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NUNAVUT
In testing a new national database for collecting search-and-rescue information, Nunavut was able to identify the primary causes of its searches and the groups most likely to be involved.

Nunavut has been working with the Canadian Inland Search and Rescue Incident System since late August using data from this calendar year, said Ed Zebedee, director of protection services with territorial government.

The system is an online database that records, tracks and analyzes incidents. The database includes information such as where and when an incident occurred, who responded and where a person is found.

Zebedee said the database keeps a lot of information, which has enabled his department to identify the three main causes of searches and the most likely age group involved.

"(The most common cause is) mechanical breakdown, the next is running out of fuel and the third is being stuck, either in mud or snow," he said. "We actually thought the age group would be a younger age demographic but it's more in the 40- to 50-year-old range. That was a bit of a surprise to us."

That data will enable the territorial government to better focus its prevention messages, he added.

New reporting forms will need to be developed, as the database captures a lot more information than what the territorial government records, said Zebedee.

For instance, the database keeps track of all the volunteers and the time they spend on searches, something the territorial government wasn't doing, said Zebedee, relying instead on estimates.

"And it's quite shocking how many hours we do have, that we know of, and a lot of the reports don't have breakdown on hours, but the ones that do, we've been entering," said Zebedee. "We're in the thousands of hours of volunteer time that's been spent on searches."

Nunavut was chosen to test the system partly because it's the co-chair of the Northern Search-and-Rescue Roundtable and partly because it works very closely with the National Search and Rescue Secretariat, which launched the database, said Zebedee.

He added suggestions have been made for a number of ways to improve the database, such as the ability to attach PDF documents to an incident report, a suggestion the secretariat agreed to.

The database will go live sometime in December, said Zebedee.

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