Knowledge Base

Understanding SAR

Foundational explainers written by SoS — free to read, cite and share with your team.

17 April 2026

What is Search and Rescue (SAR)?

A plain-language definition of SAR, its phases, its domains, and the people and systems that make it work.

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17 April 2026

Maritime Search and Rescue

How maritime SAR is organised — from MRCCs and SRRs to rescue boats, distress alerting and on-scene coordination.

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18 April 2026

SAR is a Socio-Technical System of Systems

Why SAR only works when the social and the technical are designed together — and what that means for teams.

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SoS Infographics

Visual explainers — click any infographic to read the full post on LinkedIn.

SAR is fundamentally about helping people to live

Helping people in the field starts with how we treat each other in the team and the office — helping people grow, learn, find opportunity, be promoted and realise their potential, with no room for mobbing, ego-insecurity or psychosocial harm.

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SAR is about people helping people

At sea, sky and surface — and within the team and organisation. Why psychosocial safety and healthy teams matter ethically, legally and professionally: a safe team is a resilient team that saves lives.

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SAR as a sociotechnical system of systems

People, technology, organisations, processes and environment working together around shared mission coordination — adaptive, resilient and integrated.

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Looking for research and publications?

Peer-reviewed papers, presentations and poems are listed on the SARticles page, and curated water-safety documents live in the Library.

SARticles Library