Recommendation CR6: Joint exercises on triage procedure
From The Cranston Inquiry Report, published 5 February 2026.
Recommendation
Those involved in maritime search and rescue should continue to undertake joint exercises on the application of the Mass Persons in the Water Triage procedure.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended continuing joint exercises on maritime mass water triage procedures. In October 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that the recommendation had been marked as complete, noting that it relies on an ongoing approach and that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has established an internal monitoring process (Cabinet Office, Oct 2026). In July 2026, the Department for Transport stated that His Majesty's Coastguard participated in annual mass rescue live-play exercises from 2023 to 2025 and would test the triage tool again in October 2026 (Department for Transport response, Jul 2026).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 16 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.
Government response
All of those involved in maritime SAR recognise the importance and value of joint exercises on the recovery of multiple persons from the water. HMCG and BSC have participated in RNLI’s annual mass rescue live-play exercise in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and will continue to do so. The Multiple Persons in Water Triage Tool was tested in the last two live-play exercises and will be tested again in the exercise planned for October 2026.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: Cranston Inquiry Report: Interim Response (CP 1635), presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Transport in July 2026. The words are the Department for Transport's. The paper describes HM Coastguard, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch in the third person ("HMCG recognises ..."), so the site files each passage under the Department, not under the body the recommendation is addressed to.
Delivery
Cabinet Office says completed (5 October 2026)
The Department for Transport published its interim response to the Cranston Inquiry in July 2026, which included updates against this recommendation. This update noted that many of the recommendations - including this one - have been marked as complete but are necessarily based on an on-going approach, rather than having a single end point. The Department (DfT), the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), and His Majesty’s Coastguard (HMCG) are committed to on-going learning and improvement, and will regularly review processes and practices, learning from best practice, to ensure that they are fit to meet the evolving challenges of maritime search and rescue (SAR). Due to the operational and ongoing nature of these recommendations, the MCA has established an internal process of monitoring, verifying and reporting against recommendations that are its responsibility, noting that many recommendations require an on-going approach rather than reaching a single, fixed point.
From: Cranston Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard, October 2026 (data file)
Site note: The dashboard gives each recommendation its own cell. The cells for recommendations 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 15 and 16 carry the same words, so the same passage is recorded on each.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department for Transport
Response - Cabinet Office
Delivery statement