ISAR3, 2a Parkwood Close, Plymouth (2025)

22/08/2025

A good day in low water conditions for last weeks Rescue 3 swift water rescue instructor practical update.

22/08/2025

Marine projects are a specialty of ours. Here a caisson – a submersible structure used to block the entry to a tidal basin(s) and maintain water levels during low tides, is photographed leaving Devonport for a new home. We snapped this picture in Plymouth Sound while running a Rope rescue course as she was towed out into the sound. Our team provided confined space entry systems, rope access services & water safety cover for the contractor surveying & refurbing this “black box” before she was issued with a fit for towage certificate and left Plymouth for the last time. Bon Voyage….

22/08/2025

Supplied air systems came out to play this week at Hinkley Point C as we continued to support the development of confined space skills and rescue for our valued customer preparing to assemble the primary circuit of the reactor. Great team. Great culture. Great project.

13/08/2025

Do your team always walk their water site? Are you sure? Do you monitor and audit?

Its essential when working near to moving water that your team do an appreciation when they first arrive. You probably have a procedure in place, your team have completed some form of working near water training. They have personal flotation devices issued to them, yes?

Familiarity and confidence can lead to short cuts and the normalization of risk, after all they have been doing this for years without an incident, right? The photo is of a very popular kayaking section on the River Dart in Devon. The temporary strainer created by the jammed tree is a significant hazard, despite low water , stable weather, good pre planning & a “qualified” team deploying to site.

You want a culture of do it right every time, even if it’s never gone wrong. Everybody needs to be reminded from time to time, what good looks like …..

13/08/2025

We don’t want simply qualified. We want experienced, tested, resilient staff. Its good to see some of our staff still getting work years after their TV careers ended 😊

13/08/2025

Are you a competent confined space entry planner?

Will your team escape safely? Will a casualty run out of air during the rescue?

Constant Flow Emergency Escape Breathing Apparatus (EEBA) are commonly specified for confined spaces, like the CF15 illustrated. A simple, robust system, it’s common on training courses, hire fleets and confined space jobs.

Advantages: Simple to use, no quantitative face fit required, low skills maintenance, affordable, readily available on hire fleets.

However, as the competent person planning the job, you need to consider if this is a safe system of work.

Will your entrants breath above the supply rate? If the wearer is working hard, climbing a long ladder or anxious they can create negative pressure inside the hood and contaminate themselves during the escape. Have you risk assessed the work rate and confidence (experience) of the entry team to escape at low breathing rates? Is the route out a short walk or more demanding?

Are the EEBAs fully charged? Often you get a pressure drop, especially on cold days with hire sets on site for multiple days. A CF15 dropped from 200 to180 bar means your CF15 will only last 13 minutes!

Have you factored in “waiting time” for multiple entrants at a ladder or winch? How long will it take to get all your team out . Are you dispatching rescuers into the confined space via the same route?

Have you considered that your entrants will probably be escaping in a state of anxiety, their helmets on (head injury risk) and may have lost their lighting too. Confusion, noise, restricted visibility all add to the stress of the escape. Are your team practiced or was their last wear, in a training centre two years ago? Are they competent? Its your decision…

How about the casualty left behind in the confined space? Even if wearing an EEBA. Will they survive long enough for the rescue team to mobilize, access the confined space, pass the exiting entrants, reach the casualty… package and extract back and out of the system? Have you assessed if this is viable and likely, if not you haven’t done your job as the competent planner.

Safety starts with planning....

07/08/2025

How would you pack your throwline?

06/08/2025

Breaking Boundaries Team back at ISAR3 this week for the Rescue 3 Rope Rescue Technician Course. Great support from Rescue 3 with all the registrations and instructor resources, Sovos for stepping up and providing some helmets and Mechanics Gloves for coming down, listening to customers and actually making PPE fit for women.

This group of women - all of differing experience and a range of organisations have really come together to support, help and encourage each other as the technical demands of the scheme start to bight. Juggling busy lives with mixed levels of support from their employers and operational teams, they are all determined to put in the work to succeed. Each week between courses, they get updates, home work and suggestions for activities they can do to keep compounding knowledge and experience. The level of effort and commitment is staggering to witness.

Today we are off to a South West Water site, they too have been kind enough to support the initiative and make their venues available for training. Tomorrow we go to Tamar Crossings at Plymouth for some work at real height. Again local businesses and organisations supporting and leaning in to make it a success. Thank you.

We have assembled a team of very experienced instructors here to support this initiative. ISAR3 are deliberately adapting our philosophy; how we teach and develop the next generation of talent. How to create powerful environments that foster learning, and encourage meaningful development. So this process is enriching our team as much as it is working for the Breaking Boundaries Cohort.

Everyone involved is starting to realize that it was never really just about how to do rope rescue….. To everyone watching, please support them, there will be more opportunities coming.

31/07/2025

Candidates one of our three Rescue 3 Europe accredited Safe Working nr Water Courses delivered to a group from DEFRA this week in Northampton. The course uses inflatable lifejackets to build awareness of working near and around water for team members deployed to such environments as this is what the client uses day to day. The course covers the theory and practice. The practical sessions are always the most popular part of the day, especially in the summer!

Here delegates are experiencing defensive swimming in an inflatable lifejacket, they have previously deployed for the first time. This builds understanding of the limitations of this type of Personal Flotation Device for use in moving water and river environments. Specifically; wearer’s ability to spot downstream hazards when swimming defensively, restricted swimming maneuverability, leg drag (the PDF is designed to send your legs deep into the water), water funneling into the face as you travel through standing waves due to the front split in the design. The challenges of escaping the water course (especially through a bank or vegetation) is also explored together with the vulnerability of the PFD to damage / puncture. Of course there are good reasons to use an inflatable lifejacket PFD for bank workers, but this session is about building awareness in using the equipment and understanding it’s limitations.

We put delegates into drysuits and helmets because it is training. On site, they will often be wearing high vis PPE and or Waders if an ecologist for example, so we also reinforce the risks of cold water shock and head injury when actually working on site. These practical sessions build awareness of being both competent and engaged when risk assessing your work. We want delegates to be cautious about where they use their issued PFDs and where the limits are.

PS This is why we don’t offer this type of training as an on line course!

31/07/2025

Candidates on this week’s City and Guilds 6160-02 Medium Risk Confined space training here in Plymouth UK getting to grips with escape breathing sets – here they are using a CF15 constant flow hood system from Dragaer. Does your job planner know; The difference between Constant Flow and Positive Pressure systems? required pre checks? Type if face fit required (if any)? Limitations of both systems, so they can specify the correct solution for your task?

25/07/2025

Preparing venues for the upcoming Breaking Boundaries Women in Technical Rope Rescue event in August. This will see the team reassemble in Devon for another 5 days of intensive training on their Rescue 3 Europe Rope Rescue Technician Course.

The women will be covering off personal skills - rope to rope transfers, pick off rescues & climbing through knots - giving them the skills for their instructor pathway.

New elements to be introduced: Artificial High Directionals, a whole sweep of offset rigging, including guiding lines, tracking lines, redirects, cross hauls, etc.

Introduction to high line systems - we have something special planned here for them...

More advanced contributory anchor rigging systems including some tricky site rigging using modern independent tie off anchors using light weight low stretch materials. We will also be pushing them on system analysis getting them to rig wide angle (above 120 degree) systems - working out tension forces, compression forces and turning moments on frames - this will mess with their heads a bit :-)

There will be loads of messing about with stretchers and tricky edge transitions and this time we are going to take them to height to build exposure, trust in their equipment and each other.

We are very pleased to have support from local businesses and infrastructure operators to enable us to get them out of the training centre and into some unusual venues....

Lets hope for sunny days, smiley faces, Dartmoor
swims and barbeques for the team before the real work starts on the instructor pathway in the autumn.

If you want to follow this amazing project and or support these women search for Breaking Boundaries on the socials.

We are definitely doing this again next year as we have been overwhelmed by the interest and so impressed by the quality of the candidates. So stay close to see when applications open.

25/07/2025

What problem are we solving?

Another day, another working in water course for our valued DEFRA customer, this time in Yorkshire. One of our training teams have been in the north all week delivering courses around the region.

Anyone can teach a method… Here students are experimenting with wading in a river, there are of course many ways to do this. The problem we need to solve for our client Is not “how to wade in a river” but rather “when” and more importantly when not. Considerations include; flow, depth, river bed, objective, equipment team size and experience and of course consequence of the plan not working- what’s down stream, where is the safe swim escape and how will they get out?

There’s so much more than just the technique. Our ability to understand the real problem and form the training around the needs of the client rather than just giving a quick exposure to a technique is why DEFRA have chosen us as their national training partner for the last 20 years and continue to use us.

PS This is why we don’t offer water safety training as an on line option.

ISAR3

22/08/2025

22/08/2025

22/08/2025

13/08/2025

13/08/2025

13/08/2025

07/08/2025

06/08/2025

31/07/2025

31/07/2025

25/07/2025

25/07/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Featured

Share