Why IRIA?

The International Rescue Instructors Association (IRIA) is for the professional instructor who educates on an International Standard; for programs who qualify for International Standard conformity; for membership to unite a water safety community.

Accredited members are licensed the use of the Risk Management Matrix® for the duration of their membership.

People need and want information, and this especially true for all of those instructing others in the safety and rescue world.

Our craft is dispersed and fractured by many different factors such as geography and operating environments, including competing national, jurisdictional, political and business interests. From a dispassionate, professional, third party perspective, the industry appears to be fragmented and isolated.

The fact is that there are many current leading edge, high performance, subject matter experts in our fields, isolated in various silos around the world with no intercontecting hub.  The IRIA is that hub.

It is clear to us that there is a need for simple, applicable, facts driven, risk based, performance qualified Standards that professional instructors and managers can implement.

The IRIA Standards are designed and developed, so they can work within other various standards that are  fact-based guidelines.

We have all heard of many unsupported training programs out there. In the absence of peer-to-peer dialog of timely, accurate information, avoidable liability can and will creep into the risk mitigation equation of training delivery and program management.

Through networking and teamwork, the IRIA seeks to bridge this gap as a non-profit entity dedicated to you the instructor and/or manager, together building on professionalism and best practices.