The IMRF is excited to announce that its #SaferSAR initiative has secured significant new funding from Trinity House. This funding will support the project for the next three years, enabling the IMRF to continue its vital work in enhancing safety at sea.

The #SaferSAR initiative, which began with a feasibility study in September 2023 funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, has already demonstrated the need for a global platform dedicated to analysing and sharing data on incidents and accidents in search and rescue (SAR) units. The study demonstrated that the IMRF can develop a global maritime SAR platform incident reporting system together with CHIRP (Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme).

With the support of Trinity House—making available funds provided by the Department for Transport—the IMRF will now expand the initiative, working with CHIRP, to create a maritime SAR component within CHIRP’s existing safety reporting system. This will allow SAR personnel and organisations worldwide to submit SAR unit incident reports, which will then be analysed to identify trends and safety risks. The findings will be shared globally, helping promote safer SAR operations and ultimately save more lives at sea. The reports can be submitted here.

The #SaferSAR project is built on the principle that sharing knowledge and lessons learned from SAR unit incidents is essential to improving safety. By collecting and analysing SAR unit incident data from around the world, the initiative will allow SAR organisations to better understand the challenges they face, and the risks involved, leading to the implementation of improved safety protocols.

The IMRF will use the data gathered through the platform to produce a Global Maritime SAR Safety Bulletin, which will be published several times a year and made freely available to the entire SAR community. Additionally, the IMRF will run online safety workshops and safety campaigns to raise awareness of key trends and safety issues identified through the analysis of the data. The IMRF is committed to ensuring that the insights and findings from the #SaferSAR platform reach as many SAR organisations as possible, including those that may not have the resources to collect their own data or conduct the associated data analysis.

IMRF CEO Caroline Jupe stated, “The #SaferSAR project is crucial to improving global maritime safety, and this funding will significantly enhance the IMRF’s ability to support the broader SAR community. The project has already been highly effective, and with this additional support, we are eager to increase its reach and impact even further.”

Trinity House’s Deputy Master Rear Admiral Iain Lower said, “The sea and the merchant seafarers that ply their trade upon it are vital to our daily lives; it is imperative that we use every tool available to us to ensure that safety at sea measures are developed and supported wherever possible. It is great to see another immensely worthwhile project make best use of collaboration and knowledge-sharing to increase the positive impact made by SAR professionals.”

As IMRF continues to expand its reach and support the global SAR community, the #SaferSAR initiative is set to play a critical role in shaping the future of maritime safety. With the generous support of Trinity House and the Department for Transport, the next three years will see #SaferSAR ensure that best practices, lessons learned, and safety trends are shared widely and acted upon, for the benefit of all.