Scene Assessment for First Aid

When dealing with a sick or injured person and administering first aid, the first step you should remember is that you have to protect yourself. If you are injured while attempting to help someone, you are not only unable to help the person but now you have complicated the matter and the rescuers will have to deal with two injured people. This is the most important factor in any first aid training, whether it’s first aid for the home or Industrial First Aid Training… you must protect yourself. Downed power lines or traffic that isn’t controlled can make a simple first aid situation a disaster within seconds.

Assessing the Scene

When assessing the scene, you are taking a good look around. Look for any kind of potential dangers such as spilled gasoline, running equipment or anything else than can cause potential problems and injury.

You are also looking to see how many people are injured. People may have wandered off from the accident scene in a dazed condition or, they may have been ejected from a vehicle in a collision or rollover.

Control the Hazards

Once you have assessed the scene for hazards, you must try to control the hazards. This is done to protect yourself, the injured people and bystanders. For example, in a vehicle collision scene, traffic must be controlled. In many situations people have rushed into an accident scene and were hit by oncoming traffic.

 

 

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In a possible electrocution, the power must be shut off. If there are machinery or power tools running, they could be a hazard and should be shut off. Do whatever needs to be done to make the scene safe before attempting to help. You safety is the most import part of any first aid situation.

In some situations, the scene may be too dangerous for you to attempt to help. The best move may be to stand back, and call for the professional help. This could be a very difficult decision to make but, it is the right decision. When people start thinking with their emotions, they often don’t think clearly. They rush into a scene without thinking about safety and this could be a deadly mistake.

Activate EMS

Once the scene is assessed and the hazards have been controlled, the next step is to make sure the proper help is called. The more information you can give, the better.

When calling for help, be prepared to provide the following information:

• The complete address and location
• The nature of the problem
• The number of injured people
• The telephone number you are calling from
• Your name

The emergency dispatcher may want to ask you more questions, don’t hang up first. In most cases, as soon as the dispatcher knows the problem and location, they may put you on hold. When this is happening they may be dispatching the emergency vehicles… they will then come back to you and ask further questions.

Once again, when dealing with a first aid situation, you must make sure the scene is safe. Your safety is the most important part of any rescue or first aid situation.

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