Contributed Post
Everyone’s had those moments where everything seems to be completely normal and then bang! Suddenly a crisis appears out of nowhere. Would you be able to handle it? It’s safe to say that the vast majority of people wouldn’t know how to handle an emergency situation if they were suddenly in the middle of it. And that can make you feel pretty much useless. People want to help, that’s just a natural urge that we all have, and the best way to be able to hand a crisis is to be prepared. To help you avoid being caught off guard, here is a guide to handling some common emergency situations.
Someone collapses
If someone collapses, then the very first thing to do is make sure that the emergency services are contacted. If there are other people around then tell someone to call straight away, this leaves you to take care of the person without having to waste time calling. If you’re on your own, then make sure that you call an ambulance straight away. The next thing is to check if they’re breathing. If they aren’t, you might be tempted to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Don’t. Instead, focus on CPR. If you haven’t been trained in CPR then the dispatcher you called can guide you through it. There will often be a public access defibrillator nearby that you may need to use. Once again, the dispatcher will take you through it step by step. Then you just need to continue CPR until the ambulance arrives. Without a shadow of a doubt, defibrillators can save lives. Consequently, if you are considering investing in an AED device for your business or community space, then you might be interested to learn that properly refurbished AEDs are just as good as new ones. Above all, shopping around can help you to compare your options and find a defibrillator at the best possible price.
Fire
The problem with a fire is that it’s often such a frightening experience that it can be hard to concentrate on what to do. But the worst thing that you can do is to panic. Instead, you need to immediately phone the fire service. Then try to establish what kind of fire you’re dealing with. If it’s out of control and there’s nothing that you can do, then you need to get yourself, and anyone else out of the property. Make sure you stay low to the ground. Smoke rises and can often be even more dangerous than the fire itself. If the fire is small and localised then you should look at what’s causing it, because that will affect how you deal with it. If it’s an oil fire from something like cooking, do not pour water on it. All that’s going to do is send flaming oil splashing everywhere. Instead cover it with a damp towel which will starve the flames of oxygen.
Car crash
The first thing that a lot of people do when a crash happens is to immediately try to figure out who’s to blame. That might be important, but it can weight. The first thing you need to do is to find out if anyone is hurt and call the emergency services. (You might have gathered that’s usually your first job in any emergency.) Then you need to make sure everyone is moved out of harm’s way. The last thing you want is another accident occurring. If you can, try to move any cars that are obstructing the road, otherwise just get to a safe distance and wait for the emergency services.
