Emergency procedures

[JourneySA]

What should you do if you are the first person at the scene of an accident?

A guy sped by me on my ride to work this morning, right into a potentially sketchy situation & I realised that I have no idea what to do if something should happen?

What number do you call, do you just keep the injured person calm etc?

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[Leo]

112 on your cell should get you through to emergency services

[Dwerg]

Speaking as someone who had an accident, a tremendous help to me was just the first on scene people asking emergency (family) numbers and calling them, calling ambulance, relaying my medical aid info to responders and just asking me about myself and chatting to me to distract me until the ambulance arrived. It must have been a little distressing to them seeing me folded like a pretzel but still keeping calm and not freak me out even more. Well mind you, the lady who kept putting her hands on me praying profusely did freak me out a little. I know she meant well but it made me think I was dying for sure 

[DavidMorrisXp]

112 on your cell should get you through to emergency services

That number works even if the phone is locked

[Fuzzy Muzzy]

and take photos.. I came across a rider and pillion who went onto the back of a car when it changed lanes.

I took plenty accident photos and their details, it helped with their insurance and accurate accident reporting.

[m0lt3n]

1. tell someone to call for help
2. make area safe and/or tell someone to (regulate traffic or such)
3. stabilize the guy that fell, start by asking his name and getting permission to help him


or that is what we learn in first aid

[Lord Knormoer]

and take photos.. I came across a rider and pillion who went onto the back of a car when it changed lanes.

I took plenty accident photos and their details, it helped with their insurance and accurate accident reporting.

Taking pictures serves more than one purpose. Apart from recording the details of the accident with specific focus on:
1. the vehicles involved and their position before being moved during the ensuing chaos
2. license plates and other details because some parties have a tendency to disappear when no-one’s watching

It also captures the exact time which you may be asked for by the emergency response team and could have significant impact on the treatment.

[Oubones]

As mentioned above, but just to be safe, you need to ask the person permission first before helping him even though we have a good samaritan clause protecting you in SA. I suggest doing a video recording of the scene and the injured including getting the patients permission on that short recording. Not to be done if the patient is busy dying!
Remember not to move the patient if any neck or back injuries are suspected.

[Black_Hawk]

All of the above mentioned is very true.

But most important of all is to make sure that the accident scene is is secure and that the patient (and you) are safe from potential danger like oncoming traffic, spilled fuel etc.

I went to a FIrst Person on scene course and this is what they told us.....

It you are the first person on an accident scene, park your bike/vehicle in such a way that it will protect you and the injured from possible danger like oncoming traffic and also  to be a clear warning / indication for traffic that something happened in the road.

Take control of the scene until medical assistance arrives, people will listen to somebody giving orders.
 - Get somebody to warn / control and redirect traffic if needed
 - Try and keep the injured person as calm as possible if they are responsive and try to get as much of their personal information as possible.
 - Do a quick assessment of possible injuries, age and gender of the injured before contacting the emergency services. Doing this can save a lot of time, for
   example the emergency services will know if they will need to dispatch an air evacuation rather to send an ambulance it f the injuries are severe or life
   threatening.
 -Try not to move the injured person, but if his/her life is in danger like in they are in the way of traffic, laying in  river, possibility that the vehicle might catch fire or
   whatever possible reason there might be it is better to move the injured to a more safe location. Here they say it is "life over limb". Try to control the bleeding if the
   injured have a gashing wound.
 - Try to make the injured as comfortable as possible, and try to protect them from the elements (sun / rain) as much as possible, for example don't let them ly directly
   on warm tar, put a jacket, car mat or anything under them to avoid them from burning on the tar if it is 30+ degrees outside. Also try to provide some shade or cover
   from the rain it needed.
 - Take as much as possible photos of different angles of the accident scene and get landmark like street names, buildings etc in your photos.
 - Get contact numbers of people who saw what happened. This will help the injured with possible claims like medical and insurance claims.

Wait till the emergency services arrive and let them do their thing.

[Fudmucker]

EMERGENCY SCENE MANAGEMENT

While I wrote this, others may have covered much of my content:

MAKE THE AREA  SAFE !
Your first response must be to prevent further accidents from other approaching traffic.
Face your bike/s towards the traffic with lights on to shield the injured person - the more of you doing this the better.
If you DO NOT have trained First Response available, just try to keep the injured persons still and lying / sitting down and not jumping up and running around.
If they have broken bones and ribs, the likelihood of fractured bone cutting through arteries, veins and verves is very high.

DO NOT EVER REMOVE THEIR HELMET FOR THEM !
If they have a neck injury you could paralyse them for life!

If they are conscious, talk quietly and calmly to them to reduce stress - theirs and yours
Ask if you can contact anyone for them, etc.

CALLING AN AMBULANCE:
If they DO have medical aid, get their details and then call 112 from any cellphone.
You will most likely be required to give the injured person's details to determine the response.
If they have NO hospital plan at least, their only chance is a State Health Ambulance.
The land line for State Ambulance is 10177
YOU need to tell them where you are calling them to in order to assist.
Address, street corners, distance markers the road you are on, cellphone pin etc.

WHILE YOU ARE WAITING:
Keep the injured calm, comfortable and still.
Shield them from the sun.
Offer them water if thirsty.
If they are feeling hot, pour water around their neck.

TAKING PICTURES:
IF you take pictures / videos, capture the physical scene, other vehicles, road markings, road hazards like oil, diesel, loose gravel etc.
Take details of any witnesses and get their pictures too.
RESPECT the dignity of the injured / deceased.
This is NOT to make you famous on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc. !


AFTERWARDS:
If, after feeling totally helpless at a scene you want to do something about it, get trained in First Aid and Emergency Care at a HWSETA accredited service provider.
Level one is minimum with level two preferred for better skills. I recently successfully completed my Level 2 renewal certification.

[DUSTRIDERS]

DO NOT EVER REMOVE THEIR HELMET FOR THEM !
If they have a neck injury you could paralyse them for life!

Spoke to lawyer a week ago and he told me about what happened to his brothers neighbor. Hit a kudu on his GSA. Neighbor heard the accident got in his bakkie and raced to the scene. Not knowing anything about bikes or helmets he battled very long to get the helmet off. The guy was blueish is the face when he finally got it off. Had to get him breathing again. It seems now two years later the guy suffered slight brain damage due to having no oxygen for a minute or three.

[cocky]

Speaking as someone who had an accident, a tremendous help to me was just the first on scene people asking emergency (family) numbers and calling them, calling ambulance, relaying my medical aid info to responders and just asking me about myself and chatting to me to distract me until the ambulance arrived. It must have been a little distressing to them seeing me folded like a pretzel but still keeping calm and not freak me out even more. Well mind you, the lady who kept putting her hands on me praying profusely did freak me out a little. I know she meant well but it made me think I was dying for sure 

It will seem, based on past actions and outcomes, that you are impervious to death!

[Tabasco]

I once came across an accident scene where a biker hit a pedestrian ,
everyone new to the scene attended to the pedestrian who was obviously in serious pain, the biker was laying dead still (unconscious / I did not know at the time) in the middle of the road.

I took it upon myself to sit besides him waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
After some time  he became conscious, we started communicating , he then sat up , was able to remove his helmet by himself.
Stood up & started walking - conversation became more clear , ambulance arrived & he told them to attend to the pedestrian.

We took his mobile & phoned his wife , he also phoned work to send a bakkie to pick up his bike.
By the time I left he was arranging for the bike to be transported & his wife to fetch him.

Driving home I could not believe what just happened , one moment I thought he was a goner the next he was of to the hospital for check-up.

moral of (my) story - I have no medical background but decided to show a fellow biker my support & decided to hang in there with him (irrespective of which way things turn out) and in this case all went well , I think keeping calm & show support helps. 

[Fudmucker]

DO NOT EVER REMOVE THEIR HELMET FOR THEM !
If they have a neck injury you could paralyse them for life!

Spoke to lawyer a week ago and he told me about what happened to his brothers neighbor. Hit a kudu on his GSA. Neighbor heard the accident got in his bakkie and raced to the scene. Not knowing anything about bikes or helmets he battled very long to get the helmet off. The guy was blueish is the face when he finally got it off. Had to get him breathing again. It seems now two years later the guy suffered slight brain damage due to having no oxygen for a minute or three.

In response, your neighbour was lucky !
A well-fitting helmet is tight and constructed to protect the skull and its contents from injury.
Removing it is very unlikely to promote breathing, unless parts of the helmet are pressing on the throat or mouth/nose.
Just cutting the chinstrap would assist in such circumstances.
If the injured person is unconscious, even when starting CPR at the roadside, one should not remove the helmet.

Assist the person if THEY remove their helmet, but don't do it of your own initiative.
Also DON'T drag the injured away unless they are in IMMEDIATE danger of fire, falling debris etc.

[DUSTRIDERS]

DO NOT EVER REMOVE THEIR HELMET FOR THEM !
If they have a neck injury you could paralyse them for life!

Spoke to lawyer a week ago and he told me about what happened to his brothers neighbor. Hit a kudu on his GSA. Neighbor heard the accident got in his bakkie and raced to the scene. Not knowing anything about bikes or helmets he battled very long to get the helmet off. The guy was blueish is the face when he finally got it off. Had to get him breathing again. It seems now two years later the guy suffered slight brain damage due to having no oxygen for a minute or three.

In response, your neighbour was lucky !
A well-fitting helmet is tight and constructed to protect the skull and its contents from injury.
Removing it is very unlikely to promote breathing, unless parts of the helmet are pressing on the throat or mouth/nose.
Just cutting the chinstrap would assist in such circumstances.
If the injured person is unconscious, even when starting CPR at the roadside, one should not remove the helmet.

Assist the person if THEY remove their helmet, but don't do it of your own initiative.
Also DON'T drag the injured away unless they are in IMMEDIATE danger of fire, falling debris etc.

It seems he was FM, just surviving the kudu hit at 120+ he was lucky. Actually broke nothing was just knocked unconscious.

[2StrokeDan]

Speaking as someone who had an accident, a tremendous help to me was just the first on scene people asking emergency (family) numbers and calling them, calling ambulance, relaying my medical aid info to responders and just asking me about myself and chatting to me to distract me until the ambulance arrived. It must have been a little distressing to them seeing me folded like a pretzel but still keeping calm and not freak me out even more. Well mind you, the lady who kept putting her hands on me praying profusely did freak me out a little. I know she meant well but it made me think I was dying for sure 

Where on you did she put her hands?

[Dwerg]

Speaking as someone who had an accident, a tremendous help to me was just the first on scene people asking emergency (family) numbers and calling them, calling ambulance, relaying my medical aid info to responders and just asking me about myself and chatting to me to distract me until the ambulance arrived. It must have been a little distressing to them seeing me folded like a pretzel but still keeping calm and not freak me out even more. Well mind you, the lady who kept putting her hands on me praying profusely did freak me out a little. I know she meant well but it made me think I was dying for sure 

Where on you did she put her hands?

She was praying not preying 

[Dwerg]

Speaking as someone who had an accident, a tremendous help to me was just the first on scene people asking emergency (family) numbers and calling them, calling ambulance, relaying my medical aid info to responders and just asking me about myself and chatting to me to distract me until the ambulance arrived. It must have been a little distressing to them seeing me folded like a pretzel but still keeping calm and not freak me out even more. Well mind you, the lady who kept putting her hands on me praying profusely did freak me out a little. I know she meant well but it made me think I was dying for sure 

It will seem, based on past actions and outcomes, that you are impervious to death!

Despite my best efforts. I'd dare say you were luckier. Walking away from a head on is not something everyone can put on their CV

[Rufus115]

As a measure you can take if/when you are the person in need:

- put an emergency contact number on your phones lockscreen in case you are not copus mentis to advise others what your PIN is. I recently had two occassions to engage with persons that couldnt give that info, One was deceased the other not making sense...it was hard on both circumstances to get next of kin details.

And besides taking control, exude calm even if you are stressed....people will follow a leader.

[Beserker]

DO NOT EVER REMOVE THEIR HELMET FOR THEM !
If they have a neck injury you could paralyse them for life!

Spoke to lawyer a week ago and he told me about what happened to his brothers neighbor. Hit a kudu on his GSA. Neighbor heard the accident got in his bakkie and raced to the scene. Not knowing anything about bikes or helmets he battled very long to get the helmet off. The guy was blueish is the face when he finally got it off. Had to get him breathing again. It seems now two years later the guy suffered slight brain damage due to having no oxygen for a minute or three.

ping StrokeHer, he nearly choked to death because of the chinstrap  -  leave helmet on, loosen strap