First Aid International

Emergency Procedure

When approaching an accident scene:

- Look around for dangers

- Check casualty’s and their response

- Call OOO

- Care for injuries.

It is necessary to have an order of priority to ensure the safety of YOU the first aider, then Casualty/s then bystanders, and also to treat the casualtys in an order of life threatening conditions to less serious.

  1. Look around for dangers
    1. Is the area safe?

    2. What does the incident or emergency involve

    3. How many persons are involved in the incident

    4. Is anyone able to assist?

  2. Check the casualty’s response.

    You must first look for conditions that are an immediate threat to the casualty’s life.

    1. Is the casualty responding to spoken commands or not?

    2. If the casualty is not responding, immediately roll them into the lateral position and check their airway.

    3. Once the airway is clear, check breathing.

    4. If the casualty is breathing now, check circulation ( their PulSE ) for regularity and strength.

    5. Then check for external bleeding.

    6. Remember
      1. D = Danger

      2. R = Response

      3. A = Airway

      4. B = Breathing

      5. C = Circulation

  3. Call 000

    Get professional help to the casualty as soon as you can. When calling for the ambulance, ensure you give accurate information regarding the location, number of casualties involved in the accident and their injuries. Remember if calling from a mobile phone and your phone is out of range, know your emergency service number such as 112 for most digital phones.

    The ambulance operator may also be able to give the caller instructions on how best to care for the casualty until help arrives.

    Tell the person making the call (if not the first aider) to report to the first aider after making the call and inform the first aider what the emergency operator said.

  4. Call 000

    If your casualty has any life-threatening conditions do not waste time caring for other injuries. Continue to check the airway, breathing and circulation at regular intervals, and provide care only for the life-threatening conditions.

    If your casualty is not in any life-threatening condition you can now address other injuries the casualty may have sustained. You will need to obtain the history of the incident, the symptoms described by the casualty and any additional signs that you may observe. For example, you might find possible broken bones, minor bleeding or a specific medical condition such as epilepsy.

    The three steps you need to address are:

    1. ask questions to the casualty and bystanders to establish what may have happened;

    2. note the casualties pulse and breathing rates; and

    3. check the casualty’s whole body for other injuries.

    Remember not to move the injured, conscious casualty unless they are in a dangerous situation. Most injured people will find a position of comfort themselves if they are able to move.

© First Aid International 2002

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