Basic First Aid Advice

When you first attend an accident you must make sure you have called the company's first aider and also the emergency services. This video is not to train you to be a first aider, it is to make you aware of some injuries so you can keep yourself sale and give the appropriate help.

Dealing with any accident or incident can be frightening for you and others around. You may see things that are upsetting so you need to try and calm.

Whenever approach an accident scene you need to make sure that you:-

1 – You keep yourself safe: Approach the scene looking for dangers that could cause you harm or further harm to the patient. Contact the first aider for the business and call the emergency services if necessary. Apply personal protection equipment (PPE) such as gloves and face-shields, this is to protect you from blood and other bodily fluids that could cause you harm.

2 – Keep Talking: Talk to the person as much as possible, if you’re talking you can be a reassuring voice, it’s always good to hear a friendly voice. Sometimes just talking to the person can be the best first aid you can provide. Talk to them even if they are not responding, they may not respond but they may still be able to hear you.
If you suspect a spinal injury then talking is imperative, as it will limit the need for them to move, which if done could cause further spinal injuries.

3 – Breathing: This is the most important check in any first aid situation, if no breathing is detected then this is a serious situation and getting professional care is essential. You can open their airway and check for breathing by placing your hand on their forehead and chin and gently tilting the head back. This pulls the tongue from the back of the mouth and should clear the airway making it easier to detect breathing.
Other concerns with breathing could be that someone is on there back and unconscious, vomiting could be a serious issue, in this case, they should be turned on there side and if known placed into the recovery position.

4 – Serious Bleeding: The best thing is to get the patient to apply direct pressure to the wound and elevate above their head if possible. The direct pressure will stop the blood flow and raise above the head will reduce the blood pressure.
If the patient is feeling unwell get them to lay down, once laid down the patient cannot come to any further harm also it’s a good idea to raise the legs this redirects excess blood in the legs to the vital organs.

5 – Burns: can be a problem in the workplace, if it’s a temperature related burn then run the burn under cold water for 10 minutes, it cannot get to a tap fill up a container will water or use a hose and keep as much water on the burn as possible.
Chemical burns need to be handled with care, make sure that none of the chemicals harms us, you may need to brush powders off the wound or wash of other chemicals, however, care must be taken not to spread chemicals onto yourself or further onto them

6 – Broken Bones: These are best left where they are, just keep the patient in place and keep reassuring them and wait for emergency services to arrive

Finally, we have only looked at a few subjects, treat all accidents as serious until you know otherwise, always make sure you get help from the appropriate person and remember an accident will have to be investigated to ensure that evidence of the accident is kept safe and you follow all workplace policies and procedures.