Scottish Cave Rescue Organisation

Operational Details

Due to the remoteness of Scottish caving areas, and the distance most SCRO members have to travel to reach them, we depend on an initial response by the local Mountain Rescue Team to a call-out. The SCRO should be immediately placed on standby by the emergency room of Lothian and Borders Police HQ for any underground incident. If it is a confirmed simple incident that may be all that is required. For serious incidents and those that require specialist caving skills there will be an immediate call-out, but it can take several hours for an SCRO team to arrive at the incident. That leaves the local MRT together with any SCRO members in the vicinity to start rescue activities while waiting for the main SCRO team to arrive. Once they arrive it will be a joint effort between the SCRO the local MRT and other services to complete the rescue. For the most serious incidents when more cavers or specialist equipment is needed we can call on cave rescue teams in the north of England for additional assistance.

Rescue Posts

Substantial stores of rescue equipment composed of medical kits, stretchers and rigging equipment are kept at Assynt, Sutherland and in West Lothian, with a supplementary supply held in Glencoe near the Appin caving area.