Search and Rescue careers



Coastguard

You may be able to work your way into this role by starting as a watch assistant and applying for promotion when you've got more experience.

Direct Application

You can apply directly for jobs if you have some of the relevant skills and knowledge needed for this role.

You'll need a good standard of literacy and numeracy, good hearing and eyesight to become a watch officer.

Employers will often ask for seagoing experience, for example from:


  • the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force or the Merchant Navy

  • activities involving boat work and navigation

  • experience as a coastguard rescue officer volunteer

Mountain Rescue

ON CALL 24/7: 365 DAYS OF THE YEAR: WHATEVER THE WEATHER

There are 49 volunteer mountain rescue teams and eight regional bodies in England and Wales, across nine geographical areas, and we are here to help them deliver the best possible care to their casualties. We can’t do that without your support. Thanks to you, we can provide and maintain the highest standards in casualty care, technical rope rescue and swiftwater rescue. And we can provide key items of kit to teams and help keep their vehicles on the road.

Cave Rescue

The British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) was formed in 1967 as the representative body for bona fide volunteer underground rescue organisations in the British Isles. Its functions include representing and supporting its members at National and International level, promoting the exchange of information between member rescue organisations and providing a common voice for them. It is a coordinating and not a governing body. Individual cave rescue organisations remain entirely autonomous and independent.

The responsibility for inland rescue rests in general with the police under their general public order powers and responsibilities. In practice, the police do not have the training, resources or expertise to conduct rescues in caves and disused mines in the British Isles. They rely on the sixteen volunteer underground rescue organisations that are members of the British Cave Rescue Council.

These organisations have over 1,000 volunteer rescuers available together with a large supply of specialised equipment. They also have the organisational structures, expertise and experience to carry out and coordinate underground search and rescue operations in their geographic areas of responsibility when requested to do so by the police.

The rescuers themselves are all experienced cavers who have volunteered to undergo additional training in underground rescue techniques and many have additional specialist skills such as casualty care training or underwater diving ability. Although the work is undertaken principally in limestone areas, disused mines and other underground features can be found throughout the United Kingdom. Responsibility for supporting the various police forces is divided amongst the member organisations so that each police force has an underground rescue organisation upon which it can call.

Bay Search and Rescue