The pilot course for ‘VR21-Recovery Incident Manager’ was held in September 2009 and
was aimed at people requiring a recognised ‘Recovery Incident Manager’ qualification.
Personnel attending this course are likely to have a number of years’ experience as a
recovery technician and two years’
experience at a supervisory level, this may include current experience as an Incident
Manager. This course can be used for either heavy recovery or light recovery technicians.
This qualification is recognised as being of an extremely high level and attainment is the
pinnacle of any recovery technician’s career.
Details of accredited Instructors for this course are available from the IVR office, on 01895
436426 or via the IVR website, www.theivr.com.
To clarify, if a VR05 is considered to be at Level 2, this qualification is a Level 4.
Module overview
This module is designed to develop key personnel within a recovery business by giving them the ability to liaise with the emergency services, risk assess the scene, plan the recovery method and coordinate and control the recovery operation.
Course aims
- To understand what a ‘major’ incident is and/or why an incident manager might be required at the scene
- To understand the responsibilities of a Recovery Incident Manager
- To understand the communication lines at an incident
- To understand how to complete a risk assessment and implement control measures
- To understand the requirements of a ‘method statement’
- To understand the roles and responsibilities of the emergency services managers and teams
- To understand the way in which to communicate effectively with the emergency services
- To understand the types of recovery equipment that may be required at an incident
- To understand how to plan and organise an incident
- To understand what ‘post recovery’ operations are required for an incident
- To understand how to prepare a ‘post recovery’ report for a customer
Learning objectives
On completion of the course the student will be able to;
- Describe what a major incident is and/or why an incident manager might be needed
- Define the term ‘Recovery Incident manager’ and their responsibilities
- Define the communication lines at an incident
- Complete a risk assessment for a given scenario
- Complete a ‘method statement’ for a given scenario
- Define the roles and responsibilities of the emergency services managers
- Outline ways in which to communicate effectively
- List the types of recovery equipment required for a given scenario
- From a given scenario, plan and organise the recovery operation
- Present, to your peer group, a plan and organisation of a given scenario
- List the ‘post recovery’ operations following an incident
- Prepare a ‘post recovery’ report for a given scenario
This course majors on communication and gives a high priority to the risk assessment and
method statements (The Safety Plan) needed at the scene of major incidents.
The module will be achieved through a series of assessments including;
- Multiple choice question paper
- Scenario based production of a Risk Assessment and Method Statement (safety Plan)
- Records of experience with documentary evidence of at least five years experience in vehicle recovery, two years supervisory experience and current suitable certification from previous training in the category the incident manager will work, i.e. heavy or light.
- Delivery of a short talk on the students own scenario based assessment
Ideally assessment would be through a practical assessment of either a ‘live’ job or a simulated ‘incident’. Clearly this is not possible at the moment, for a number of reasons, so a scenario based assessment has been developed. The student will be given photographs and an overview of an incident and asked to complete a risk assessment and method statement, which will then be marked and a final percentage given, the pass mark is 80%. In addition to the multiple choice question paper all students will be asked to deliver an overview of their scenario and how they dealt with it, the pass mark for this section is also 80%.
The results required confirm the level of operator experience required to participate in the course and the type of person that should be attending.
Since the course was launched in 2009 it has become clear that to remove the psyche of ‘recovery technician’, and replace it with the control and safety overview of a Recovery Incident Manager, is challenging.
The trainers are taking highly experienced and passionate recovery technicians out of their comfort zone, but we must ensure, as an industry, the need for continuing and increased safety of the recovery technicians.
The courses will be able to accommodate either heavy or light recovery technicians as the principles remain the same, however, the experts attending the pilot course all felt that there should be a distinct difference between both categories and that certification would state which category applied.
The National Vehicle Recovery Manager now insists all contractors provide named incident managers and some Police forces are also insisting on it.
It is therefore vital that Recovery Incident Managers have the communication skills to further advance the professional image of the industry, which is now being recognised by such bodies as the Police and The Highways Agency.
The ‘Emergency Services Incident Manager’ is known at the scene as the Bronze Commander. The Recovery Incident Manager at the scene is the equivalent and must be able to communicate at this level, discussing and taking into account the emergency services needs and outlining the recovery plan to them.
It is hoped that through discussion we can convince both the Highways Agency and the Police to commit to a common policy of calling the Recovery Incident Manager out as early as possible in order that the risk assessment and method statement can be completed and the recovery team organised, so saving time. We know this happens in some areas, but not all.
In recent meetings and Recovery Incident Management seminars involving The Highways Agency and the Emergency Services several operators were asked to attend and give their input. Following this very successful joining of minds the Police and HA have are looking at how we might be called earlier to major incidents in order to prepare the risk assessments and method statements (Safety Plan). We are clearly being regarded as part of the professional team dealing with these incidents.
This is why we need Recovery Incident Managers.
Anyone wishing to register their interest for VR21 should contact the IVR office on 01895 436426 or check out our website to find a suitable training provider.
