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I found this on another board and figured it should be shared. I pray you never have to use it.
We all recognize that there are risks in this sport that we love, and there are ways to help minimize the damage done if you or fellow rider taste pavement. That being said, please take 10 minutes out of your busy schedules, and please give this a read...it is simply a "WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE AT THE SCENE OF A BIKE ACCIDENT" post, and hey, ya never know, it may just save someones life some day. I am not trying to preach to anyone, I am just saying that it is better to have this info and not need it rather than need this potentially lifesaving info at the scene of an accident and not have it. In the case of an accident scene, ignorance is definitely not bliss, so although it is a long post, i think it is well worth the few minutes it takes ya to read it.
>ACCIDENT SCENE MANAGEMENT
The first hour of trauma is termed the ``Golden Hour'' by the Emergency
Medical Services (EMS). The idea is that trauma victims have the best
survival chance if they are in surgery within one hour after the accident.
Qualified medical personnel are really the people who should be handling
everything, but until they arrive there are things that we, untrained
motorcyclists, can do to help the medical professionals before they arrive.
An extremely important point it ``Psychological Management''. At an accident
site, peoples' adrenaline will be going full-blast and the most important
thing is for at least one person to keep calm and to think.
REMAIN CALM... THINK!
The first thing you need to do when arriving on an accident scene is to
stop, take two deep breaths to help you remain calm.
Anyway, the idea of psychological management is that all the other people
who are pumped and want to help will do whatever they are told to do by a
calm person who seems to be in control and knows what he or she is doing.
If you're excited and out of control as well, everyone will run around
wasting precious time in an unorganized fashion (not to be confused with
everyone running around wasting precious time in an organized fashion, mind
you).
1) Get to victim, reassure, establish communication, first evaluation of
victim 2) Safety factors 3) Best-trained individual (medically-wise)
attends to victim (U-ABCC) 4) If breathing is taking place normally, LEAVE
HELMET ON! 4a) helmet removal procedure if airway blocked or no respiratory
action. 5) After initial evaluation of seriousness of injuries, call for
ambulance 5a) Things to tell EMS operator 5b) Things that may be necessary
for victim 6) Document personal information if possible (victim may pass
out) 6b) AMPLE documentation 7) Wallets, purses, rings 8a) Have person
check pulse every 5 minutes & document it 8b) Have person check breathing
every 5 minutes & document it 9) Watch for signs of person going into shock
10) Stop bleeding, using sterile bandages/dressings if available 11) In
case of femur injuries (extremely common in moto accidents), check for
blood loss 12) When ambulance arrives 13) At the hospital 14) Dealing with
law enforcement 15) Thank yous 16) Couple of miscellaneous notes 17) Four
most important points to remember
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Get to victim, reassure, establish communication, first evaluation of
victim
After a person has gone down, they will be in a confused and scared state.
They probably don't know what happened when they went down. They may be
confused, frantic, etc., and often the only thing on their mind will be
their bike. It is important to reassure them and to make sure they will not
try to move or get to their bike.
You can tell them the following:
``You've been in a motorcycle accident. It is important that you do not
try to move. My name is Jason (whatever your name is).'' Tell them the ambulance is coming (assuming someone has
been sent to get one!) If your name is something like ``Chainsaw'' or
``Mega-death'', tell them your name is John.
Be careful what you say around the victim, even if they are unconscious.
Hearing works in the unconscious state and if you say something like,
``Boy, is this dude messed up bad! Maybe we shouldn't call an ambulance
after all!'', it's going to register at some level with the person and can
do nothing but harm. How you say things will be important as what you say;
keep (or at least sound) calm and it will reduce the panic of everyone else
present.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2)
Safety factors
An accident scene can be a hectic place with a lot of things going on at
once. It is important to keep safety in mind; if you are helping someone
lying in the middle of the road and a semi comes barreling down on both of
you, you aren't going to do that person much good.
a) Traffic If people are available, get someone up road and down road to wave
down traffic. This is especially important in tight twisties where they may
not have time to stop after seeing the accident site.
b) Hazardous material spills (gas, oil, brake fluid) People and vehicles
will slip on this stuff. If ambulance personnel slip on oil while carrying
the victim, it is bad. Either clean it off the road or indicate to everyone
where it is.
c) Power lines If power lines are down around or near the victim, ambulance
crews may not be able to get near the person until they are shut off. It is
important to call the local utility company to get these live wires turned
off at the same time an ambulance is called. If the ambulance arrives and
they are still live, they will have to call the utility company and wait
for them to come out, wasting a lot of precious time in the Golden Hour.
d) Fire People who smoke tend to light up under stress. Ask these people to
either extinguish their smokes or move away from the flammable materials
and/or bikes. It is easy to forget something obvious like this in a
stressful situation like an accident scene.
e) Safety circle Establish a few people around the immediate accident scene
to help direct traffic, to point out fluid spills, and to warn people who
may want to light up (see (d)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3)
Best-trained individual (medically-wise) attends to victim (U-ABCC)
The person with the most training (first aid, CPR, etc.) attends directly
to the victim. Assuming the victim is lying on the ground, this person
should sit behind their head and should stabilize his or her head to avoid
unnecessary movement (i.e. hold their head still). Assume the person has a
back/neck injury and any unnecessary movement could risk paralysis.
This person should be doing ``U-ABCC'' at the arrival on the scene and
every 5 minutes thereafter
U Unresponsiveness (?) Ask the victim three questions and document their
responses;
Who are you? Where are you? What time of day is it? (Or asking what day of
week it is would be fine also. Many people do not know what time of day it
is without a watch even in a normal state.)
A Airway Is there something to impede their airway? Gravel in the helmet,
something down the throat? This needs to be cleared immediately, without
helmet removal if at all possible.
B Breathing Is the person breathing? Determined by listening, watching
their chest, feeling for breath, etc.
C Circulation Check the pulse on the throat initially and subsequently on
their wrist. This is the carotid artery, right next to the wind pipe/adam's
apple on either side. If pulse is not present, remove helmet if necessary
and begin CPR immediately. When checking pulse on their wrist, do not check
with thumb; use the two fingers next to the thumb.
C Cervical Spine Immobilization Support the victim's head and make sure
they don't move it. CONSIDER EVERY MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT A HEAD INJURY, CONSIDER EVERY MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT A CERVICAL/BACK INJURY! This is important even if they feel they can move their head normally! When you talk to the victim initially, add on a short bit to reassure them;
``You've been in a motorcycle accident. It is important that you don't
move. My name is Jason. Answer me without moving your head. We don't know
if you have a neck injury or not. An ambulance is on the way.''
Again, make sure that the victim does not move at all, their head or any
other part.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4)
If breathing is taking place normally, LEAVE HELMET ON!
It is very dangerous to remove someone's helmet if they have some type of
cervical/back injury. The only time it should be removed is if the airway
is blocked and cannot be cleared with the helmet on or if it is necessary
to perform CPR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4a)
helmet removal procedure if airway blocked or no respiratory action.
This is the method recommended by the American College of Orthopedic
Surgeons. It requires two people.
Remove glasses and unbuckle the chinstrap. One person should be to the side
of the head of the victim and the other person should be directly behind
the head of the victim, stabilizing the head to avoid excess movement (as
seen in (3)).
The person on the side puts one hand behind the victim's head supporting at
the base of the skull (not on helmet). They put their other hand on the jaw
bone/chin (again, not on helmet). They will be supporting the head, so it
is important to get a good solid grip. Keep some tension in the arms so
that if the person pulling the helmet slips the victim's head won't drop.
The person sitting behind the head will then slowly pull the helmet
directly back and off of the head. Watch out for catching the nose on the
chin-guard on full-face helmets, as well as ears and earrings.
After the helmet is off, put a leather jacket or something under the head
of the victim! If the person supporting their head lets go, their head will
drop a good 4 inches or so. This would not be good. If possible, it would
be best to have a third person ready with something to place under the
victim's head once the helmet is off.
After the helmet is off, the person behind the head should again hold the
victim's head to promote cervical immobilization.
AGAIN, THIS IS ONLY TO BE USED IN SITUATIONS WHERE THERE IS NO OTHER
OPTION! Leave the helmet on until the ambulance personnel arrive if at all
possible!
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5)
After initial evaluation of seriousness of injuries, call for ambulance
After there has been a quick evaluation of the number of injured people and
just the most preliminary guess of seriousness, someone has to be sent to
get an ambulance. Remember that an ambulance can only support one truly
injured person.
......
It is important to remember that a lot of the injuries that don't look
serious to us could very well be life-threatening and injuries that look
fatal are relatively minor. Don't get fancy with the initial seriousness evaluation. If you can't tell, assume it's Urgent!
Send one or two bikes to the nearest house.
When you go to the door, REMAIN CALM... THINK! Take a second and a couple
of deep breaths. It will not help to have this biker person in a very
excited state on the doorstep of some person's home. The people will be far
more receptive to someone who looks like they have a grip on themselves.
Do not ask directly for entry into their house; something like ``There has
been an accident. Please call 911.'' There is no need to specify that it
was a motorcycle accident to them (it is important to let the Emergency
Medical Services dispatcher know that it was a motorcycle accident,
however). It is less threatening to ask to call 911 than it is to ask to
come in and use their phone.
5a) Things to tell Emergency Medical Services dispatcher
General tips/things to cover when talking to the EMS dispatcher:
a) there has been a motorcycle accident b) need an ambulance c) the # of
injured people (and how badly injured they are). A severely traumatized
person will require an entire ambulance to themselves, so it is important
to give the EMS dispatcher some idea of the scope of the accident. If they
only send one ambulance and there are two people who need one immediately,
it will be a problem. d) location of accident (get help from the people
whose phone you're using, they should know how to describe their location
best) e) You (the caller) hangs up last! The EMS dispatchers are
well-trained and will get all the information they need from you before
hanging up. Stay on the line until they do.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5b)
We all recognize that there are risks in this sport that we love, and there are ways to help minimize the damage done if you or fellow rider taste pavement. That being said, please take 10 minutes out of your busy schedules, and please give this a read...it is simply a "WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE AT THE SCENE OF A BIKE ACCIDENT" post, and hey, ya never know, it may just save someones life some day. I am not trying to preach to anyone, I am just saying that it is better to have this info and not need it rather than need this potentially lifesaving info at the scene of an accident and not have it. In the case of an accident scene, ignorance is definitely not bliss, so although it is a long post, i think it is well worth the few minutes it takes ya to read it.
>ACCIDENT SCENE MANAGEMENT
The first hour of trauma is termed the ``Golden Hour'' by the Emergency
Medical Services (EMS). The idea is that trauma victims have the best
survival chance if they are in surgery within one hour after the accident.
Qualified medical personnel are really the people who should be handling
everything, but until they arrive there are things that we, untrained
motorcyclists, can do to help the medical professionals before they arrive.
An extremely important point it ``Psychological Management''. At an accident
site, peoples' adrenaline will be going full-blast and the most important
thing is for at least one person to keep calm and to think.
REMAIN CALM... THINK!
The first thing you need to do when arriving on an accident scene is to
stop, take two deep breaths to help you remain calm.
Anyway, the idea of psychological management is that all the other people
who are pumped and want to help will do whatever they are told to do by a
calm person who seems to be in control and knows what he or she is doing.
If you're excited and out of control as well, everyone will run around
wasting precious time in an unorganized fashion (not to be confused with
everyone running around wasting precious time in an organized fashion, mind
you).
1) Get to victim, reassure, establish communication, first evaluation of
victim 2) Safety factors 3) Best-trained individual (medically-wise)
attends to victim (U-ABCC) 4) If breathing is taking place normally, LEAVE
HELMET ON! 4a) helmet removal procedure if airway blocked or no respiratory
action. 5) After initial evaluation of seriousness of injuries, call for
ambulance 5a) Things to tell EMS operator 5b) Things that may be necessary
for victim 6) Document personal information if possible (victim may pass
out) 6b) AMPLE documentation 7) Wallets, purses, rings 8a) Have person
check pulse every 5 minutes & document it 8b) Have person check breathing
every 5 minutes & document it 9) Watch for signs of person going into shock
10) Stop bleeding, using sterile bandages/dressings if available 11) In
case of femur injuries (extremely common in moto accidents), check for
blood loss 12) When ambulance arrives 13) At the hospital 14) Dealing with
law enforcement 15) Thank yous 16) Couple of miscellaneous notes 17) Four
most important points to remember
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Get to victim, reassure, establish communication, first evaluation of
victim
After a person has gone down, they will be in a confused and scared state.
They probably don't know what happened when they went down. They may be
confused, frantic, etc., and often the only thing on their mind will be
their bike. It is important to reassure them and to make sure they will not
try to move or get to their bike.
You can tell them the following:
``You've been in a motorcycle accident. It is important that you do not
try to move. My name is Jason (whatever your name is).'' Tell them the ambulance is coming (assuming someone has
been sent to get one!) If your name is something like ``Chainsaw'' or
``Mega-death'', tell them your name is John.
Be careful what you say around the victim, even if they are unconscious.
Hearing works in the unconscious state and if you say something like,
``Boy, is this dude messed up bad! Maybe we shouldn't call an ambulance
after all!'', it's going to register at some level with the person and can
do nothing but harm. How you say things will be important as what you say;
keep (or at least sound) calm and it will reduce the panic of everyone else
present.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2)
Safety factors
An accident scene can be a hectic place with a lot of things going on at
once. It is important to keep safety in mind; if you are helping someone
lying in the middle of the road and a semi comes barreling down on both of
you, you aren't going to do that person much good.
a) Traffic If people are available, get someone up road and down road to wave
down traffic. This is especially important in tight twisties where they may
not have time to stop after seeing the accident site.
b) Hazardous material spills (gas, oil, brake fluid) People and vehicles
will slip on this stuff. If ambulance personnel slip on oil while carrying
the victim, it is bad. Either clean it off the road or indicate to everyone
where it is.
c) Power lines If power lines are down around or near the victim, ambulance
crews may not be able to get near the person until they are shut off. It is
important to call the local utility company to get these live wires turned
off at the same time an ambulance is called. If the ambulance arrives and
they are still live, they will have to call the utility company and wait
for them to come out, wasting a lot of precious time in the Golden Hour.
d) Fire People who smoke tend to light up under stress. Ask these people to
either extinguish their smokes or move away from the flammable materials
and/or bikes. It is easy to forget something obvious like this in a
stressful situation like an accident scene.
e) Safety circle Establish a few people around the immediate accident scene
to help direct traffic, to point out fluid spills, and to warn people who
may want to light up (see (d)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3)
Best-trained individual (medically-wise) attends to victim (U-ABCC)
The person with the most training (first aid, CPR, etc.) attends directly
to the victim. Assuming the victim is lying on the ground, this person
should sit behind their head and should stabilize his or her head to avoid
unnecessary movement (i.e. hold their head still). Assume the person has a
back/neck injury and any unnecessary movement could risk paralysis.
This person should be doing ``U-ABCC'' at the arrival on the scene and
every 5 minutes thereafter
U Unresponsiveness (?) Ask the victim three questions and document their
responses;
Who are you? Where are you? What time of day is it? (Or asking what day of
week it is would be fine also. Many people do not know what time of day it
is without a watch even in a normal state.)
A Airway Is there something to impede their airway? Gravel in the helmet,
something down the throat? This needs to be cleared immediately, without
helmet removal if at all possible.
B Breathing Is the person breathing? Determined by listening, watching
their chest, feeling for breath, etc.
C Circulation Check the pulse on the throat initially and subsequently on
their wrist. This is the carotid artery, right next to the wind pipe/adam's
apple on either side. If pulse is not present, remove helmet if necessary
and begin CPR immediately. When checking pulse on their wrist, do not check
with thumb; use the two fingers next to the thumb.
C Cervical Spine Immobilization Support the victim's head and make sure
they don't move it. CONSIDER EVERY MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT A HEAD INJURY, CONSIDER EVERY MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT A CERVICAL/BACK INJURY! This is important even if they feel they can move their head normally! When you talk to the victim initially, add on a short bit to reassure them;
``You've been in a motorcycle accident. It is important that you don't
move. My name is Jason. Answer me without moving your head. We don't know
if you have a neck injury or not. An ambulance is on the way.''
Again, make sure that the victim does not move at all, their head or any
other part.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4)
If breathing is taking place normally, LEAVE HELMET ON!
It is very dangerous to remove someone's helmet if they have some type of
cervical/back injury. The only time it should be removed is if the airway
is blocked and cannot be cleared with the helmet on or if it is necessary
to perform CPR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4a)
helmet removal procedure if airway blocked or no respiratory action.
This is the method recommended by the American College of Orthopedic
Surgeons. It requires two people.
Remove glasses and unbuckle the chinstrap. One person should be to the side
of the head of the victim and the other person should be directly behind
the head of the victim, stabilizing the head to avoid excess movement (as
seen in (3)).
The person on the side puts one hand behind the victim's head supporting at
the base of the skull (not on helmet). They put their other hand on the jaw
bone/chin (again, not on helmet). They will be supporting the head, so it
is important to get a good solid grip. Keep some tension in the arms so
that if the person pulling the helmet slips the victim's head won't drop.
The person sitting behind the head will then slowly pull the helmet
directly back and off of the head. Watch out for catching the nose on the
chin-guard on full-face helmets, as well as ears and earrings.
After the helmet is off, put a leather jacket or something under the head
of the victim! If the person supporting their head lets go, their head will
drop a good 4 inches or so. This would not be good. If possible, it would
be best to have a third person ready with something to place under the
victim's head once the helmet is off.
After the helmet is off, the person behind the head should again hold the
victim's head to promote cervical immobilization.
AGAIN, THIS IS ONLY TO BE USED IN SITUATIONS WHERE THERE IS NO OTHER
OPTION! Leave the helmet on until the ambulance personnel arrive if at all
possible!
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5)
After initial evaluation of seriousness of injuries, call for ambulance
After there has been a quick evaluation of the number of injured people and
just the most preliminary guess of seriousness, someone has to be sent to
get an ambulance. Remember that an ambulance can only support one truly
injured person.
......
It is important to remember that a lot of the injuries that don't look
serious to us could very well be life-threatening and injuries that look
fatal are relatively minor. Don't get fancy with the initial seriousness evaluation. If you can't tell, assume it's Urgent!
Send one or two bikes to the nearest house.
When you go to the door, REMAIN CALM... THINK! Take a second and a couple
of deep breaths. It will not help to have this biker person in a very
excited state on the doorstep of some person's home. The people will be far
more receptive to someone who looks like they have a grip on themselves.
Do not ask directly for entry into their house; something like ``There has
been an accident. Please call 911.'' There is no need to specify that it
was a motorcycle accident to them (it is important to let the Emergency
Medical Services dispatcher know that it was a motorcycle accident,
however). It is less threatening to ask to call 911 than it is to ask to
come in and use their phone.
5a) Things to tell Emergency Medical Services dispatcher
General tips/things to cover when talking to the EMS dispatcher:
a) there has been a motorcycle accident b) need an ambulance c) the # of
injured people (and how badly injured they are). A severely traumatized
person will require an entire ambulance to themselves, so it is important
to give the EMS dispatcher some idea of the scope of the accident. If they
only send one ambulance and there are two people who need one immediately,
it will be a problem. d) location of accident (get help from the people
whose phone you're using, they should know how to describe their location
best) e) You (the caller) hangs up last! The EMS dispatchers are
well-trained and will get all the information they need from you before
hanging up. Stay on the line until they do.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5b)
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