It is a safety issue that the Coastguard did not have a process requiring its crews to undertake pre-departure planning when tasked to an incident thus increasing the risk of an accident occurring en-route to the incident area.
It is recommended that the Chief Executive of The Royal New Zealand Coastguard Inc ensures all Coastguard crews conduct an appropriate pre-departure plan , that includes a risk assessment, and that the plan is reassessed at appropriate times as the rescue scenario unfolds.
