Survivability advice to persons in distress

HMCG Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were reviewed and updated in May 2024, providing assurance that they align to internationally recognised requirements contained within the IMO’s IAMSAR Manual. The standard operating procedure covers factors that may affect survivability, predicting survival times, information and characteristics on hypothermia and heat stress. These are available to staff through an online management system, which hosts operational detail, procedure, process, and training content. This information is easily accessible, and the information is shared and cascaded across teams for consistency. SOPs are regularly reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis to keep up to date with both internal and international developments, lessons learned and international best practice and guidance. For example, regular operation standards and performance reviews and operational learning reviews help to ensure that SOPs and guidance remain up to date. When updates are made to a SOP these are listed in an operational update message for officers to see on the front page of the Coastguard Information Portal, alerting them to the update. Updates are reflected in CPD and exercises, as well as being highlighted through participation in reviews and the reports from these.

The Department for Transport published its interim response to the Cranston Inquiry in July 2026, which included updates against this recommendation. This update noted that many of the recommendations - including this one - have been marked as complete but are necessarily based on an on-going approach, rather than having a single end point. The Department (DfT), the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), and His Majesty’s Coastguard (HMCG) are committed to on-going learning and improvement, and will regularly review processes and practices, learning from best practice, to ensure that they are fit to meet the evolving challenges of maritime search and rescue (SAR). Due to the operational and ongoing nature of these recommendations, the MCA has established an internal process of monitoring, verifying and reporting against recommendations that are its responsibility, noting that many recommendations require an on-going approach rather than reaching a single, fixed point.