CSA Z1620-2024: Ground Search and Rescue Operations

As dusk settles over the Canadian wilderness, the air carries the sharp scent of pine and the cool hush of evening. A team of volunteers moves through the forest, responding to a call for help. Somewhere beyond the tree line, a missing hiker presses on—fatigued, exposed to the elements, and running out of daylight. Every decision carries weight. This critical coordination and precision on the ground is what CSA Z1620-2024: Core competency standards for ground search and rescue operations: Searcher, team leader, and SAR manager establishes, serving as the National Standard of Canada for core competencies in ground search and rescue (GSAR) operations.

Canada’s Search and Rescue in Numbers: A High‑Stakes National Lifeline

Canada’s search and rescue (SAR) system responds to more than 9,000 incidents each year, with roughly 1,000 to 1,700 high‑distress cases that prompt the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to launch dedicated air assets—efforts that have helped save over 1,200 lives annually across Canada’s vast and challenging terrain and waters.

Supported by approximately 950 CAF personnel on duty around the clock and a network of approximately 9,000 ground search and rescue (GSAR) volunteers alongside the Canadian Coast Guard, this blend of military capability and civilian commitment assures rapid, coordinated response from coast to coast.

By aligning activities with CSA Z1620-2024, responders operating on land, in the air, and at sea uphold a shared standard of competence and professionalism that directly contributes to effective life‑saving action.

What Is CSA Z1620-2024?

CSA Z1620-2024 defines minimum knowledge and performance requirements for three key roles:

Searcher: A trained individual, reporting to the team leader, who is tasked to use observation skills to detect clues that could lead to the location of a subject of a search.
Team leader: A trained individual reporting to the SAR manager and responsible for the supervision and conduct of a GSAR team and for the implementation of a team assignment.
Search and rescue (SAR) manager: the person responsible for the overall planning, organization, coordination, and oversight of a ground search and rescue (GSAR) teams incident. This role may be held by the authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ) or delegated to another GSAR organization. The search manager might be the incident commander under the Incident Command System (ICS)/Incident Management System (IMS).

The goal of CSA Z1620-2024 is to assure consistency and safety across volunteer and professional GSAR teams in Canada. This standard is intended for lost and missing person responses.

This standard does not have the force of law unless mandated by legislation or referenced in regulations of the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ). Users of this Standard are advised to contact the AHJ in their area to determine the extent CSA Z1620-2024 is referenced.

Canada’s Search and Rescue System: A National Lifeline in Action

In Canada, Search And Rescue (SAR) is a coordinated, national effort involving federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, military, volunteer and industry partners working together to locate and assist people in distress across a vast and varied landscape—from remote wilderness and inland waters to coastal seas. The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) leads aeronautical SAR and coordinates the national response for air and maritime incidents, with crews on standby 24/7 and strategically positioned assets ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) for missing persons on land and inland waters is typically managed by provincial or territorial authorities and delegated to local police, with CAF and Canadian Rangers providing support when requested. Highly trained SAR Technicians, skilled in advanced medical care and specialized rescue techniques, operate alongside volunteer groups like the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association to extend Canada’s reach in saving lives. By aligning training and operations with CSA Z1620-2024, Canada’s SAR teams assure that every responder—from ground volunteers to CAF SAR Technicians—turns coordinated effort into life-saving results.

CSA Z1620-2024: Guiding Life-Saving Excellence in Ground Search and Rescue

In a world where emergencies strike without warning—a hiker lost in a dense forest, a community trembling under rising floodwaters, an aircraft plunged into a remote valley—CSA Z1620-2024 is a standard of life-saving professionalism, charting the skills, judgment, and precision that turn chaos into coordinated action, assuring that when every second counts, lives are not left to chance.