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23 May 2025
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Featured FRI Magazine article: The assessor approach 360° at the World Rescue Organisation by Neville van Rensburg and Julius Fleischman
The WRO facilitates the dissemination of emergency rescue and medical techniques, practices and procedures
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Working as an assessor provides the opportunity to see how world rescue teams address challenges
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Successfully extricating the patient from the scenario requires a high level of skill
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Extrication challenges place great physical and emotional stress on the rescuers
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Each assessment competition delivers its own challenges
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Joel Biever, Luxemborg; Dr Anna Sellmeier, Germany; Neville van Rensburg, South Africa; Roger Ulnsa, Spain; shadow assessor
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https://www.frimedia.org/uploads/1/2/2/7/122743954/fri_vol_3_no_5.pdf
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: The assessor approach 360° at the World Rescue Organisation written by Neville van Rensburg and Julius Fleischman of SAMRO (FRI Vol 3 no 5). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
The assessor approach 360° at the World Rescue Organisation
By Neville van Rensburg and Julius Fleischman, SAMRO
We are in a very privileged position to be given the opportunity to start the new ‘Rescue Roundup’ section in the Fire and Rescue International magazine and we believe that with this privilege, comes a great responsibility. We want to share the most relevant and up-to-date information, education and operational information that is available. We want to ensure that this new section ‘Rescue Roundup’ is accessible to rescuers of all levels of experience.
The World Rescue Organisation is an international body that incorporates national rescue organisations with the view of the enhancement and maintenance of emergency procedures and techniques for dealing with road traffic collisions.
It has been created to facilitate the dissemination of emergency rescue and medical techniques, practices and procedures for the effective management of road traffic collisions and care of those involved. The application of such knowledge can save lives, reduce incidence of disability and dramatically improve long term outcomes.
The World Rescue Organisation draws on the experience of its members operating in Australasia, Australasia Road Rescue Organisation (ARRO); Canada, Alberta Vehicle Extrication Association (AVEA); Germany, Vereinigung zur Förderung des Deutschen Unfallrettungswesens eV (VFDU); Luxemburg, Luxemburg Rescue Organisation (LRO); Portugal, Associação Nacional de Salvamento e Desencarceramento (ANSD); Republic of Ireland, Rescue Organisation Ireland (ROI); Romania and Spain, Asociacion Profesional de Rescate en Accidentes de Trafico (APRAT); South Africa, South Africa Medical Rescue Organisation (SAMRO); North America, North American Vehicle Rescue Association (NAVRA); USA and Canada, Transport Emergency Rescue Committee (TERC) USA and TERC Canada; United Kingdom, United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO) and our partners to develop national bodies, the challenge concept and produce training programmes and initiatives that assist rescue and medical crews whilst working in the prehospital environment.
The WRO exists solely to save lives and reduce injuries, an objective we achieve in three ways:
Why did we become World Rescue Organisation (WRO) assessors?
The experiences we have gathered from our involvement with the WRO assessment competitions in the past, we wanted to become more knowledgeable about this field for which we have such a great passion. It also benefits, in no small measure, our role as medical and rescue training coordinators.
We use various assessment processes worldwide and the WRO assessor policy model benefits us tremendously in our daily work here in South Africa.
Through our role as lecturers, we benefit our students by being able to expose them to the techniques and information that we accumulate from these competitions. Each event represents a wonderfully rich source of innovation opportunities that inspires work directed at delivering excellent service in various environments.
This is why we love working as a WRO assessors.
Challenges
Each assessment competition delivers its own challenges as each is unique in its character, deliverables, complexity and availability of resources.
Working as an assessor provides new learning opportunities in terms of seeing how the world rescue teams and the host-country have addressed challenges identified in previous events, in any given vehicle rescue scenario.
Therefore, being an assessor provides us with an opportunity to explore areas of knowledge that are being newly discovered and developed every day and allows for a learning opportunity of a life time.
Once a year across the world, firefighters, rescuers and paramedics come together to test their skills and experience to a safe, casualty-focused rescue. These extrication challenges place great physical and emotional stress on the rescuers. Added to this, being evaluated on their competency during these events and, taking into account the rate of technological changes and developments within the motor industry, also challenges the rescuer to maintain his or her knowledge on a daily basis.
Successfully extricating the patient from the scenario requires a high level of skill, an understanding of the scenario and a lot of good training, knowledge and tool operations in order to operate in a safe and effective way.
So! The best practice for the assessment of rescue teams must involve assessing their performance in the disciplines of command, technical rescue and medical treatment of the casualty (ies) they encounter.
Depending on the complexity of the scenario a team faces, there may be one or more WRO assessors examining each discipline.
In particular, in the medical area, the WRO will make use of both interior and exterior assessors.
To oversee equity in all aspects of the challenge, from scenario construction to assessment, let us quality assure the assessor once more and substantiate the follow questions:
What makes a good assessor?
Everybody has a different view of a good assessor. Think of the assessors you know who dropped out. Can you learn to be a good assessor? Yes, to some extent…But just like being a good soccer player, you have to have talent, be willing to learn, and take the time to develop your skills.
Some people have talent and don’t really apply it, some try hard but will never be really good and some will never get it. It doesn’t mean that you are a bad person, just that you don’t have the talent for assessing. You must be able to deal with uncertainty, have a sixth sense when something isn’t right and never stop learning so that you can make decisions when faced with uncertainty.
There are some crucial elements that you need to incorporate into your style while you are in front of a rescuer; whether it be by the way you present yourself, or just the way by which you collect information.
All of these issues can affect the quality of the assessment and how smoothly it proceeds. A very valuable point to remember is the process by which you engage the rescuer. Consider the many extraordinary factors when assessing language, background and culture; these all play a crucial part in the final outcome. Care must be taken to value your rescuer.
Scenarios/rescuer
The assessment process and how it will be managed should be agreed upon prior to the actual assessment taking place. It may be a new assignment or it may be a repeat process. Be clear on what is required. ‘May I see an example?’ should be your motto.
Rescuers can be a great way of gathering information but the devil is in the details.
Don’t be afraid to ask the same question more than once. I assume you know about assumptions..! Your entire job as an assessor is to gather facts and to interpret the results; no assumptions permitted. This is still important even if you are familiar with the rescue environment.
Watch out for this, especially if you are involved with the follow-up assessment process. Rescue environments change from year to year, simulation to simulation and rescue organisation to rescue organisation. Presumptions into the assessment could bite you in the end.
Try to see each assessment engagement as a separate issue. Even if you are familiar with the organisation, ask the questions to the relevant personnel (those specifically involved in the process) again and let them answer the questions. Let them do the talking.
Bottom line: You don’t get any answers when you’re doing the talking. Set up a list of questions that allow the rescuer to describe the process. For example, “Can you walk me through how you would typically perform this process?” Use questions to confirm the answer at the end, eg, “My understanding of the current situation is this. Am I correct?” You want to make sure that the processes you have agreed to be as accurate as recorded.
Rescuer
Be friendly but don’t be their friend. This is one of the most helpful items that I have taken to heart. As an assessor, you want your rescuer to feel comfortable.
Practice good feedback facilitation
You should always practice good feedback facilitation such as introductions, setting the tone of the assessment, good time management, and keeping proper focus on the objective. This is important to ensure that all of the necessary information is gathered within the appropriate time-frame. Keep in mind that these are all recommendations and general guidelines to an assessment process. When the actual rescue work is being performed, you are the general on the ground; remember that no successful battle plan has been followed to the letter and the battle won. Adjust to the changes within the group and environment and everything will complete successfully!
Characteristics of an assessor
First impressions
Assessor attributes
Abilities of the ideal assessor
Communication skills
How well do you communicate?
Communicating during the assessment:
Things to remember:
Skills (Certificate, proficient in listening skills)
Listening skills
An assessor needs to be:
80 percent of communication is non‐verbal
Communication is give-and-take … what non‐verbal messages are YOU sending?
Remember
Don’t forget that preparation is the key
We invite every paramedic, fire fighter and rescuer to be part of this new opportunity that saves more lives every day and for this reason, we must be prepared to share our knowledge, experience, skills equipment in order to operate in a safe and effective way in our professions.
We thank you for your participation!
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: The assessor approach 360° at the World Rescue Organisation written by Neville van Rensburg and Julius Fleischman of SAMRO (FRI Vol 3 no 5). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
The assessor approach 360° at the World Rescue Organisation
By Neville van Rensburg and Julius Fleischman, SAMRO
We are in a very privileged position to be given the opportunity to start the new ‘Rescue Roundup’ section in the Fire and Rescue International magazine and we believe that with this privilege, comes a great responsibility. We want to share the most relevant and up-to-date information, education and operational information that is available. We want to ensure that this new section ‘Rescue Roundup’ is accessible to rescuers of all levels of experience.
The World Rescue Organisation is an international body that incorporates national rescue organisations with the view of the enhancement and maintenance of emergency procedures and techniques for dealing with road traffic collisions.
It has been created to facilitate the dissemination of emergency rescue and medical techniques, practices and procedures for the effective management of road traffic collisions and care of those involved. The application of such knowledge can save lives, reduce incidence of disability and dramatically improve long term outcomes.
The World Rescue Organisation draws on the experience of its members operating in Australasia, Australasia Road Rescue Organisation (ARRO); Canada, Alberta Vehicle Extrication Association (AVEA); Germany, Vereinigung zur Förderung des Deutschen Unfallrettungswesens eV (VFDU); Luxemburg, Luxemburg Rescue Organisation (LRO); Portugal, Associação Nacional de Salvamento e Desencarceramento (ANSD); Republic of Ireland, Rescue Organisation Ireland (ROI); Romania and Spain, Asociacion Profesional de Rescate en Accidentes de Trafico (APRAT); South Africa, South Africa Medical Rescue Organisation (SAMRO); North America, North American Vehicle Rescue Association (NAVRA); USA and Canada, Transport Emergency Rescue Committee (TERC) USA and TERC Canada; United Kingdom, United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO) and our partners to develop national bodies, the challenge concept and produce training programmes and initiatives that assist rescue and medical crews whilst working in the prehospital environment.
The WRO exists solely to save lives and reduce injuries, an objective we achieve in three ways:
- We provide training, resources and systems for rescue services in developing nations through our Developing Nations programme.
- We share technical and theoretical knowledge to establish global best practice through our annual World Rescue Challenge.
- We provide for the enhancement of individual rescue skills in both member and developing nations through our Rescue Trainer Bursary program.
Why did we become World Rescue Organisation (WRO) assessors?
The experiences we have gathered from our involvement with the WRO assessment competitions in the past, we wanted to become more knowledgeable about this field for which we have such a great passion. It also benefits, in no small measure, our role as medical and rescue training coordinators.
We use various assessment processes worldwide and the WRO assessor policy model benefits us tremendously in our daily work here in South Africa.
Through our role as lecturers, we benefit our students by being able to expose them to the techniques and information that we accumulate from these competitions. Each event represents a wonderfully rich source of innovation opportunities that inspires work directed at delivering excellent service in various environments.
This is why we love working as a WRO assessors.
Challenges
Each assessment competition delivers its own challenges as each is unique in its character, deliverables, complexity and availability of resources.
Working as an assessor provides new learning opportunities in terms of seeing how the world rescue teams and the host-country have addressed challenges identified in previous events, in any given vehicle rescue scenario.
Therefore, being an assessor provides us with an opportunity to explore areas of knowledge that are being newly discovered and developed every day and allows for a learning opportunity of a life time.
Once a year across the world, firefighters, rescuers and paramedics come together to test their skills and experience to a safe, casualty-focused rescue. These extrication challenges place great physical and emotional stress on the rescuers. Added to this, being evaluated on their competency during these events and, taking into account the rate of technological changes and developments within the motor industry, also challenges the rescuer to maintain his or her knowledge on a daily basis.
Successfully extricating the patient from the scenario requires a high level of skill, an understanding of the scenario and a lot of good training, knowledge and tool operations in order to operate in a safe and effective way.
So! The best practice for the assessment of rescue teams must involve assessing their performance in the disciplines of command, technical rescue and medical treatment of the casualty (ies) they encounter.
Depending on the complexity of the scenario a team faces, there may be one or more WRO assessors examining each discipline.
In particular, in the medical area, the WRO will make use of both interior and exterior assessors.
To oversee equity in all aspects of the challenge, from scenario construction to assessment, let us quality assure the assessor once more and substantiate the follow questions:
- What makes a good assessor?
- Characteristics of an assessor?
- Abilities of the Ideal assessor?
- Assessor attributes?
What makes a good assessor?
Everybody has a different view of a good assessor. Think of the assessors you know who dropped out. Can you learn to be a good assessor? Yes, to some extent…But just like being a good soccer player, you have to have talent, be willing to learn, and take the time to develop your skills.
Some people have talent and don’t really apply it, some try hard but will never be really good and some will never get it. It doesn’t mean that you are a bad person, just that you don’t have the talent for assessing. You must be able to deal with uncertainty, have a sixth sense when something isn’t right and never stop learning so that you can make decisions when faced with uncertainty.
There are some crucial elements that you need to incorporate into your style while you are in front of a rescuer; whether it be by the way you present yourself, or just the way by which you collect information.
All of these issues can affect the quality of the assessment and how smoothly it proceeds. A very valuable point to remember is the process by which you engage the rescuer. Consider the many extraordinary factors when assessing language, background and culture; these all play a crucial part in the final outcome. Care must be taken to value your rescuer.
Scenarios/rescuer
The assessment process and how it will be managed should be agreed upon prior to the actual assessment taking place. It may be a new assignment or it may be a repeat process. Be clear on what is required. ‘May I see an example?’ should be your motto.
Rescuers can be a great way of gathering information but the devil is in the details.
Don’t be afraid to ask the same question more than once. I assume you know about assumptions..! Your entire job as an assessor is to gather facts and to interpret the results; no assumptions permitted. This is still important even if you are familiar with the rescue environment.
Watch out for this, especially if you are involved with the follow-up assessment process. Rescue environments change from year to year, simulation to simulation and rescue organisation to rescue organisation. Presumptions into the assessment could bite you in the end.
Try to see each assessment engagement as a separate issue. Even if you are familiar with the organisation, ask the questions to the relevant personnel (those specifically involved in the process) again and let them answer the questions. Let them do the talking.
Bottom line: You don’t get any answers when you’re doing the talking. Set up a list of questions that allow the rescuer to describe the process. For example, “Can you walk me through how you would typically perform this process?” Use questions to confirm the answer at the end, eg, “My understanding of the current situation is this. Am I correct?” You want to make sure that the processes you have agreed to be as accurate as recorded.
Rescuer
Be friendly but don’t be their friend. This is one of the most helpful items that I have taken to heart. As an assessor, you want your rescuer to feel comfortable.
Practice good feedback facilitation
You should always practice good feedback facilitation such as introductions, setting the tone of the assessment, good time management, and keeping proper focus on the objective. This is important to ensure that all of the necessary information is gathered within the appropriate time-frame. Keep in mind that these are all recommendations and general guidelines to an assessment process. When the actual rescue work is being performed, you are the general on the ground; remember that no successful battle plan has been followed to the letter and the battle won. Adjust to the changes within the group and environment and everything will complete successfully!
Characteristics of an assessor
- Knowledgeable
- Observant, good listener
- Confidential
- Independent
- Unbiased and impartial
First impressions
- Professional appearance
- Alert and focused
- Positive and balanced attitude, open‐minded, curious and respectful
- Obviously prepared and organised
- Open and communicative
- Able to establish rapport and set the tone for an effective assessment
Assessor attributes
- Open-minded; willing to consider other points of view
- Sound judgment and good analytical skills
- Discerning; what’s most important and how does it fit?
- Tenacity; persistent and focused on achieving results
- Ethical; fair, truthful, sincere, discrete
- Diplomatic
- Decisive
- Self‐reliant
Abilities of the ideal assessor
- Highly functional communicator; excellent listening, speaking and written skills
- Focused
- Collaborative
- Observant
- Systematic and organised
- Prepared
- Good time management
- Flexibility within the assessment
- Adaptable to changing work assignments and conditions
Communication skills
How well do you communicate?
- What is said may not be what is heard
- Choose your words carefully
- Observe how they are received
- What is heard may not be understood
- Engage in discussion to ensure understanding
- What is understood may not be accepted
- The assesse may be defensive
Communicating during the assessment:
Things to remember:
- Assesses are under stress
- No one is a mind reader
- Don’t assume
- Ask open‐ended questions
- Listen to the responses
Skills (Certificate, proficient in listening skills)
Listening skills
An assessor needs to be:
- Active and in the moment
- Focused, perceptive
- Respectful
- Ask open‐ended questions
- Request a description
- Take notes
80 percent of communication is non‐verbal
- Body language
- Posture
- Eye contact
- Arm position
- Facial expression
- Eyes
- Mouth
- Overall attentiveness
Communication is give-and-take … what non‐verbal messages are YOU sending?
Remember
- Assessors represent themselves
- Expertise
- Reputation
- Assessors represent the rescue world
- Assessors represent International Rescue Organisation (WRO)
- Assessors support the WRO organisation
- Assessors support the arrangements to which world organisations is signatory
Don’t forget that preparation is the key
- Take notes
- Breathe
- Use your imagination
- Smile
- Maintain your sense of humour
- Thank your hosts, thank your team
We invite every paramedic, fire fighter and rescuer to be part of this new opportunity that saves more lives every day and for this reason, we must be prepared to share our knowledge, experience, skills equipment in order to operate in a safe and effective way in our professions.
We thank you for your participation!