A council of the profession’s leading experts establishes uniform minimum requirements that must be demonstrated to attain a professional certification.
Skills and their certification have become a global currency. Organizations, from governmental authorities to nonprofits, excel only when they employ and promote skilled individuals. Certification processes validate that an individual has attained high expertise in a given field. They build credibility through independent third-party knowledge, skills, and abilities assessments. In short, they demonstrate competence.
To date, there are no independent certifying bodies within SAR coordination. Competence is assessed only through internal qualification processes that often vary widely from one region to another. Certifications are widely recognized and respected within a broad range of industries, whereas internal qualifications, those unique to only a specific organization, are often not. IASARC provides a standardized and equitable means of demonstrating competence in the lifesaving profession of SAR coordination, bringing value to individuals, governments, the global community, and various industries.
Value to Individuals
Certifications demonstrate an individual’s competence and build credibility. They provide a pathway to validate your competence to perform your role in the greater SAR system. SAR coordination certifications objectively show that you have attained high expertise and commitment to the lifesaving mission. They differentiate you from your peers, garner respect, and display a desire for continued professional growth.
Value to Governments
Governments have a moral duty to provide SAR services and ensure those services are well coordinated. International conventions establish the various aspects of that duty and outline requirements and recommendations to assist governments in fulfilling their responsibilities. Unfortunately, compliance with these conventions is often inconsistent. For example, during the 2023 ICAO audits, compliance ranged from 81% at best down to only 6%.
SAR certifications aid governments in complying with international conventions and standards. A hallmark of IASARC’s approach to certifications is its reliance on widely accepted standards. When its personnel demonstrate competence through independent certifications, a government’s SAR authorities build public confidence, earn national and international prestige, and enjoy greater organizational performance. Those proactive governments that help lead the way to SAR certifications will serve as the standards bearers of the world.
Value to the Global Community
Our world is wholly interconnected. Whether international passengers or the shipment of goods, all people are utterly reliant on the safety of maritime and aviation transportation systems. Improved lifesaving competence in one region of the world necessarily impacts all other regions. According to the IAMSAR Manual, Volume I, “the globe is divided into SRRs [search rescue regions], each with associated SAR services which assist anyone in distress within the SRR without regard to nationality or circumstances.” The Global SAR System is predicated on the ideal that each nation or state will fulfill its moral duty to protect life with the utmost diligence. SAR services that underperform hinder the free and secure movement of people and goods, stifling economies and progress. Certifications in SAR coordination promote a high level of proficiency, improving the overall performance of SAR services and benefitting everyone.
Value to Industry
International trade fuels economic growth. Safe and secure modes of transportation equate to lower costs and improved efficiencies. From cargo ships navigating Arctic waters to cruise ships sailing the Caribbean to aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean, all are protected by SAR services. Global economies are possible only with the safety afforded them by effective SAR services.
Well-managed and high-performing SAR services can benefit a wide range of industries. While global shipping companies are the most direct beneficiaries, this also includes every manufacturer of any good transported beyond national borders or relying on materials from abroad—virtually every product made on Earth. The equation is simply that without proficient SAR services, global transportation slows, resulting in stalled economies.
Moreover, the privatization of various subcomponents of SAR coordination is on the rise. The emergence and proliferation of a wide array of satellite-enabled communications devices have resulted in the increase of private global SAR alerting posts. These alerting posts fulfill what had historically been an entirely governmental duty to receive and relay distress alerts to the appropriate responding unit. SAR coordination certifications are critical for these organizations to establish credibility and validate that they possess the expertise required to perform their role within the Global SAR System.
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