Trainers and assessors upgrade to new units of competency • Rescue highlights inter-agency cooperation

Trainers and Assessors upgrade to new units of competency

Sixty members upgraded in training blitz

Sixty volunteer Trainers and Assessors have been upgraded to the new Provide First Aid and Advanced Resuscitation and Oxygen Therapy Units of Competencies HLTAID011 and HLTAID015.

The endorsement by the Australian Skills Quality Authority of new units of competency required Marine Rescue Regional Training Officers to amend training resources and assessments, with a tight completion deadline of the end of October.

A Zoom course over two evenings covered off on theory, and was followed up with a face-to-face practical session and assessment. Sessions were held in the Northern Rivers, Mid-North Coast, Hunter Central Coast, Greater Sydney, Illawarra and Monaro Regions.

The training resources were developed by the MRNSW Training Team and benchmarked against industry best practice, before their delivery to volunteers with experience and qualifications in Training and Assessing and First Aid.

Director Training and Education Chris Butler, said that he was grateful to the trainers for giving up their time to provide this valuable service to their fellow members.

“I want to personally thank those who have participated thus far, as they have not only given up their time to upgrade, but also provided much appreciated input to ongoing improvements to the course.”

“It’s great to see such a positive reception to the training, and with additional qualified trainers and assessors having put up their hand to deliver these courses, and we are working to get their induction and training accommodated in the near future.”

Members practice CPR at the Northern Rivers Region training. Photo: Rodney Page

Rescue highlights inter-agency cooperation

MR Broken Bay support NPWS in whale of a rescue

Members of Marine Rescue Broken Bay helped solve a super-sized problem after a juvenile two year old Humpback Whale became entangled in a bather protection shark net 800 metres off Whale Beach on Sydney’s northern beaches.

The first report of a whale in distress was received mid-afternoon on a sunny but windy Saturday afternoon in mid-October, with Broken Bay 30 tasked to support a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) marine mammal rescue team.

The NPWS team, aboard a small inflatable boat, used specialised equipment to cut the netting free of the distressed whale, with Broken Bay 30 acting as the support ship for the delicate operation.

As darkness began falling, concern mounted that the rescue mission might have to be abandoned until the next morning.

Fortunately the eight metre whale was freed just after seven in the evening, minutes before the National Parks and Marine Rescue crews were to stand down, with the whale wasting no time joining others heading southward to their Antarctic feeding grounds.