SARBC

Victoria, BC
Canada

Two questions were proposed in the Search Management Course from Nasar and ERI.

1. Can a government agency be held liable for injury or death caused (or made likely) by its failure to eliminate/reduce known SAR hazards and/or its failure to respond to SAR incidents quickly and efficiently?

2. Can a non-paid SAR organization be held liable by its failure to respond quickly, efficiently, and deliver an adequate "standard of care"?

Consider: The media and general public have become more aware of government's role in SAR, and are expecting results.

There is an implied guarantee that government "knows what it is doing".

Non-paid (volunteer) SAR organizations often act as agents for the responsible government agency.

If a civil action arises from a SAR incident, keep in mind that:
You don't get a jury of your peers, you get a jury of "folks". They will investigate your prior experience, knowledge (and use of), and whether you were aware of new methods and techniques, and, if you were not aware, why not.

Questions which may arise are:
Was there a duty? In the process, did you injure the victim? Did you act in good faith? Were you working for the victim? Were the victim's best interests always the goal? Did you do all that you could reasonable do? And, did you document it?

What about the "Good Samaritan Act"?
If you volunteer your time and effort as part of a "planned response", on an official SAR mission, what do you think it would be under the "color of the law"? Was there adequate preplanning, training, timely response and standard of care?