A Moment for Safety

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

When you have accomplished your mission you know you are paying attention to risk!

Do not be afraid to fail, that is what training is about. Its actually required unless you already know the content.

But for the first time learner an effective instructor will translate to the student the best measures to approach the problem with credible solutions.

The mission is delivered when there are no mishaps, the operations are based on technical boating, proper PPE is assigned, and training is documented along with the program needs. If this is not taking place, stop and restart the program before a mishap occurs.

Successful mission outcomes are great, but it comes with a heft investment of time, personnel and funding.

Updates cannot happen within an agency, they must come from those who are in the field and discovering content, creating content, testing the content, measuring the content and delivering the content. This is what qualified instructors bring to an agency versus a 'train the trainer' format that weakens the foundation strength.

It's been proven that intellectual knowledge is delivered from subject matter experts. Most training programs do not maintain or reach their potential due to downsizing the curriculum to save time. Those agencies should not have a Rescue Water Craft marine unit. Maintaining a boat unit is an expansive responsibility.

Oftentimes agencies treat the Rescue Water Craft program as a rescue asset instead of a boat asset. The two are in conflict with on another. Boating must come first, rescue is the final application.

Students must want to learn and content must be updated annually for this to happen.

How do you rank?

Your must evaluate your training program. You need a baseline measure to compare the success from failure.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you have the proper fitted and sized PPE?
2. Do you evaluate physical fitness levels and how often?
3. Are your checklists signed off by the individual who tasks the assignment?
4. Are your RWC's pulled out of service when there is questionable operational behaviors?
5. Are your rescue boards inspected?
6. Trailer inspection list, how often?
7. Weather and water conditions listed in training logs?
8. Individual training logs and results maintained.
9. Equipment is retired according to use and wear and manufacturer recommendations.
10. Is your team certification current and valid for 3 years?
11. Do you review your curriculum annually?
12. Has each team member read the manufacturers Owners Manual?
13. Does each team member hold a current valid Boat operators license or permit?
14. Do your team members know how to swim in the water you train in?

1 to 4 - AT RISK

5 to 8 - NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

9 to 12 - SECURE

Rescue Board Training and Inspection

CORRECTIONS

Any of the questions above that were not checked are the ones you need to focus on.

You can revise your program internally or hire a subject matter consultant. We can help you with that.

We have created hundreds of solutions for clients who knew their program was at risk. It's easy to correct. Don't let your program suffer or open up bigger problems down the line. Consider making your own program evaluation and presenting it to your
administration for review. Then tackle those concerns head on.

It's better to effect change before problems occur rather than when a mishap occurs. They can be costly in resource loss, out of service and injury recovery time due to loss of work for individuals.

Thank you for taking the short quiz and for caring about your Marine Unit.

Remember this: A moment for safety can save a lifetime of regret.
_______________________________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT PROGRAM STATUS?

CHECK!

Program status matters! It's how you ensure reputation and efficiency.

As a qualified Rescue Water Craft Coxswain what are your operational responsibilities?
They are a composite of equipment and personnel needs.


Ask yourself how many of these are incorporated in your Rescue Water Craft Program?
Letā€™s survey now! Select the number of program plans you already have in effect:

1. Rescue Water Craft Maintenance Records
2. Training Records
3. Inspection Records
4. Certifications, Re-certifications (Physical standard requirements)
5. Incident Histories
6. Mishap Reviews
7. Dated Revisions
8. Weather/Environmental Notes
9. Training Videos
10. PPE Records
11. TAD Records
12. Trailer Inspection Records

How do you rank?

1 to 4 - AT RISK

5 to 8 - NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

9 to 12 - SECURE

Rescue Board Training and Inspection

MANAGEMENT

It is a significant responsibility to maintain a professional marine RWC unit. It requires first of all a proper budget. Second effect training for the areas of response. Thirdly it requires inspection, maintenance and updates.

If you scored below 9 as a minimum itā€™s time to get to work! Make a list of the areas you need support in. If you need your program reviewed, we can assist you with that. Programs should be reviewed every three years, and assessed annually.

We wish you a safe and secure season and we know you care about your program or you wouldnā€™t be reading this story. You are the direct link to your teamā€™s safety and public confidence, we are glad you are in our community. Letā€™s get to work!

_______________________________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

MINDSET OF DENIAL

CHOOSE WELL

The deliberation to not act and go against standards of care, or the best practice is a serious violation of trust. Both personal, and public.

What motivates people to accept cutting corners, excuses, lack of leadership, budget and fatigue of not driving a program to successful completion?

Routines can be familiar but when one operator in a crew decides to deviate from the practices that were put in place, they open the liability door. Somebody pays the price. Others hide and live with grief and regret.

Sometimes personal character of an individual supersedes the motivation to serve the public instead of serving oneself. Manipulating a system for ulterior reasons, that are personal and not for the oath of service.

ļƒ¼ When was the last time a mishap was reviewed in your department or group?
ļƒ¼ How was the process engaged?
ļƒ¼ Did you permit an outside subject matter expert to evaluate the data?
ļƒ¼ Was the information distributed to enact change and address the identifiable issues?
ļƒ¼ When a mishap occurs the obvious is determined. What did the operator, crew, mechanic or instructor miss?

Reputation can be evaluated on social media in a viral scope from all corners of the world and reference posters who may never have operated a Rescue Water Craft. Those posts will last a career span. Oftentimes they point out things that operators obviously missed, and its repeated hundreds of times, or memes and gifs go viral.

Many of the mishaps I review through social media had definite steps of setting up the accident that were clearly avoidable. But if the team instructor is not trained properly, and the student follows the same advice from the instructor, and there is no determination to challenge the training methods, itā€™s inevitable. Is this what people line up for?

Accidents, how often do we say ā€˜preventableā€™? Itā€™s comedic, like ā€˜donā€™t do drugsā€™, or ā€˜donā€™t drive drunkā€™, or ā€˜turn around donā€™t drownā€™, phrases that have effect but are not practiced to stop the flow of risk. What does risk management mean? Safety is not a word, it is a way of being.

Many agencies should not have RWC programs. They are not ready. They have not conducted proper homework and they do not have the appropriate budget. But mainly they do not respect the craft or the usage.

Oftentimes those who created mishaps are rewarded with medals of heroism. This protects the mishaps from gifting the reward of progress and reducing risk for the next mission. In fact it enables the next disaster to go into effect.

Rescue Water Craft Training for Night Qualification

THESE QUESTIONS HAVE TO BE ASKED

Personalities are selected through a vetting process to match up to a specific job description, attitude and capability. They are put through paces, educated, corrected and evaluated to see if they have what it takes to qualify. Or not.

There are definite draws to the various water rescue disciplines from a variety of agency personnel from military to lifesaving. Certain personality types are easier to lead into excellence, while others may be less mature, or disciplined. Most of that is from peer influence and personal influences of upbringing, values, culture and spiritual commitments.

Some rescue minded persons are motivated to excel for personal gain, team effort, community support, private psychological drive and stacking up a value to the worth behind effort and the altruistic or personal rewards.

Experience and perspective come into play with the hours in the field, research and study, practice and industriousness. A conscientious person will pay attention to fulfillment of the mission full circle. Industrious people work very hard and can be irritated with the unproductive team members.

Sharing the labor load of the rescue scene is a conscientious person is going to work really hard, put in very long hours and be the last to leave. Persons who are orderly like to have everything in order and are always cleaning up behind everyone else, usually women tend to fill that role.

Sometimes they are over concerned about details and they may be disappointed in the personalities who are productive because they may be making more of a mess. Know how to orchestrate agreeable persons and disagreeable persons to try to balance out the complexities of teamwork.

Personal traits are a big source of conflict in teams. This can relate to mission work in tension, conflict and friction.

Knowing the various personalities it is imperative to place tested persons who thrived in the specific roles needed. For instance: It is important for an RWC Operator to be comfortable in the water they work in. If they are not comfortable, it may be time to replace this operator and bring them to shore support.

How do you identify a mishap or rate accidents? Moderate to significant or got lucky?

Oftentimes after reviewing serious mishaps that I know were preventable, I have to say, how could this department not recognize the potential for harm?

It usually comes down to a lack of boating knowledge. They may have knowledge that is excellent in other stages of rescue, but when it comes to operating or implementing a power water craft program, they have assessed a casual program when in fact this is a high risk marine operation.

Who are your Subject Matter Experts? How were they tested and selected? What world experience do they have that is recent within the past 30 days and 30 years?

Oftentimes when I review a program, the organization was not prepared to have a marine unit. They lacked knowledge of the craft, maintenance schedules and budget. But mainly they lacked follow through after training to ensure their program was sustainable.

Acquiring a certificate will not protect you. The entire program needs to be reviewed annually. All mishaps must be reviewed and adjusted. Outside sources should be sought for additional knowledge based on modernizing any loopholes. Personal Protective Equipment has to be effective and replaced as needed along with RWC accessory devices.

Boating rules and regulations are constantly broken by public safety agencies using Rescue Water Craft. Lifejackets are not worn, rules of the road and not utilized, boating basics are not incorporated properly. Most of this is because training programs are outdated and incomplete.

Who is the program instructor and who backs their certification. Did your department determine if their certification was current and verifiable? Who wrote their training program, what type of craft and program management needs were resourced? How was this data entered and how is the program monitored and by whom?

How are the operators evaluated and why is their certification not revoked from a mishap and they get rolled back to training? How is the discipline process protected for teams, and who is the person monitoring and enforcing the program?

Rescue Board Training and Inspection

The community is fragmented by not conducted effective research. Instructors are self-proclaimed, self appointed or appointed by the agency and not evaluated annually. Instructors need to be assessed annually. Where does a RWC operator go for new content? Are they stepping outside their domain and going to where the value structure is: private enterprise.

People like to belong to something. They will affiliate with personalities that correspond with their own. Sometimes this is negative instead of creative. Creatures of comfort may protect hubris and not allow the science of physics to advance our culture.

Are you willing to let one of your team mates die and possibly yourself? Forget about the survivor, lets talk about the team. You cannot afford to be rescued during a rescue. How valuable is your career and reputation to you and your family? If you start with these simple values and expand them, it will be much easier to tune a program.

The Rescue Water Craft Association (RWCA) is the sole governing body for the RWC community. There is no other sole source that offers advances in the generation of knowledge. Others are taking micro steps. The best predictor for structure and rules applied comes from not only pioneers but those connected to the industry and a variety of water way needs, agency perspectives and direction.

The RWCA is our community peer group, it scales iinternationally. What we do is dangerous. Itā€™s extremely dangerous. Think about it and let that sink in. Once you surrender to the risk involved it will be easier to being the process of engaging this risk to mitigate the flaws that exist and to clearly determine where they are and what can happen.

Because You Care.

Join today: RESCUE WATER CRAFT ASSOCIATION

Document Your RWC Program Results

REMEMBERING JIM SEGERSTROM

James (Jim) Farrell Segerstrom

Jim Segerstrom is considered the founding father of organized training for flood and swiftwater rescue.

He had many friends in the water rescue community. We do miss his energy, wit and driven sense of purpose.

We enjoyed working with Jim for the Rigg Challenge that was created in honor of our friend Nancy Rigg. This was an outstanding
technical rally showcasing teams, knowledge, experience and timing.


Gone But Not Forgotten

IN MEMORY

We are river people whom mother natureā€™s rhythms have touched quite closely and been taught by one of her most unique characteristics. A river flows dynamically through its course, its lifespan. It maneuvers around obstacles sometimes avoiding them, sometimes breaking through them, but always traveling towards its end where ever and when ever that end may be. Yet that end is not finite. It is merely the beginning of another journey as the water is evaporated into the sky and re-deposited giving life to another river as it runs a new course. This is simple science, but the metaphor goes far beyond.

Iā€™ve been fortunate to watch Jim interact with many rivers. He was a master of reading water. Skills can take you so far, but a carnal understanding of its powers goes much deeper. Jim was a very good at knowing when an obstacle needed to be avoided and when it could be charged full-on. He was the driving force, the main instigator, behind many innovations in professional rescue education. Safety was number one important. Above and beyond his exploits as a rescue icon he was an innovative leader and catalyst for thousands of people. .

Jim changed the professional rescue community at its core He brought focus back to what it means to train hard and rescue victims safely. Few know how difficult it was to establish the Swiftwater Rescue standard around the world. It started by researching a body of knowledge that did not really exist prior to the founding of Rescue 3 in 1979, and then proceeding on a 10 year expedition around the world to develop it. We worked hard, and our laboratory was a collection of some of the most challenging rescue locations in the world. We learned through trial and error how to give an initiation and empowerment to would be rescuers who faced the terror of moving water. We learned early the importance of the "moving baptism". The critical need to drownproof rescuers by immersing them extensively in the very element they feared.

Everyone thought we were crazy, and that this was excessive and dangerous training. Jim knew the importance of transmuting rescuer fear into rescuer understanding, joy and respect for the element of moving water. There is no doubt that these efforts will continue to bear fruit with fewer rescuer deaths and improved victim outcome around the globe. Let us not forget that Jim was instrumental in planting these amazing karmic seeds. Jim packed a lot of joy for us all in that dash between Feb 1946-Feb 2007. Godspeed my friend.

Mike Crosslin

James Farrell Segerstrom

Feb. 21, 1946 ā€” Feb. 5, 2007

James Farrell Segerstrom, a Sonora resident on and off for 58 years, died Feb. 5 at a San Francisco hospital.

He graduated from Sonora Elementary School, attended Sonora Union High School and graduated from high school at Menlo School in Menlo Park. He graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Mr. Segerstrom was a paramedic for 10 years. He established and pioneered the Swift Water Rescue Technician program, which was created in Sonora and became the premier program of its kind world wide.

A Civil War buff, he had a large collection of toy soldiers and enjoyed studying military history. He was in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves for two years.

He was preceded in death by his father, Donald Segerstrom.

Mr. Segerstrom is survived by his wife of 25 years, Shiree of Sonora; a son, James "Christian" Segerstrom of Sonora; his mother, Mary Etta Segerstrom of Sonora; a sister, Ann Segerstrom of San Francisco; three brothers, Donald Segerstrom of Sonora, David Segerstrom of San Diego and Steven Segerstrom of Nevada City; and many cousins, nephews and nieces.

RIGG CHALLENGE EVENT

SEGERSTROM'S RESCUE PRAYER

When I am called to duty God,
Whenever people fall,
Give me the strength to save one life,
whatever be the call.

Whether on foot or in flight, Oh Lord
with all of your might,
Lead me to embrace the small, lost child
or save the injured from the wild.

Out from rivers edge or overlooking this ledge,
Enable me to be alert and hear the
weakest shout
to quickly and efficiently bring
my brother out.

With my desire to serve, ability to
perform and the courage to act,
Lord, allow me to deliver my neighbor
safely back.

There are no bounds to which I'll give,
These things I do so that others may live.
And when according to your will,
My earthly tasks must end,
Lord, Please bless with your protecting hand
My family and my friends.

Segerstrom's Memorial Tribute:
Adapted and read by Jacquelyn Potts-TCSAR
February 17, 2007

JIM'S SAFETY BRIEF